Not with confocal, but with widefield, I'd say both are pretty good.  The
Nikon don't forget is chrom-free, which means that it is a different lens
with regard to multiple colors on a given microscope compared to not only
the Olympus but everyone else.  The Olympus is a compensation-system type
lens, meaning that some of the chromatic abberation is corrected in the
lens, and some in the (matched Olympus) eyepiece, while all (or nearly
all) of the chromatic abberation is picked up in the Nikon lens only;
keep in mind that nobody is absolutely one-hundred percent chromatic
abberation free, so all the manufacturers are slightly different in that
regard, but all do a pretty nice job.  But consider the potential
complications should you decide to use a lens with a certain correction
on a system not designed for it.  That can make for possibly big differences,
I would think , with colocalization problems on a multiple wavelength confocal
image.  Perhaps a multiple wavelenght wizard like Dr. Taylor (if he's out
there listening) might have something to offer here.  There's always lots
to think about . . .
 
Tony Moss
Auburn University
 
 
On Fri, 8 Apr 1994, W. Gil Wier wrote:
 
> Does anyone have experience of the relative merits of the Nikon 60x planapo
> vs the Olympus 60x objective in confocal microscopy with visible light?
>