>We are now comparing Zeiss, Leica and Bio-Rad.  Did you look at these others
>before making your choice?  What lasers did you get?  Ziess is hinting
>that we might
>be better off with a two laser system (mixed gas & HeNe for red
>excitation).  Can
>you explain the advantages of multiple vs. one pinhole?  I am most
>confused by  these arguments.
 
We presently have aBio-rad MRC-600 which could easily be upgraded to the
1000 for a mere $... We did not look at the Leica extensively (no offense).
As far as the laser lines, we have the two lasers you mentioned above along
with a UV laser. However, our HeNe laser will supply the green light and
not the red. The Argon-Krypton laser will supply 488, 568 and 647 lines.We
have the Omnichrome mixed gas, and the spectral physics 2017 UV laser. The UV
attachment has not been installed yet so I could not tell you how the
complete system operates. However, so far so good.
 
As far as the multiple pinholes, I can think of two advantages.First you
will have independent control of the pinhole size for optimum image
output in each channel.  Second, you can align the position of the pinhole
in two dimensions. This is particularly useful when dealing with multiple
lines since different wavelength means variation in angle of reflection...
 
 
sam.