Bandpass filter kit and 10 position filter wheel

[Shalin Mehta]

Search the CONFOCAL archive at http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal Dear all,

 A labmate of mine is contemplating bandpass filter-set (25nm FWHM with center wavelengths of 450 to 675nm at intervals of 25 nm) for doing spectral unmixing.

To go with the filters he is looking for 10 position motorized wheel. Preferably the filters (and wheel adapters) should have 1" diameter, but smaller diameter is also usable. CVI does provide bandpass filters with 25nm FWHM but only at 50nm intervals (whereas we need 25nm interval). We are yet to hear about custom filters for in-between center wavelengths.

Are there any other off-the-shelf high transmission filter sets available from other vendors with said bandwidths?

For filter wheel, we got a quote from Ludl for 10 positions wheel of around 5.5K USD. Thorlabs is selling 6 position filter wheel at approx. 1K USD. But unfortunately they do not have 10 position wheels. Ludl filter wheels are switchable in 50ns whereas thorlabs' in 300ms. But he doesn't need real high speeds. Any other vendors of 10 position wheels that cost say, 1.5K?

Thanks for your suggestions.
Commercial responses are welcome off the list.

Regards,
Shalin



--
My co-ordinates:
Shalin Mehta, Graduate student
Graduate Programme in Bioengineering, NUS, Singapore
Mobile: [phone]

[Michael Weber-4]

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Dear Shalin,

what about two filter wheels with six positions in a row? Leave one
position empty, and then you have your 10 positions.

The bandpass filters can be custom-made by Chroma, but that's probably
not cheap.

cheers,
Michael


Shalin Mehta wrote:

> Search the CONFOCAL archive at
> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal Dear all,
>
>  A labmate of mine is contemplating bandpass filter-set (25nm FWHM with
> center wavelengths of 450 to 675nm at intervals of 25 nm) for doing
> spectral unmixing.
>
> To go with the filters he is looking for 10 position motorized wheel.
> Preferably the filters (and wheel adapters) should have 1" diameter, but
> smaller diameter is also usable. CVI does provide bandpass filters with
> 25nm FWHM but only at 50nm intervals (whereas we need 25nm interval). We
> are yet to hear about custom filters for in-between center wavelengths.
>
> Are there any other off-the-shelf high transmission filter sets
> available from other vendors with said bandwidths?
>
> For filter wheel, we got a quote from Ludl for 10 positions wheel of
> around 5.5K USD. Thorlabs is selling 6 position filter wheel at approx.
> 1K USD. But unfortunately they do not have 10 position wheels. Ludl
> filter wheels are switchable in 50ns whereas thorlabs' in 300ms. But he
> doesn't need real high speeds. Any other vendors of 10 position wheels
> that cost say, 1.5K?
>
> Thanks for your suggestions.
> Commercial responses are welcome off the list.
>
> Regards,
> Shalin
>
>
>
> --
> My co-ordinates:
> Shalin Mehta, Graduate student
> Graduate Programme in Bioengineering, NUS, Singapore
> Mobile: [phone]

[George McNamara]

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi Shalin,

Sutter's Lambda-10 series fits your needs, though not your price
(price list is at www.sutter.com). They have controllers for 1, 2 or
3 wheels, and 1, or more, shutters. The Sutter products can be
controlled by most software packages.

Prior Instruments and Applied Scientific Instruments sell wheels, but
probably not at the price point you want. You already mentioned Ludl.
With respect to ThorLabs, two 6-position wheels, in series, each with
one empty position = 10 filter positions, but at the risk of vignetting.

Chroma, Omega and Semrock have plenty of filters.

You can look at SBIG (www.sbig.com) to see if they have any 10
position wheels, may hit your price point but you may have a lot of
work to get their macro language to work with your system.

If this is on a motorized Zeiss stand, ask your local rep about
Zeiss' "Pinkel" wheel. Price point may be close to what you want.

Yuval Garini and Ken Castleman had articles in Cytometry discussing
(ok, arguing) the merits of narrow vs wide filter based approaches.
Having worked with Yuval, I lean toward his suggestion of 'wider is
better'. This would also cover a wider spectral range, i.e. from the
new blue to far-red fluorescent proteins. You may also want to take a
look at Michael Speicher's 8-color M-FISH paper(s), since that is
probably the record for the number of fluorophores in a light
microscope experiment. Both SKY (Yuval) and M-FISH (Castleman and
Speicher) have been unmixing 24 or more combinatorial targets for a decade.




