Posted by
Sylvie Le Guyader-2 on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Re-Recommendations-for-commercial-multi-photon-system-purchase-tp3499069p3516343.html
Hi Bogdan
We have recently gone through the purchase of a two photon/confocal
microscope. We opted for the Zeiss710 upright with a spectral detector and
for buying an extra confocal inverted for our cell work. When using an
inverted microscope, you offset the first plane you can image by the
thickness of the coverslip (160um) which is a real pity.
You must also consider that many lenses that are dedicated for 2 photon
imaging do not correct chromatic aberration in the visible range which means
that you will need another objective for confocal imaging with more than 1
fluorophore.
Does anyone know if Leica now supports femtosec pulsed lasers? They have so
far bypassed the Zeiss/Biorad patent by slowing down the laser to picosec
but I think the patent recent stopped. A psec laser would mean less
penetration which could be a problem for you on your inverted microscope,
especially if you want to image highly scattering samples.
Our experience (we have paid dearly before learning that) is that it is much
better to wait a bit longer for more money to come in and get a second
dedicated system. Piling up functions on one system often ends up
compromising all of them. Several companies (Zeiss, La Vision) offer
dedicated two photon systems that are a lot cheaper than two photon/confocal
combined and that are excellent for two photon imaging. If the system you
are looking at has both single and two photon lasers and if you also need
two sets of objectives, you are you are paying for all the expensive parts
twice anyway.
Good luck!
Med vänlig hälsning / Best regards
Sylvie
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Sylvie Le Guyader
Dept of Biosciences and Nutrition
Karolinska Institutet
Novum
14157 Huddinge
Sweden
+46 (0)8 608 9240
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Confocal Microscopy List on behalf of Bogdan Stoica
> Sent: Sun 8/23/2009 12:11 PM
> To:
[hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [CONFOCALMICROSCOPY] Recommendations for commercial multi-
> photon
> system purchase
>
> Hi fellows,
>
> I am also in the last stages of choosing a confocal/multiphoton system for
> our laboratory. After seeing multiple demos i am thorn between an Olympus
> FV1000MPE system and an Leica SP5 II. Our needs are to be able to do both
> confocal images on fixed and live in vitro cells and live in vivo rodent
> brain imaging. Both systems come with a UV, visible Argon four lines (488
> etc), laser diode 560 and 633 and IR laser (Chameleon for Leica and Maitai
> for Olympus), a complete set of Apo objectives as well as the famous 25x
NA
> 1.05 from Olympus and the "equivalent" 20x from Leica. The microscopes are
> inverted and the system also includes 2 NDD for Leica and 4 NDD in the
case
> for Olympus.
> Fro what I could see the Leica software appeared more user friendly and I
> would give their system a better feel for confocal imaging and
manufacturers
> potential upgrades- the system I am pricing does not include the AOBS
> feature, "white laser" or resonant scanner but those could be added later.
> On the other hand the Olympus seems a better choice for multiphoton
imaging
> and an easier system to tinker with. The tech support and managers for
both
> companies seemed outstanding to me here in the Washington DC-Baltimore
area.
> I found interesting that I was not able to find any info on "how much"
such
> a system should cost and after intense "negotiations" the quites range on
my
> case around the ~700k mark with Olympus a little bellow and Leica a little
> above.
> I was wondering if people who recently had to make a similar decision can
> offer me some guidance both on the merits of their systems once they were
> installed as well as on the price, support etc.
> Thank you very much,
>
> Bogdan
>
>
>
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