Greetings all, once again I post asking for some
honest and good advice. The issue has popped up again today in my
lab. I have a special, modified 8 year old LSM 510 Meta, where I’ve
put my own PMTs and made some changes for CARS, 2p, THG, and SHG
microscopies in addition to the bread-and-butter regular visible laser scanning
confocal work. One of the esteemed faculty here has come to me asking “why
haven’t you gotten a 710 yet (I wish I could!).” I’ve
played around with the 510 NDDs and have found this an all-around workhorse
system, although I’ve had issues with noisy images (partly due to PMTs)
and software, in addition to some serious Meta issues. To all out there,
since the issue has come up, is the 710 truly much better than the 510? Is
there a true, visible improvement in the visible laser scanning confocal mode
and the Meta over the 510. In addition, to all those who use the
710 for 2p and multiphoton work, are there real differences in detectors, NDDs,
and image quality (efficiency in signal collection)? I’m just humbly
seeking some honest opinions. I have no biases – originally and
deep inside the Olympus FV300, for the record, is my first love for its easy
adaptability to advanced microscopies and high-quality visible laser scanning
confocal imaging. I’ve found, however, that my user base, and on many
days also, I find myself drawn to the 510 Meta although my question is
specifically regarding the 710 versus the 510. I’m also looking and
talking to Leica. If any of you have used the 510 side by side with the 710 (I’ve
received one useful comment before from this great resource), fire away,
especially if you have used it for multiphoton work.
Right now I’m setting up stimulated Raman
microscopy on top of the old 510 Meta so this Meta will truly be a rare breed
of 510 Meta – combo visible, 2p, SHG, THG, and S.R. beast! However,
aside from the 20x/0.75NA older Zeiss air objective and the 40x 1.1 NA LD
C-Apochromat objective, I’ve found the Olympus 60x UplanAPO and UPlansApo
1.2 NA water the best objectives for multiphoton work. (I don’t have the
special Olympus multiphoton objective). Lasers are an older Mira with my
own home-built pulse compression, and a picosecond High-Q oscillator/amplifier
combo fed to either my 510 Meta or Olympus FV300.
Evangelos Gatzogiannis
Advanced Biological Imaging Scientist
Harvard University Center for Nanoscale Systems
11 Oxford Street, LISE
Cambridge, MA 02138
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