At 02:41 AM 11/14/2007, you wrote:

>Search the CONFOCAL archive at
>http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal Dear all,
>
>  A labmate of mine is contemplating bandpass filter-set (25nm FWHM
> with center wavelengths of 450 to 675nm at intervals of 25 nm) for
> doing spectral unmixing.
>
>To go with the filters he is looking for 10 position motorized
>wheel. Preferably the filters (and wheel adapters) should have 1"
>diameter, but smaller diameter is also usable. CVI does provide
>bandpass filters with 25nm FWHM but only at 50nm intervals (whereas
>we need 25nm interval). We are yet to hear about custom filters for
>in-between center wavelengths.
>
>Are there any other off-the-shelf high transmission filter sets
>available from other vendors with said bandwidths?
>
>For filter wheel, we got a quote from Ludl for 10 positions wheel of
>around 5.5K USD. Thorlabs is selling 6 position filter wheel at
>approx. 1K USD. But unfortunately they do not have 10 position
>wheels. Ludl filter wheels are switchable in 50ns whereas thorlabs'
>in 300ms. But he doesn't need real high speeds. Any other vendors of
>10 position wheels that cost say, 1.5K?
>
>Thanks for your suggestions.
>Commercial responses are welcome off the list.
>
>Regards,
>Shalin
>
>
>
>--
>My co-ordinates:
>Shalin Mehta, Graduate student
>Graduate Programme in Bioengineering, NUS, Singapore
>Mobile: [phone]

George McNamara, Ph.D.
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
Image Core
Miami, FL 33010
[hidden email]
[hidden email]
305-243-8436 office
http://home.earthlink.net/~pubspectra/
http://home.earthlink.net/~geomcnamara/
http://www.sylvester.org/health_pro/shared_resources/index.asp (see
Analytical Imaging Core Facility)

[Shalin Mehta]

Search the CONFOCAL archive at http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal Thanks a lot for pointers George and Michael.

Regards,
Shalin

On Nov 14, 2007 7:53 PM, George McNamara <[hidden email]> wrote:

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi Shalin,

Sutter's Lambda-10 series fits your needs, though not your price
(price list is at www.sutter.com). They have controllers for 1, 2 or
3 wheels, and 1, or more, shutters. The Sutter products can be
controlled by most software packages.

Prior Instruments and Applied Scientific Instruments sell wheels, but
probably not at the price point you want. You already mentioned Ludl.
With respect to ThorLabs, two 6-position wheels, in series, each with
one empty position = 10 filter positions, but at the risk of vignetting.

Chroma, Omega and Semrock have plenty of filters.

You can look at SBIG (www.sbig.com) to see if they have any 10
position wheels, may hit your price point but you may have a lot of
work to get their macro language to work with your system.

If this is on a motorized Zeiss stand, ask your local rep about
Zeiss' "Pinkel" wheel. Price point may be close to what you want.

Yuval Garini and Ken Castleman had articles in Cytometry discussing
(ok, arguing) the merits of narrow vs wide filter based approaches.
Having worked with Yuval, I lean toward his suggestion of 'wider is
better'. This would also cover a wider spectral range, i.e. from the
new blue to far-red fluorescent proteins. You may also want to take a
look at Michael Speicher's 8-color M-FISH paper(s), since that is
probably the record for the number of fluorophores in a light
microscope experiment. Both SKY (Yuval) and M-FISH (Castleman and
Speicher) have been unmixing 24 or more combinatorial targets for a decade.

At 02:41 AM 11/14/2007, you wrote:
>Search the CONFOCAL archive at

>http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal Dear all,

>

>  A labmate of mine is contemplating bandpass filter-set (25nm FWHM
> with center wavelengths of 450 to 675nm at intervals of 25 nm) for
> doing spectral unmixing.
>
>To go with the filters he is looking for 10 position motorized
>wheel. Preferably the filters (and wheel adapters) should have 1"
>diameter, but smaller diameter is also usable. CVI does provide
>bandpass filters with 25nm FWHM but only at 50nm intervals (whereas
>we need 25nm interval). We are yet to hear about custom filters for
>in-between center wavelengths.
>
>Are there any other off-the-shelf high transmission filter sets
>available from other vendors with said bandwidths?
>
>For filter wheel, we got a quote from Ludl for 10 positions wheel of
>around 5.5K USD. Thorlabs is selling 6 position filter wheel at
>approx. 1K USD. But unfortunately they do not have 10 position
>wheels. Ludl filter wheels are switchable in 50ns whereas thorlabs'
>in 300ms. But he doesn't need real high speeds. Any other vendors of
>10 position wheels that cost say, 1.5K?
>
>Thanks for your suggestions.
>Commercial responses are welcome off the list.
>
>Regards,
>Shalin
>
>
>
>--
>My co-ordinates:
>Shalin Mehta, Graduate student
>Graduate Programme in Bioengineering, NUS, Singapore
>Mobile: [phone]

George McNamara, Ph.D.
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
Image Core
Miami, FL 33010
[hidden email]
[hidden email]
305-243-8436 office
http://home.earthlink.net/~pubspectra/
http://home.earthlink.net/~geomcnamara/
http://www.sylvester.org/health_pro/shared_resources/index.asp (see
Analytical Imaging Core Facility)

--
My co-ordinates:
Shalin Mehta, Graduate student
Graduate Programme in Bioengineering, NUS, Singapore
Mobile: [phone]

[J.P. Shields]

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi,
I am having problems with fluctuating voltage since our physical plant
replaced the perfectly good transformer outside the building with a "new"
version (my wife works at a transformer plant, so I know they don't go bad
unless something catastrophic occurs). Since then I've had some pretty good
spikes, surges, etc.. and most are correlated with increase/decrease of
student presence on campus.  Our campus electrical experts and confocal
service engineer are better at pointing fingers than providing solutions.
I feel better now.  On to the important stuff.

