Re: Deconvolution of Confocal Images? (was: Airy Units)

Posted by Lutz Schaefer on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Deconvolution-of-Confocal-Images-was-Airy-Units-tp6947651p6948509.html

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Surprisingly, as this discussion repeats itself on the server several times
over and over, there are still misunderstandings. First of all,
deconvolution is nothing more than an attempt to invert a model of the
forward imaging problem. This model almost never includes that out-of-focus
light is considered noise in a statistical sense. Instead it is considered
the result of a convolution operation with the PSF, where its inverse
reassigns this light back to the focal plane, contrary to Guy's statement.
Noise, on the other hand is often additionally included in the forward model
for both Gauss and Poisson distributions - resulting in an inverse solution
(estimate) known as maximum likelihood. Advanced deconvolution systems can
optimize for both at the same time as the Gaussian camera read-out noise
will always be present, perhaps except for rare cases were the photon noise
dominates by orders of magnitude.

Best Regards
Lutz

__________________________________
L u t z   S c h a e f e r
Sen. Scientist
Mathematical modeling / Image processing
Advanced Imaging Methodology Consultation
16-715 Doon Village Rd.
Kitchener, ON, N2P 2A2, Canada
Phone/Fax: +1 519 894 8870
Email:     [hidden email]
___________________________________

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Guy Cox" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 08:47
To: <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: Deconvolution of Confocal Images? (was: Airy Units)

