EP0596991A1 - Improvements in or relating to photographic processing. - Google Patents
Improvements in or relating to photographic processing.Info
- Publication number
- EP0596991A1 EP0596991A1 EP92916658A EP92916658A EP0596991A1 EP 0596991 A1 EP0596991 A1 EP 0596991A1 EP 92916658 A EP92916658 A EP 92916658A EP 92916658 A EP92916658 A EP 92916658A EP 0596991 A1 EP0596991 A1 EP 0596991A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- image
- film
- signal
- replenishment
- processing
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
- G03C—PHOTOSENSITIVE MATERIALS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES; PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES, e.g. CINE, X-RAY, COLOUR, STEREO-PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES; AUXILIARY PROCESSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY
- G03C5/00—Photographic processes or agents therefor; Regeneration of such processing agents
- G03C5/26—Processes using silver-salt-containing photosensitive materials or agents therefor
- G03C5/29—Development processes or agents therefor
- G03C5/31—Regeneration; Replenishers
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
- G03C—PHOTOSENSITIVE MATERIALS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES; PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES, e.g. CINE, X-RAY, COLOUR, STEREO-PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES; AUXILIARY PROCESSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY
- G03C5/00—Photographic processes or agents therefor; Regeneration of such processing agents
- G03C5/26—Processes using silver-salt-containing photosensitive materials or agents therefor
- G03C5/395—Regeneration of photographic processing agents other than developers; Replenishers therefor
- G03C5/3958—Replenishment processes or compositions, i.e. addition of useful photographic processing agents
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
- G03C—PHOTOSENSITIVE MATERIALS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES; PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES, e.g. CINE, X-RAY, COLOUR, STEREO-PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES; AUXILIARY PROCESSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY
- G03C7/00—Multicolour photographic processes or agents therefor; Regeneration of such processing agents; Photosensitive materials for multicolour processes
- G03C7/30—Colour processes using colour-coupling substances; Materials therefor; Preparing or processing such materials
- G03C7/44—Regeneration; Replenishers
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
- G03D—APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING EXPOSED PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
- G03D3/00—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion
- G03D3/02—Details of liquid circulation
- G03D3/06—Liquid supply; Liquid circulation outside tanks
- G03D3/065—Liquid supply; Liquid circulation outside tanks replenishment or recovery apparatus
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
- G03C—PHOTOSENSITIVE MATERIALS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES; PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES, e.g. CINE, X-RAY, COLOUR, STEREO-PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES; AUXILIARY PROCESSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY
- G03C2200/00—Details
- G03C2200/57—Replenishment rate or conditions
Definitions
- This invention relates to improvements in or relating to photographic processing.
- control strips are normally used at regular intervals. These strips are pieces of film exposed in a well-defined manner by the manufacturers. After processing, the optical density of the strips is measured using a densitometer and compared with the aim values. If the measured densities fall outside the control limits, appropriate action may be taken by the operator to bring the processor back to aim. It is known in the industry to use the film scanner in a photographic printer to measure the optical density of the film control strips.
- the scanner has the prime function of measuring the transmittance of the film image to be printed. The scanner may have just one pixel in which case the average transmittance over the whole image is obtained, or it may have many pixels, yielding a more detailed profile of the transmittance of the image at many points.
- the scan will normally be in three colours for colour materials. From the scan data and stored sensitometric data relating to the print material, the printer calculates the exposure needed to form a correctly balanced copy of the film image. It is also known that a scanner may be attached to the output end of black-and-white processors, especially for X-ray film, so that the density of developed silver may be measured and process control performed on the basis of a knowledge of the actual amount of silver produced after development.
- Development is a good example of the first type of chemical reaction, and can be referred to as being "image-dependent".
- the amount of developer molecules used up in processing a piece of photographic material is related to the amount of latent image formed on it for given development conditions.
- Another example of an "image-dependent” chemical reaction is the bleaching process.
