LMCB Microscope Comparison

Microscope Stand Information

Unless otherwise stated the microscope objective lenses require specimens to be mounted on a #1.5 glass coverslip (170 microns) or in a chamber/dish with a coverslip bottom of the same thickness.

Widefield

Use a widefield microscope if your specimen is thin and is relatively free of out-of focus blur or you don't need to optically section it for processing, analysis and visualisation in 3D.

Microscope	Upright or Inverted?	Objective Lenses	Fluorescence Colours	Camera	Automation	Techniques
Axioplan	Upright	10x air to 100x oil	Blue, Green, Red, Far-Red	Greyscale high sensitivity CCD	Manual	Good for high sensitivity and high resolution fluorescence microscopy and differential interference contrast (DIC) of fixed specimens on slides
Axio Imager	Upright	10x air to 100x oil	Blue, Green, Red, Far-Red (Cyan and Yellow available on request)	Greyscale high sensitivity CCD	Manual	Good for high sensitivity and high resolution fluorescence microscopy and phase contrast of fixed specimens on slides
Axioskop 3	Upright	10x air to 100x oil	Blue, Green, Red	Colour CCD	Motorised	Good for moderate to high resolution fluorescence microscopy and colour imaging of histologically or histochemically stained specimens on slides. Supports tiling and stitching.
Leica	Inverted	10x air to 40x LWD*	Blue, Green, Red	Greyscale high sensitivity CCD	Manual	Good for moderate resolution fluorescence microscopy and phase contrast of fixed/live specimens on slides or in dishes and plates with glass or plastic bottoms
Leica 2	Inverted	10x air to 40x LWD*	Blue, Green, Red	Colour CCD	Manual	Good for moderate resolution fluorescence microscopy and colour imaging of histologically or histochemically stained specimens on slides or in dishes and plates with glass or plastic bottoms

*Long Working Distance

Confocal

Use a confocal if your specimen in thick, has a lot of out-of-focus fluorescence or if you need to process, analyse or visualise it in 3D.

Microscope	Upright or Inverted?	Objective Lenses	Lasers	Detectors	Simultaneous/Sequential	Manual/Automated Stage	Climate Control	Techniques
Radiance	Upright	10x air to 60x oil (water dipping lenses available)	Argon, 543, 635	3x GaAsP	Simultaneous and Sequential	Manual	Available (heat only)	Imaging of specimens on slides and in gasket sealed chambers or open dishes using dipping lenses. DIC. FRAP.
SPE	Upright	10x air to 63x oil (water dipping lenses available)	405, 488, 532, 640	1x PMT	Sequential only	Manual	Available	Imaging of specimens on slides and live specimens in Warner Instruments perfusion chamber using dipping lenses. DIC. Spectral imaging.
SPE	Upright	10x air to 63x oil (water dipping lenses available)	405, 488, 532, 640	1x PMT	Sequential only	Manual	Available	Imaging of specimens on slides and live specimens in open dishes using Oko-Lab incubation equipment and dipping lenses. DIC. Spectral imaging.
SPE3	Inverted	10x air to 63x oil	405, 488, 561, 640	1x PMT	Sequential only	Automated	No	Imaging of specimens on slides and in dishes. DIC. Spectral Imaging. Multi-point and stitching. Matrix Screener.
SP5	Inverted	10x air to 63x oil (63x glycerol available)	405, Argon, 561, 594, 633	1x PMT and 3x Hybrids	Simultaneous and Sequential	Automated	Available	Imaging of specimens on slides and in 35 mm dishes and Lab-Tek chambered coverslips using Pe-Con incubation equipment. Spectral imaging. DIC. Multi-point and stitching. FRAP. FRET. Live Data Mode. Matrix Screener.
Vox	Inverted	10x air to 100x oil (60x water immersion available)	405, 488, 561, 640	1x EMCCD camera	Sequential only	Automated	Available	Imaging of live specimens in 35 mm dishes, Lab-Tek chambered coverslips and Ibidi uSlides using Solent Scientific cage type incubation chamber. DIC. Multi-point and stitching. FRAP.

Time-lapse inverted microscope systems

Microscope	Objective Lenses	Fluorescence Colours	Camera	Techniques
GFP1	10x to 40x air and LWD (oil lenses available)	Green and Red	Greyscale high sensitivity CCD	Optimally configured for 'screening' of multiple positions in multi-well plates and other vessels at low to moderate resolution and high sensitivity using phase contrast and fluorescence. Stage adapters support Nunc and Mat-Tek multi-well plates and 35 mm Mat-Tek dishes. If you need to use another vessel or adapter you must contact Andrew Vaughan
GFP2	10x to 40x air and LWD (oil lenses available)	Blue, Green and Red	Greyscale high sensitivity CCD	Optimally configured for 'screening' of multiple positions in multi-well plates and other vessels at low to moderate resolution and high sensitivity using phase contrast and fluorescence. Stage adapters support Nunc and Mat-Tek multi-well plates and 35 mm Mat-Tek dishes. If you need to use another vessel or adapter you must contact Andrew Vaughan
N-STORM (coming soon)	10x air to 100x oil TIRF lens	Blue, Green, Red and Far-Red	Greyscale ultra-high sensitivity EMCCD	Optimally configured for high resolution and high sensitivity fluorescence microscopy of living specimens in XYZT for deconvolution, TIRF and super-resolution using N-STORM and dSTORM.