Whatever lens you use, be sure to use the correct immersion media. If you have any question what this means, speak to microscopy core staff before proceeding.
All lenses should be used with #1.5 coverslip.
No choices of lenses is perfect and, perhaps, you would have made different choices for general use. I would be interested to hear how you would have chosen differently.
10x/0.40 CS2 HC PL APO air Normally we buy a cheap10X lens as it is only intended as a convenience to locate the sample. However, we have found that people insist on using the 10X for confocal because field of view is far more important to them than spatial resolution or signal. Therefore, we purchased a better lens, a N.A. 0.40 plan apo. |
16x/0.6 IMM CORR VISIR HC FLUOTAR L multi-immersion, usually set to glycerol For imaging thicker samples, specifically cleared tissues or larger model organisms. It does not have the resolution of the 25X water lens, but it has wider field of view. It is a compromise between FOV and resolution. In our initial tests, we were able to image more than 0.5 mm into cleared tissue. |
20x/0.75 CS2 HC PL APO air Use for flat thin samples, cell culture or sectioned tissues. On our other microscopes, 20X plan lenses with NA 0.75-0.80 are the most popular. |
25x/0.95 W VISIR HC FLUOTAR L 0.17 water, a.k.a. Genteal For thick tissues. Purchased to match the 20X N.A. 1.0 water lens we had on the Zeiss 710 NLO, the predecessor to this microscope. In our initial tests, we were able to image more than 0.5 mm into cleared tissue. |
40x/1.10 W CORR CS2 HC PL APO water, a.k.a. Genteal This lens has a mechanical water applicator for long experiments. It is not usually installed on the microscope. By special request. |
63x/1.40 CS2 HC PL APO oil For highest resolution work on flat thin samples, cell culture or sectioned tissues. |
63x/1.20 W motCORR CS2 HC PL APO water Specifically for FCS. This lens is available to be installed by special request. |