The Leica DM5500 upright microscope is an automated instrument with a motorized z-drive and fluorescence filter wheel, and automatic selection of appropriate optical components for every featured microscopy modality. The microscope is capable of transmitted light brightfield, dark field, phase contrast, DIC, and fluorescence imaging. Images can be captured with a Leica DFC290 high resolution color camera or a Leica DFC340 high sensitivity cooled monochrome camera. The system features a fully integrated deconvolution module with 3D Blind, 3D Non-Blind, Golds and inverse filter deconvolution algorithms.
The following objectives are available for this system:
| Mag. | Objective description | NA | Immersion medium | Working distance (mm) |
| 5x | N PLAN PH 0 | 0.12 | Air | 14.0 |
| 10x | HC PL FLUOTAR | 0.30 | Air | 11.0 |
| 20x | HCX PL FLUOTAR | 0.50 | Air | 1.15 |
| 40x | HCX PL FLUOTAR | 0.75 | Air | 0.40 |
| 40x | HC PL APO CS2 | 0.13 | Oil | 0.24 |
| 63x | HCX PL APO | 1.40 | Oil | 0.10 |
| 63x | HC PL APO CS2 CORR | 1.20 | Water | 0.30 |
| 100x | HCX PL APO CS CORR | 1.44 | Oil | 0.10 |
The following fluorescent filter cubes are available for the Leica DM 5500B microscope:
| Filter cube | Excitation range | Dichromatic mirror | Suppression filter |
| A4 | UV | 400 | BP 470/40 |
| L5 | Green | 505 | BP 527/30 |
| N3 | Blue | 565 | BP 640/40 |