Warning, radioactive lenses!
Pete, Struan, thanks for this most informative discussion! Seems we will never l ook at some lenses the same as before. As you say, there is probably not much to worry if simple precautions ar e taken. But we live in an environment that exposes us to cummulate small risks, radio-activity being just one of them with the remnants of Tchernobyl, but then there is the electro-magnetism and other bad rays from the computer screen, the diluted poisons in food additives, the mercury in tooth cement, the space and UV rays fr om the damaged ozon layer, the pollution in the air and water, the pesticides in the veggies and fruits, and fo r some, the white and deadly volutes of tobacco smoke just to name a few...
I better stop here this depressing list. The man of the future will have to be a transgenic creature blended with some cockroaches genes in order to survive, or will simply not be :-(
Warning, radioactive lenses!
Heeee...heeee...eeeee...as someone who has had 9600 rads of radiation - I just wonder what you all think "safe" constitutes? The Dr.'s kept telling me it was good for me - although they all left the room prior to the linear accelerator being turned on. Sorry, Pete - just can't take this all that seriously - I just don't think most people have had enough radiation. Mutate or die...
Warning, radioactive lenses!
Steve, if you drop an Aero Ektar in your lap, the tingling won't be subtle :-)
Warning, radioactive lenses!
200 counts of gamma a minute! Almost makes me think twice about flying in commercial aircraft (at least above 35,000 feet). Wait! No problem! I'll just book flights that last less than two hours (One per year in normal latitudes, or .2 per year over the South Pole).
Radon in the basement, on the other hand...
Warning, radioactive lenses!
That was 200 counts per second, Skip. Only a factor of 60 difference!I turned up two more hot lenses with the geiger counter. A Schneider 135mm f/9 Repro-Claron (Not the G-Claron), and a 55mm f/1.8 Pentax SMC Takumar. Both were low energy emission and not much to worry about.
Warning, radioactive lenses!
Struan,
Thanks for the info. I've been wondering what the proper method for affixing and Aero-Ektar to the cat was.
Warning, radioactive lenses!
Just take a look at what is being sold on Ebay. Those Rodenstock Heligon lenses come out of Xray machines, not process cameras.
Warning, radioactive lenses!
No worries John, just remember that it's kinder to shave the cat first.
Warning, radioactive lenses!
Warning, radioactive lenses!