Automated Flash Sensitometer.

A flash sensitometer was developed to provide highly reproducible, high intensity xenon flash exposures of variable duration from 3-60 microseconds. For operating simplicity, the entire exposure sequence is initiated by dropping a film sample (35mm x 250 mm) into a slot in the sensitometer lid. The sample is flash-exposed through a continuous 0 to 3.0 optical density wedge, and a scale alongside the wedge is exposed with an electroluminescent panel. The energy in each flash exposure is measured and displayed in digital form on the operator panel. Seven seconds after the sample is inserted it can be removed and replaced with the next one. Both reproducibility and uniformity of exposures are +/- 1 - 2 percent. Sample size and exposure configuration are chosen to be compatible with automatic processing and computerized analysis equipment.