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]