  The performance of a confocal imaging system may be no better than a
general-purpose widefield system if it is not properly maintained or quality
controlled. The publication of ISO 21073, 'Confocal microscopes- Optical data
of fluorescence confocal microscopes for biological imaging', set a standard
for the minimal Quality Control (QC) that should be performed for Confocal
Microscopes. Here we describe methodology for performing the QC requirements to
satisfy ISO 21073, as well as suggesting other QC methods that should be
performed to obtain a minimum level of information about the microscope system.
