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Christof Schwiening <
[hidden email]> writes:
> (which is what the image above shows). I am sure that it is some kind
> of Schlieren type of effect (refractive index). I think that in areas
> of high contrast even small optical deviations cause quite marked
> intensity changes.....
This is a classic problem with spherical aberration (due to refractive
index mismatch) and confocals. In widefield the spherical aberration
makes the image look nasty. In confocal the pinhole stops the aberrated
light (from the outer regions of the lens) from reaching the
detector. So spherical aberration in confocal leaves image quality high,
but makes them much weaker.
Ian