IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO IMAGING

A method of imaging light from a specimen in which excitation light passes to the specimen via a scanning system and light emitted by luminescence of the specimen passes in another direction via the scanning system to an image capture device having a sensor having discrete spatially distinct light sensitive regions. The scanning system is operated so as to scan the whole of an area of interest of the specimen, and the excitation light and/or the image capture device are controlled so that light emitted from the specimen is only incident on the image capture device sensor for a specific time period equal to that required for scanning the whole of the area of interest n times (where n is a whole number equal to or greater than 1). The scanning system is a confocal system, and in one example comprises a rotating Nipkow disc scanner and the pattern of openings in the disc is such that rotation of the disc through A° results in scanning the whole of the area of interest and the said specific time period is selected to correspond to nA° of disc rotation. Apparatus for performing the method to produce a video signal for creating an image in a display device or for processing and analysis by a computer, includes control means adapted to control the excitation light and/or the image capture device so that light from the specimen is incident on the image capture device for the specific period of time, and the image capture device is a CCD camera.