We have got Axiovert 100S and do not have any focus drift problems.
However, we have had such problems with several slides some time ago.
We found out that the drift was caused by the movement of the coverglass,
i.e. slides with slightly unstable coverglasses can cause this problem
because of different refractive index of the medium above and below
the coverglass and coverglass itself. Try out observation of a single
slide (e.g. some dust dried on it). If the problem remains, then
coverglass is not the reason. Just an idea.

Best regards,
Michal Kozubek

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michal Kozubek, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Optical Microscopy, Faculty of Informatics,
Masaryk University, Botanicka 68a, CZ-60200, Brno, Czech Republic
Tel/Fax/Ans: +420-5-41512467   E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Internet home page: http://www.fi.muni.cz/~kozubek


On Thu, 26 Jul 2001, Wissing, Frank wrote:

> Dear Listmembers,
>
> I am currently using a Zeiss LSM510 with an inverted Axiovert 100 M, as well
> as an CCD imaging system build around an Axiovert S100 TV.
> Both systems I use to measure physiological ion concentrations over longer
> periods of time (10-30min), but I have noticed that with both microscopes
> the focus isn't stable and is completely lost over the course of an
> experiment. With the confocal it's about 5mum in 10min, going downwards.
> Since the cells are only max 5mum thick, this is intolerable. Initially I
> thought that on the imaging system the focus instability might be due to a
> weak table that responds to weight differences during perfusion. But even
> without perfusion, as well as on the confocal with a much more stable table
> the focus drifts. I am still waiting for a detailed response from Zeiss, but
> the first answer was that this seems to be an hitherto unknown problem. So
> my question is:
>
> Has anybody experienced similar problems with focus stability on an Axiovert
> 100?
>
> Or is it bad coincidence that both my microscopes happen to be faulty and I
> just have to buy two "greatly improved Axiovert 200 with maximum
> stability"...
>
> Cheers
>
> Frank
>
>
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