I was hoping for some feedback on good line conditioners that would be
appropriate for a variety of imaging equipment.  I realize that several
different configurations might be needed.  We have a confocal and two SEMs
affected.  I suspect our eventual, new confocal will experience similar
difficulties.

Thanks in advance!
John Shields
EM Lab
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
[hidden email]

[Shaw, Andrew-2]

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

We've been very happy with our UPS / Line conditioner from EATON
Powerware. Our building has a history of power fluctuations, etc.  The
unit is a little noisier (louder, not noisy power) than I'd like, but
it's  housed in the same room with our Leica SP5 and still the room is
not too noisy too work in. They have multiple sizes depending upon the
power requirements of the systems you'll be driving.

Andrew Shaw
Lab Coordinator
Cell and Tissue Imaging Core
Morehouse School of Medicine
Atlanta, GA 30310

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of J.P. Shields
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 4:09 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Line conditioners

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi,
I am having problems with fluctuating voltage since our physical plant
replaced the perfectly good transformer outside the building with a
"new"
version (my wife works at a transformer plant, so I know they don't go
bad
unless something catastrophic occurs). Since then I've had some pretty
good
spikes, surges, etc.. and most are correlated with increase/decrease of
student presence on campus.  Our campus electrical experts and confocal
service engineer are better at pointing fingers than providing
solutions.
I feel better now.  On to the important stuff.

I was hoping for some feedback on good line conditioners that would be
appropriate for a variety of imaging equipment.  I realize that several
different configurations might be needed.  We have a confocal and two
SEMs
affected.  I suspect our eventual, new confocal will experience similar
difficulties.

Thanks in advance!
John Shields
EM Lab
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
[hidden email]

[Boswell, Carl A - (cboswell)]

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi John,
I also have had the opportunity to use a couple of Powerware units, and they
have been very dependable.    The first unit, installed on a Nikon PCM2000
confocal solved many mysterious software gliches.  Zeiss included another
brand UPS unit in their quote for our 510 Meta that was very expensive.
They claimed it was the only unit that could do the job.  As an alternative,
I went to Powerware where the folks there were very helpful, understood what
was required and provided exactly the configuration I needed.  There have
been no problems (with the power at least) since it was installed  almost
two years ago.
Cheers,
Carl

Carl A. Boswell, Ph.D.
Molecular and Cellular Biology
University of Arizona
520-954-7053
FAX [phone]
----- Original Message -----
From: "J.P. Shields" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 2:09 PM
Subject: Line conditioners

> Search the CONFOCAL archive at
> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>
> Hi,
> I am having problems with fluctuating voltage since our physical plant
> replaced the perfectly good transformer outside the building with a "new"
> version (my wife works at a transformer plant, so I know they don't go bad
> unless something catastrophic occurs). Since then I've had some pretty
> good
> spikes, surges, etc.. and most are correlated with increase/decrease of
> student presence on campus.  Our campus electrical experts and confocal
> service engineer are better at pointing fingers than providing solutions.
> I feel better now.  On to the important stuff.
>
> I was hoping for some feedback on good line conditioners that would be
> appropriate for a variety of imaging equipment.  I realize that several
> different configurations might be needed.  We have a confocal and two SEMs
> affected.  I suspect our eventual, new confocal will experience similar
> difficulties.
>
> Thanks in advance!
> John Shields
> EM Lab
> University of Georgia
> Athens, GA 30602
> [hidden email]
>

[David Burk]

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

John,

We got two of these critters when I was still at the LSU main campus:
http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=1972 to fulfill
Leica's requirements to protect our SP2.  We had horrible line
conditions that caused some hardware failures and these fixed the
problems.  Kind of pricy though.

David
[hidden email]

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of J.P. Shields
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:09 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Line conditioners

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi,
I am having problems with fluctuating voltage since our physical plant
replaced the perfectly good transformer outside the building with a
"new"
version (my wife works at a transformer plant, so I know they don't go
bad
unless something catastrophic occurs). Since then I've had some pretty
good
spikes, surges, etc.. and most are correlated with increase/decrease of
student presence on campus.  Our campus electrical experts and confocal
service engineer are better at pointing fingers than providing
solutions.
I feel better now.  On to the important stuff.

I was hoping for some feedback on good line conditioners that would be
appropriate for a variety of imaging equipment.  I realize that several
different configurations might be needed.  We have a confocal and two
SEMs
affected.  I suspect our eventual, new confocal will experience similar
difficulties.

Thanks in advance!
John Shields
EM Lab
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
[hidden email]