- Fixing is an example of an "image-independent” chemical reaction in colour photographic systems. All the silver in the photographic material is removed in a fixer bath and this amount is essentially the same regardless of the amount of exposure given to the material.
- the replenishment of chemicals which are depleted in a reaction which is "image-independent" may be accomplished by a measure of the area of the photographic material being processed. This is the case with fixers where all the silver is removed from the material and reacts with a fixing agent, for example sodium thiosulphate. Replenishment of the fixing agent in the fixer solution, is easily achieved by knowing what area of film or paper has been processed and the amount of silver per unit area of the material being processed. This technique is well-known in the industry and has been used for a long time. Current industry practice for the replenishment of developers in processing apparatus is to use a signal derived solely from the area of material passing through the developer to control pumps metering the flow of developer replenisher from a holding tank into the developer bath.
- EP-A-0 381 502 describes a method of using scan data from a photofinishing printer to control the replenishment rate of the paper processor. In this method, the actual exposure given to the paper is inferred from measurements and the amount of depletion of the chemicals in processing the exposed paper is calculated. Exact replenishment of the depleted chemicals may then be effected. This technique does not require the use of sensors in the processor, except for currently measured variables such as temperature and time. It also overcomes the problems of small processing solution volumes as described above.
- a method of controlling the chemical replenishment of processing solutions used in photographic processing apparatus comprising a film processing stage in which an exposed photographic film is processed and a second stage including measuring means for measuring the optical transmittance of an image on the film, the method including the step of measuring the transmittance of the image, characterized in that the measured transmittance information is used for converting the image into a desired format and also to control the replenishment of solutions in the film processing stage and its attached subsystems.
- converting the image into a desired format refers to any process in which the image on the film is either reproduced on to a hard copy display medium, eg. photographic or thermal paper; or an electronic display means, such as, a cathode ray tube or a liquid crystal device; or sampled to enable the image to be stored in a storage device, eg. magnetic, electronic or optical storage media, or transmitted to a remote location.
- a hard copy display medium eg. photographic or thermal paper
- an electronic display means such as, a cathode ray tube or a liquid crystal device
- sampled to enable the image to be stored in a storage device eg. magnetic, electronic or optical storage media, or transmitted to a remote location.
- the present invention takes the data which is already available from the printer scanner for exposure determination purposes and uses it for another purpose, namely: the control of the replenishment of chemicals in the film processor .
- a colour photographic material has three image forming layers: the cyan, magenta and yellow. These absorb light from the red, green and blue parts of the spectrum respectively.
- the amounts of cyan, magenta and yellow dye present in a piece of colour film are linearly related to the logarithm of the transmittance (ie the optical density) of the film to red, green and blue light respectively.
- the densities so measured may be used to correct the measurements of the exposed processed film to yield information relating to the image dye amounts.
- the primary colour densities of the unexposed processed film may vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer and may therefore need to measured separately for all films to be processed. This is not a great problem, however, since it is current practice to print different manufacturer's films with slightly different settings, the relevant information being stored in the printer. Having thus obtained from the printer scanner information relating to the total amount of image dye on the image to be. copied, it is a simple matter to calculate the depletion of the image- dependent chemicals in the film processor resulting from processing that piece of the film.
- Developing agents such as the family of para- phenylenediamine molecules commonly used in colour photographic processing, are an example of image- dependent chemistry, and it is desirable to replenish the developer according to how much has been used up in forming the dye.
- the amount of developer which must have been used up can be calculated from a knowledge of the dye amounts formed on the film.
- the replenishment of developers will be considered. The key point here is not the exact form of the equations which may need to be changed slightly as process and film formulations change but rather the principle involved, namely that a calculation is possible even if look up tables and empirical data are used.
- the film scanner in the printer measures transmittance, in three colours. These measurements depend on the spectral output of the light source as well as the spectral sensitivity of the photodetectors used to effect the measurements.
- the measured transmittance in each of the three colours, red, green and blue, are known as printing densities and are described fully in Chapter 18 of "The theory of the photographic process" published by Macmillan,
- printing densities are related to analytical spectral densities by a matrix equation which requires the knowledge of several constants which may be determined by the method described in chapter 18.
