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Yong-ran Zhu
28-Apr-1999, 18:01
I need some suggestions for buying a densitometer. I mainly want to control the development of negative films and get good quality of negatives. However, I don' t have any knowledge about the densitometer and also don't want to spend too muc h money for it. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

Jeff White
28-Apr-1999, 19:41
I would suggest that you establish a relationship with a local mini- lab, especially if they are using an X-Rite 810. This is about a $3,000 densitometer and very accurate. Most labs only use their densitometers for a couple of minutes a day so you won't be keeping them from getting work done. The instruction manual is only a few pages long and would recomend that you read it and learn about calibration and general use. Owning your own would be very nice but if you have a chance to use a nice one that doesn't cost much to use I think you would learn what you want in purchasing a densitometer. You may also learn that using someone elses a couple of times a year will satisfy you.

Matt Long
29-Apr-1999, 12:52
You might want to check out eBay. I recently purchased a new-in-box Agfa D104 d ensitometer for $107. More are for sale. The seller of these units acquired se veral from a business that was closing, and as part of the purchase agreement, A gfa required that the name be obscured before the units could be resold. While the name has been scratched out somewhat crudely, the densitometer is in otherwi se like-new condition. I have found this densitometer to be compact, easy to us e and accurate. At a little over $100, I think that's a pretty good deal.

Carl Armani
6-Nov-2004, 14:46
Picked up an Noritsu Xrite 810 on Ebay. For a little over $100.00. It had blue spots on the unit which I was able to clean off. I downloaded a manual from Xrite and bought T/R step wedges from Stouffer Industries on line. I was able to calibrate the unit and it reads B/W negatives to within 1/3 stop in the visual mode. This unit cost almost $3000 new. A fine instrument for the large format photographer. It also has a blue channel for Pyro.

Carl