Hear hear!  Sylvie's recommendation to purchase multiple (e.g. two)
dedicated systems rather than try to make one system do everything for
everyone is spot-on.  Getting a single multi-function system is always a
compromise, especially these days when there are specialist objectives,
light paths etc. for specific applications.  And especially if you have a
central facility - either support them with funding or try to get the
funding for dedicated, specialist confocals.  Apart from the compromises,
you also find that a single confocal is booked up to its eyeballs within
minutes of installation...

Rosemary

Rosemary White
CSIRO Plant Industry
GPO Box 1600
Canberra, ACT 2601
Australia

ph 61 2 6246 5475
fx 61 2 6246 5334



On 26/08/09 7:09 PM, "Sylvie Le Guyader" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Bogdan
> 
> We have recently gone through the purchase of a two photon/confocal
> microscope. We opted for the Zeiss710 upright with a spectral detector and
> for buying an extra confocal inverted for our cell work. When using an
> inverted microscope, you offset the first plane you can image by the
> thickness of the coverslip (160um) which is a real pity.
> 
> You must also consider that many lenses that are dedicated for 2 photon
> imaging do not correct chromatic aberration in the visible range which means
> that you will need another objective for confocal imaging with more than 1
> fluorophore.
> 
> Does anyone know if Leica now supports femtosec pulsed lasers? They have so
> far bypassed the Zeiss/Biorad patent by slowing down the laser to picosec
> but I think the patent recent stopped. A psec laser would mean less
> penetration which could be a problem for you on your inverted microscope,
> especially if you want to image highly scattering samples.
> 
> Our experience (we have paid dearly before learning that) is that it is much
> better to wait a bit longer for more money to come in and get a second
> dedicated system. Piling up functions on one system often ends up
> compromising all of them. Several companies (Zeiss, La Vision) offer
> dedicated two photon systems that are a lot cheaper than two photon/confocal
> combined and that are excellent for two photon imaging. If the system you
> are looking at has both single and two photon lasers and if you also need
> two sets of objectives, you are you are paying for all the expensive parts
> twice anyway. 
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> 
> Med vänlig hälsning / Best regards
>  
> Sylvie
>  
> @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
> Sylvie Le Guyader
> Dept of Biosciences and Nutrition
> Karolinska Institutet
> Novum
> 14157 Huddinge
> Sweden
> +46 (0)8 608 9240
> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Confocal Microscopy List on behalf of Bogdan Stoica
>> Sent: Sun 8/23/2009 12:11 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [CONFOCALMICROSCOPY] Recommendations for commercial multi-
>> photon
>> system purchase
>> 
>> Hi fellows,
>> 
>> I am also in the last stages of choosing a confocal/multiphoton system for
>> our laboratory. After seeing multiple demos i am thorn between an Olympus
>> FV1000MPE system and an Leica SP5 II. Our needs are to be able to do both
>> confocal images on fixed and live in vitro cells and live in vivo rodent
>> brain imaging. Both systems come with a UV, visible Argon four lines (488
>> etc), laser diode 560 and 633 and IR laser (Chameleon for Leica and Maitai
>> for Olympus), a complete set of Apo objectives as well as the famous 25x
> NA
>> 1.05 from Olympus and the "equivalent" 20x from Leica. The microscopes are
>> inverted and the system also includes 2 NDD for Leica and 4 NDD in the
> case
>> for Olympus.
>> Fro what I could see the Leica software appeared more user friendly and I
>> would give their system a better feel for confocal imaging and
> manufacturers
>> potential upgrades- the system I am pricing does not include the AOBS
>> feature, "white laser" or resonant scanner but those could be added later.
>> On the other hand the Olympus seems a better choice for multiphoton
> imaging
>> and an easier system to tinker with. The tech support and managers for
> both
>> companies seemed outstanding to me here in the Washington DC-Baltimore
> area.
>> I found interesting that I was not able to find any info on "how much"
> such
>> a system should cost and after intense "negotiations" the quites range on
> my
>> case around the ~700k mark with Olympus a little bellow and Leica a little
>> above.
>> I was wondering if people who recently had to make a similar decision can
>> offer me some guidance both on the merits of their systems once they were
>> installed as well as on the price, support etc.
>> Thank you very much,
>> 
>> Bogdan
>> 
>> 
>> 
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