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Happy New Year to all listers!
Although the original post asked for comparison of two classical pinhole-based spinning disc confocals I thought to throw information about a less-known spinning disc confocal method: Aperture Correlation Microscopy. You find a very nice explanation to the general principle, and, in particular, to the spinning disc variant here:
http://zeiss-campus.magnet.fsu.edu/articles/opticalsectioning/aperturecorrelation/introduction.htmlIn essence the spinning disc ACM system uses a structured illumination disc with a grid-like structure where each region (pixel) of the image is randomly excited at rapid sequence (disc rotates at 3000 rpm). The disc itself consisting of 50% transmission/50%reflection zones basically passes 50% of the emitted light from the focal plane, additionally the 50% of not sectioned light is also recorded to generate a final high intensity confocal image. Due to the high transmission of the disc the system does not need lasers but can use standard mercury/metal halide/LED for non-saturating excitation of the fluorochromes.
Reading the description surely does not harm. To my knowledge the first commercial system from Zeiss and the subsequevariants from Andor are no longer available. However, the owner of the original patent (Aurox Ltd., UK) offers an updated and pretty affordable modern version.
Hope this helps and not confuses.
Best,
Mika
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