Dear Ralph
We have used a water immersion lens from Zeiss. It works perfectly
well in the inverted mode (surface tension keeps the water there). I
must disagree with the comment by Dr. Kamair (see below) that oil
immersion lenses are preferable. The water immersion lens has three
benefits: 1) a reduction in spherical aberration which 2) allows you
to focus deeper into thick aqeous specimens. 3) This lens will remove
the  axial foreshortening of the image due to the refractive index
mismatch. As a note, you should use this lens with the correct
thickness coverslip, without the coverslip you will not achieve
diffraction limited performance so focussing into deep petri dishes
without a coverslip is not the correct way to use this lens.
 
Many Regards
 
Mark Cannell
SGHMS
 
On Mon, 29 Jan 1996 10:35:32 -0500 Dr. Kamiar Moin wrote:
 
 
>
> Ralf:
>
> We have a 40X water immersion lens for our Zeiss CLSM and we have
used it
> extensively.  It is very nice for examination of live cultures in
petri
> dishes.  We like it so much that we have placed an order for a 63X
water
> immersion.  However, one VERY IMPORTANT note:  our system is based
on an
> upright microscope. I cannot see how a water immersion lens can even
be
> used for an inverted microscope.  These lenses are specifically
designed
> for the upright microscopes to compensate for the small working
distance
> when one examines specimen in deep dishes, e.g. petri.  Besides the
oil
> immersion oils are always preferable if they can be used.   In
addition, it
> seems to me that you already have one of Zeiss's best lenses, the
63X/1.4.
> The currently available water immersion 63X cannot match your 63X
oil
> immersion in performance.  So, in my humble oppinion the large sum
of money
> for a water immersion lens can be spent better on another
enhancement to
> your system which is based on an inverted microscope.
>
>
> >Hello all,
> >
> >a few day ago I was told it would be an improvement to use an water
immersion
> >objective on our Zeiss CLSM based on an inverted microscope.
> >At the moment we are using (mainly) a 40x/1.3 and a 63x/1.4 (both
oil immer-
> >sion) objective.
> >
> >Has anyone experiences with water immersion objectives? Does it
make sense
> >to use them with an inverted microscope or only with upright ones?
> >
> >Thank you for help
> >Ralf
> >--
> >Ralf Steinmeyer
([log in to unmask])
> >UNI Hannover
Herrenhaeuser Str. 2
> >Inst. f. Biophysik                                      30419
Hannover
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Kamiar Moin, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
> Wayne State University School of Medicine
> Detroit, MI 48201
>
> Tel:  (313)577-0514
>         (313)577-1112
> FAX: (313)577-6739
> E-mail:  [log in to unmask]