Posted by
Julio Vazquez on
Nov 05, 2007; 8:31pm
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/FW-Deconvolve-1-42-Components-Setup-now-OK-tp590745p590774.html
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Hi Glen,
Not an Olympus IX-81, but we have an EXFO 120W high-pressure mercury halide lamp for viewing fluorescence on a Zeiss LSM (Axiovert 200 stand). We like this lamp for several reasons:
1,000-1,5000 lifetime (typically, one lamp lasts 8-12 months; power starts to decline after ~ 1,000 hours, but lamp remains useable until about 1,500 hours), easy to install and does not require alignment, quite bright, built-in aperture that allows to control illumination intensity, removes heat source away from microscope (lamp is located inside power supply module and channeled through a fiber into the microscope), built-in safety device prevents turning lamp ON while still hot.
We have not used this lamp for imaging, so I don't know if it is as bright or stable as a conventional mercury lamp, but it does look quite bright to me. We normally set the lamp aperture to 1-2 (out of five, with five being the brightest setting) for viewing samples. In terms of stability, it does show a decline over time, especially past 1,000 hours.
The system is maybe ~ $ 2,000 more than conventional mercury lamp system at purchase. Lamps cost about $ 650.00, that is about $ 0.50 / hour... in the same ballpark as mercury lamps
Also, I should mention that Applied Precision now report using a 250 W Xenon lamp on their DeltaVision system. Don't know any specifics, but I suppose they saw advantages compared to the HBO lamp.
Julio.
--
Julio Vazquez
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, WA 98109-1024
On Nov 5, 2007, at 11:02 AM, Glen MacDonald wrote:
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Has anyone replaced the mercury illuminator on an Olympus IX-81 with a non-arc source such as metal-halogen or LED? I'm looking for experiences regarding reliability, operational cost and performance on a laser scanning confocal installation.
Off-line commercial responses are welcome.
Thanks,
Glen
Glen MacDonald
Core for Communication Research
Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center
Box 357923
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-7923 USA
(206) 616-4156
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The box said "Requires WindowsXP or better", so I bought a Macintosh.
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