a fixed pinhole and detector. This process is usually slow and does not work for live imaging, but can be useful to create high-resolution representative images of fixed samples.

Spinning-disk (Nipkow disk) confocal microscopes use a series of moving pinholes on a disc to scan spots of light. Since a series of pinholes scans an area in parallel, each pinhole is allowed to hover over a specific area for a longer amount of time thereby reducing