- Analytical densities may then be linearly related to dye amounts in the developed film. Having calculated the dye amounts the procedure is exactly the same as that described in EP-A-0 381 502 for calculating the amount of developer used up to produce the-dye amounts. In essence this involves calculating a correction to the manufacturer's recommended average replenishment rate per unit area of film processed, according to the difference from average of the dye amounts on the film.
- a relationship between the measured printing densities and the replenishment of the developer More specifically and more usefully, a relationship between the difference in printing density from average and the correction to the average replenishment rate for the developer may be derived.
- a variant on the technique described in the above example is to replenish once after a batch of prints have been made. For example, it may be appropriate to replenish the developer based on a calculation of the dye amounts present in twelve images on the film. Thus, for every 36-exposure film, three replenishment calculations would be performed and the correct replenishment effected. Equally, it may be appropriate to replenish after several films have been developed based on the sum of the dyes present in the films.
- the determining factor in deciding how often to replenish is the volume of developer present in the film processor. For large volumes it would be appropriate to replenish less often and vice versa.
- Another variant on the present invention is to use a combination of replenishment-by-area and replenishment by calculation.
- the film processor would normally replenish by area of film processed until instructed to make a correction by the printer. For example, when the printer had, based on calculation of dye amounts present in the film, accumulated a correction to the normal replenishment rate greater than a threshold level, it would signal to the film processor using a data link, the amount of the correction which needed to be made. This would then be effected at the next replenishment time by adding the correction (either a positive or negative amount) to the usual amount of replenisher dispensed by the replenisher system.
- a further small correction may need to be made in the example of replenishing the developer arising from the fact that image dyes are not only present on the image area of the film. Some dye may be produced in the non-image area due to chemical or optical fogging. This is normally so low that the amount would be completely negligible. It may. however, be brought into the calculation by assuming an average fog level and by calculating the amount of dye which would be produced on the non-image areas of the film on an area basis. This avoids the need to explicitly measure the fog level on each film but may lead to errors in cases where films have been severely fogged.
- the film scanner may be configured to overscan the image area of the film such that a measure of the actual fog level is obtained.
- This can be used together with a knowledge of the total area of film which has been processed to infer the actual amount of dye produced in the non-image areas.
- the scanner would scan the whole of the film, not just the image areas. It can easily happen that the front or back ends of the film have complete optical fogging due the process of loading the film into the camera. Equally, cameras are occasionally opened by mistake, fogging a section of the film.
- a variant on the above example, which does not require the scanner to overscan the image area, is to use the scanner to measure the unexposed region between images on the film while the film is being moved from one image to another. A good estimate of the fog level in that region on the film may then be determined. Similarly, it is possible to extend this technique to measure the leading and trailing ends of the film while in motion so that the area of totally fogged film due to camera loading or unloading operations may be estimated. This information, together with the image scan data, will provide all that is necessary for a good estimation of the total dye present on the film in both image and non-image areas, yet without the extra expense of configuring the scanner to overscan the images.
- a further advantage is in the correct replenishment of films which have been exposed in a significantly different manner than usual, for example, totally fogged films where considerably more dye than usual is formed and unexposed films where considerably less is formed.
- a yet further advantage is that no extra hardware, save for a link between the printer and the film processor for data transmission, need be provided in that the printer is already equipped with a film scanner which is able to produce the required" measurements.
- the present invention would be particularly advantageous in an integrated photofinishing machine where film processor, printer and paper processor are built into the same casing. There is no reason, however, why the invention should not be used in a conventional minilab by providing a link between the film processor and the printer through which the scan data could be transmitted.
- the above example demonstrates the control of the replenishment of image-dependent chemical species which are depleted according to the amount of dye formed on the film.
- the method according to the present invention can also be used to control other aspects of the film process and its subsystems such as the removal of image-dependent by-products of the processing reactions or the replenishment of the subsystems which remove image-dependent by-products from the solutions.