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>
> " The photons that are rejected by a pinhole usually come from
> fluorophores within the specimen - deconvolution can be viewed as an
> attempt to improve images by putting photons back to where they
> probably originated, rather than to just reject them. Deconvolution
> makes a more efficient use of the emitted photons.
>
> It is therefore possible to obtain an image by deconvolving a
> widefield z series that, because of photobleaching and rejection of
> photons by a pinhole, cannot be obtained from a confocal, even if
> acquisition time was not the limiting constraint.
>
> Only in the narrowest sense, when only a single optical section is
> required, is Guy correct in regarding out of focus fluorescence as
> noise - perhaps signal of unwanted origin."
>
> WRONG!!  Yes, of course the photons come from fluorophores within the
> specimen.  Where else could they come from?  But they don't come from
> where we are looking at and so they cannot be assigned to the plane we are
> imaging.  They belong in a different plane and should be assigned there.
> And in a confocal stack that is exactly what will happen.  So of course
> there is wasted fluorescence - and if we want to avoid this the answer is
> rather simple - use 2-photon. Then there is NO out of plane fluorescence.
>
>                                     Guy
>
>
> Optical Imaging Techniques in Cell Biology
> by Guy Cox    CRC Press / Taylor & Francis
>     http://www.guycox.com/optical.htm
> ______________________________________________
> Associate Professor Guy Cox, MA, DPhil(Oxon)
> Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis,
> Madsen Building F09, University of Sydney, NSW 2006
>
> Phone +61 2 9351 3176     Fax +61 2 9351 7682
>             Mobile 0413 281 861
> ______________________________________________
>      http://www.guycox.net
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]]
> On Behalf Of Jeremy Adler
> Sent: Monday, 31 October 2011 11:08 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: Deconvolution of Confocal Images? (was: Airy Units)
>
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>
>
>
> Quoting Guy Cox <[hidden email]>:
>
>> *****
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>>
>> Daniel White wrote:
>>
>> " in a confocal you throw away most of the signal, as its out of focus.
>> So as a result the images are often very noisy.  "
>>
>> This is often stated but IT IS TOTALLY UNTRUE.  What is out of focus is
>> noise, not signal.  If you have no SA (and, honestly, if you are
>> seriously interested in high-resolution imaging that should be a given)
>> then a confocal microscope with the pinhole set at 1 Airy diameter
>> throws away no signal at all.  So why are confocal images often noisy?
>> Well, it's just statistics.  If you take a wide-field image with a 1
>> second exposure each point is exposed for one second.  If you take a
>> confocal image at 512 x 512 for 1 second then each point is exposed for
>> ~4 microseconds.  The difference is rather substantial ...
>>
>>                                            Guy
>>
>> Optical Imaging Techniques in Cell Biology
>> by Guy Cox    CRC Press / Taylor & Francis
>>      http://www.guycox.com/optical.htm
>> ______________________________________________
>> Associate Professor Guy Cox, MA, DPhil(Oxon)
>> Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis,
>> Madsen Building F09, University of Sydney, NSW 2006
>>
>> Phone +61 2 9351 3176     Fax +61 2 9351 7682
>>              Mobile 0413 281 861
>> ______________________________________________
>>       http://www.guycox.net
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]]
>> On Behalf Of daniel white
>> Sent: Monday, 31 October 2011 8:30 PM
>> To: [hidden email]
>> Subject: Deconvolution of Confocal Images? (was: Airy Units)
>>
>> *****
>> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>> *****
>>
>> Hi Peter,
>>
>> On Oct 31, 2011, at 6:02 AM, CONFOCALMICROSCOPY automatic digest system
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Date:    Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:09:10 -0700
>>> From:    Peter Werner <[hidden email]>
>>> Subject: Deconvolution of Confocal Images? (was: Airy Units)
>>>
>>> An interesting point was made here by Jim Pawley:
>>>
>>>> I agree that sampling a bit higher than Nyquist never hurts,
>>>> especially if you deconvolve (as you always should), but I think
>>>> that it is a mistake to think that one can "separate" out the noise
>>>> by decon. I think that noise is pretty fundamental.
>>>
>>> I had always heard that if you're doing confocal microscopy, at least
>>
>>> point-scanning confocal with a pinhole size of 1AU or smaller, that
>>> deconvolution was superfluous, because you shouldn't be getting out of
>>
>>> focus light. So what is gained by deconvolution when one is sampling
>>> voxel by voxel?
>>
>> in a confocal you throw away most of the signal, as its out of focus.
>> So as a result the images are often very noisy.
>> Good contrast.... but high Poisson distributed photon shot noise
>> from only measuring a handful of photons.
>>
>> So usually one needs to do something about that noise...
>> we want to separate the real signal from the noise.
>>
>> Often a Gaussian or mean filter is applied... which suppresses the noise
>>
>> by smoothing it out... but it also smooths the real signal, so
>> effectively you lose
>> the contrast and resolution that was the whole point of doing confocal.
>>
>> The smart way to suppress the noise, but keep the contrast and
>> resolution
>> is to do deconvolution.
>> Deconvolution using a max likelyhood method uses the known shape of the
>> PSF
>> to make a best guess model of the real fluorophore distribution in the
>> sample.
>> You tell the deconvolution algorithm how noisy the image is (you have to
>> guess
>> unless you take 2 images and measure it)
>> then it attempts to throw out the noise and keep the real signal,
>> resolution and contrast intact.
>>
>> D
>>
>>>
>>> Peter G. Werner
>>> Merritt College Microscopy Program
>>
>> Dr. Daniel James White BSc. (Hons.) PhD
>>
>> Leader - Image Processing Facility,
>> Senior Microscopist,
>> Light Microscopy Facility.
>>
>> Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
>> Pfotenhauerstrasse 108
>> 01307 DRESDEN
>> Germany
>>
>> +49 (0)15114966933 (German Mobile)
>> +49 (0)351 210 2627 (Work phone at MPI-CBG)
>> +49 (0)351 210 1078 (Fax MPI-CBG LMF)
>> chalkie666 Skype
>> http://www.bioimagexd.net BioImageXD
>> http://fiji.sc Fiji -  is just ImageJ
>> (Batteries Included)
>> http://www.chalkie.org.uk Dan's Homepages
>> https://ifn.mpi-cbg.de Biopolis Dresden Imaging
>> Platform (BioDIP)
>> dan (at) chalkie.org.uk
>> ( white (at) mpi-cbg.de )
>>
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> Jeremy Adler
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