I have been enjoying the group for several months, the weather has gone from
cool and damp, to hot and humid, and all the wheels have fallen off of my
gum printing technique. I have gone from acceptable and encouraging results,
to garbage, in just a few short weeks. Disconcerting for the beginner.
Now to the subject. I acquired a light meter, (well it looks like a light
meter) Minolta Air-shields fluoro-lite meter model 451. At the time I bought
it, I didn't know exactly what it was, neither did anyone else. (flee market
$5.00 so I purchased it anyway). It turned out to be a device for measuring
exposure of newborns to Billy Reubin lights (sp?). UV light source hospitals
use to treat jaundice conditions in newborns.
The unit is a digital unit, is calibrated in micro-watts per square
centimeter and seems to work real well for measuring UV output of anything.
It also has a real neat feature, especially for me as I use the sun as my
exposure source, it measures accumulated exposure, in both time and mw/c2. I
guess the nurse just sets the unit by the baby, and then checks it from time
to time to see when the little beggars done. However, when the fluffy whites
are scudding across the sky you can just check the accumulated UV memory on
the unit to see when your total exposure is up.
Now the bad news, the unit is made by Minolta Camera Co. and distributed by
Narco Scientific, Air-Shields Division, Hatboro, PA 19040 and retails for
$1200. Probably a person can find these units available used at some of the
larger medical/hospital supply outfits.
Has anyone else played with such a unit? I will report on the results I get
over the next couple of months of testing, If I ever get another decent print.
M Rand Carlton
mrand@snowcrest.net
Photography...
"The process is
the product"