**7. Outlook**

So far, most reports using X-ray holography are improving the technique itself. Only a few studies exist where X-ray holography has been used to answer a scientific question not related to optics or imaging, and most of those where published in collaboration with the same groups that developed the technique (e.g. [20–26]). It is still a long way before X-ray holography will be a standard imaging tool, available to a similarly large community as STXM or PEEM. Above all, permanent end stations with full user support are needed. The new soft X-ray synchotron MAX IV in Lund, Sweden, will probably be the first to provide such an end station. However, even now, imaging times and quality are at least competitive to other soft X-ray imaging techniques and the parameters to achieve such performance have been discussed in this chapter. The perspective of improved cameras with readout times of submilliseconds (compared to the present 4 s) and single pixel adjustable gain in concert with even higher X-ray intensities and fast helicity switches suggest that almost live imaging will be possible in the future.
