> Michael Mancini wrote:
>
> Question:  I've heard from a couple friends with a Leica that they
> like the
> spectral tuning, yet I've had it explained to me (by guess which
> company)
> that it's "all smoke and mirrors and no one really should want it."
> Anybody
> want to comment on its usefulness?

I agree with Kees's comments. We demo-ed the spectral head and it was
very impressive. I went into the demo wagering that if I put a light
scattering sample on the stage that the spectral response would get
destroyed. I left convinced that even a scattering sample could be
examined reliably.(For the record, we looked at the spectrum of lucifer
yellow in normal saline versus in milk as our comparison). It is an
elegant design.

I think the major advantage of the SP head is in flexibility. It gives
you a huge leg-up for new dyes or tweaking the wavelengths in multicolor
applications.(I always want something other than what I have...) We did
not end up purchasing a unit in large part because I prefered the
flexibility offered by the Zeiss multi-tracking and sophisticated
scanner control. When Leica comes out with a multi-tracking system, it
will be a tighter race.

FYI- Zeiss does have a spectral option in the LSM series, but it is NOT
confocal (no pinhole). It is designed for use with the NLO
(multi-photon) systems where all fluorescence only comes from the plane
of focus.

Chip Montrose
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M.H. Montrose, Ph.D.
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