- halide ions are produced in the developer as a by-product of the development reaction.
- the quantity of halide ions produced is equal to the amount of silver ions reduced to atomic silver in the developer which is, in turn, related to the amount of dye formed (in colour materials) . Since halide ions act as a restrainer for the development reaction, it is desired to keep their concentration at a predetermined level so as to maintain constant processing solution activity.
- the processing apparatus incorporates a subsystem which has the ability of removing halide ions from the processing solution, the ions being removed by passing the processing solution over a coated substrate to which the halide ions bind very strongly.
- the reaction kinetics are sufficiently fast so that the halide ions are bound to the substrate much faster than they are produced in the developer.
- the volume of liquid, v can be calculated for which h moles of halide ions are present and where the total solution volume before development is V.
- h is a function of the exposure given to the material, and may be determined form the sensitometric data relating to the film which is stored in the processing apparatus. Specifically, the relation between exposure and developed silver would be used, since the number of halide ions released into the developer solution is identical to the number of silver ions developed to form metallic silver. If the capacity of the removal system is
- T is the volume of solution which can be treated:
- T Rv/h
- the exact relation between dye amounts and the amount of any by-product generated during processing may be determined experimentally using techniques familiar to any one skilled in the art of printing and processing. Look-up tables of this empirical data may then be used by the control system of the processing machine to control the removal subsystems built into it.
- the method according to the present invention is applicable to any removal system used in photographic processing apparatus whether it be based on chemical binding, as above, or ionic replacement as in ion-exchange columns and silver recovery cartridges or any other method where an element of the system is either exhausted or needs replenishing with reagent.
- This method has the advantage that an indication can be given to an operator when a removal system is nearly exhausted. This enables maintenance to be carried out at the right time and without the need for routine measurements by the operator. Sometimes it is very difficult for an unskilled operator to make these measurements especially where they are concerned with effluent discharge limits which may be very low.
- Another advantage of this method is that automatic replenishment of the consumable components of the removal systems may be achieved such that the removal efficiency of the systems is maintained at a constant level.
- a liquid reagent which reacts strongly with the halide ions may have been chosen to cause the ions to precipitate out of the solution as an alternative to using a solid substrate to which the halide ions bind.
- the removal system may comprise a separate reaction vessel in which known amounts of developer solution are added to the liquid reagent. It is clear that the liquid reagent would need replenishing from time to time in order to keep its activity high. This replenishment could be controlled by knowing the amount of reagent used up in removing the halide ions. This amount is related to the amount of halide ions to be removed which, in turn, may be calculated from the amount of exposure given to the photographic material which released the halide ions.
- the liquid reagent is the consumable component of the removal system.
- the present invention may also be used to control the replenishment of the removal system itself.
- the present invention can be used to predict exhaustion of the removal system and provide a signal to alert an operator or an automatic system to take the necessary maintenance actions.
- the signal may cause an actuator to switch the liquid flow from a nearly-exhausted removal system to a fully replenished system connected in parallel.
- control of the concentration of components of the process produced as by-products of chemical reactions which are image-related can be provided without the need for chemical sensors being present in the processing solution.
- the method of the present invention makes process and environmental control possible for the first time.
- replenishment control will usually be implemented as making a correction to the average amount of replenisher dispensed per unit area of film processed, the average being determined by manuf cturer's recommendations.
- the average will normally be such as to correct on average for the errors introduced by low-resolution scanning and in any case such errors represent a small second order correction.
- Another possible application of the present invention concerns the use of scanners for different display media other than photographic prints. For example, some customers of photofinishing laboratories may prefer not to have a set of photographic copies of their film images on paper but stored on an optical or magnetic storage device for subsequent electronic display on a television monitor. Journalists also may not require hard copy of their film images but may prefer to scan their images " and transmit them electronically to another location.
- the image would still need to be scanned just as in a photographic printer.
- the present invention would still apply, in that the measured transmittance data from the images could be used to calculate the amount of image producing substances on the image for the purpose of controlling the replenishment of chemical species in the film processor.
