Response to want advice on buying a denistometer

Hi David,

>> Brands? Price is not a criteria, quality is. <<

I'll take you at your word on this. I have always considered the Macbeth units to be top of the line for general photographic use. I truly don't know if X-rite is any lesser a unit, though. Choosing between these on a quality basis is probably pointless for your application. I presume you want to do both transmission and reflection. I would highly recommend both the X-rite 810TR series and the Macbeth TR924. Two advantages to the Macbeth are the remote reflection probe for large prints (the X-rite 810 requires you to get the print within it's built in head) and the availability of different apertures (I think) for transmission. You need to check on this, but from my fuzzy memory, I think they come standard with a 3 or 4mm measuring aperture, but 2mm (and possibly 1mm) apertures are available. These would be useful for trying to read, for example, flesh highlight densities on a 35mm neg. If, as Conrad pointed out, you are just reading step wedges, aperture size is not an issue.

Both these units come normally equipped with 3 color responses plus the visual response. You would use the visual response for B&W. Both instruments come with serial interfaces. Note that the visual response does not necessarily match any real photo material in spectral response, so odd processes (with color casts) might not be accurately represented. Both these people are now making small spectrophotometer units, also.

I don't have much experience outside of these two brands. Here's a site for Macbeth. http://www.gretagmacbeth.com/photo.htm

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