Landscapes
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Photographic Processing Devices Using Wet Methods (AREA)
Abstract
Dans un appareil de traitement photographique, il est nécessaire de régénérer les solutions de traitement au fur et à mesure de leur épuisement. La technique connue consiste à régénérer les produits chimiques dans un processeur de papier en déterminant la quantité d'exposition que subit le papier pendant l'étape d'impression de l'appareil, lors de la copie sur papier photographique d'une image sur une bande de pellicule, et en utilisant cette valeur pour calculer la quantité d'agent de régénération requis pour compenser exactement les produits chimiques épuisés lors du traitement de ladite image. On décrit un procédé d'utilisation des données relatives au facteur de transmission optique mesuré d'une image sur une bande de pellicule pendant l'étape d'impression pour réguler aussi bien la régénération des solutions de traitement pendant l'étape de traitement de la pellicule dans l'appareil, que l'élimination de produits dérivés dépendants de l'image formés pendant le traitement de ladite bande de pellicule.In a photographic processing apparatus, it is necessary to regenerate the processing solutions as they are used up. The known technique consists of regenerating the chemicals in a paper processor by determining the amount of exposure that the paper undergoes during the printing step of the device, when copying an image onto a photographic paper. strip of film, and using this value to calculate the amount of regenerating agent required to exactly compensate for the chemicals used up when processing said image. A method of using data relating to the measured optical transmission factor of an image on a film strip during the printing step is described to regulate both the regeneration of the processing solutions during the step of processing the film in the apparatus, as the removal of image dependent derivatives formed during the processing of said film strip.
Description
Claims
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB919116625A GB9116625D0 (en) | 1991-08-01 | 1991-08-01 | Improvements in or relating to photographic processing |
GB91166256 | 1991-08-01 | ||
PCT/EP1992/001715 WO1993003416A1 (en) | 1991-08-01 | 1992-07-29 | Improvements in or relating to photographic processing |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP0596991A1 true EP0596991A1 (en) | 1994-05-18 |
EP0596991B1 EP0596991B1 (en) | 1996-07-03 |
Family
ID=10699356
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP92916658A Expired - Lifetime EP0596991B1 (en) | 1991-08-01 | 1992-07-29 | Improvements in or relating to photographic processing |
Country Status (6)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP0596991B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP3258322B2 (en) |
DE (1) | DE69211993T2 (en) |
GB (1) | GB9116625D0 (en) |
HK (1) | HK187396A (en) |
WO (1) | WO1993003416A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB9509039D0 (en) * | 1995-05-04 | 1995-06-28 | Kodak Ltd | Photographic processing |
US5669031A (en) * | 1995-06-13 | 1997-09-16 | Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. | Apparatus for processing photographic sensitive material |
Family Cites Families (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3559555A (en) * | 1968-06-04 | 1971-02-02 | John N Street | Image monitoring and control system |
US3554109A (en) * | 1969-09-17 | 1971-01-12 | Logetronics Inc | Image monitoring and control system |
JPS5437731A (en) * | 1977-08-30 | 1979-03-20 | Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd | Method and apparatus for controlling halogen ion concentration in photographic processing solution |
US4603956A (en) * | 1984-11-16 | 1986-08-05 | Pako Corporation | Film-width and transmittance scanner system |
GB8902186D0 (en) * | 1989-02-01 | 1989-03-22 | Kodak Ltd | Photographic processing |
GB9000620D0 (en) * | 1990-01-11 | 1990-03-14 | Kodak Ltd | Automatic processing devices for processing photographic materials |
-
1991
- 1991-08-01 GB GB919116625A patent/GB9116625D0/en active Pending
-
1992
- 1992-07-29 EP EP92916658A patent/EP0596991B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1992-07-29 WO PCT/EP1992/001715 patent/WO1993003416A1/en active IP Right Grant
- 1992-07-29 DE DE69211993T patent/DE69211993T2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1992-07-29 JP JP50324793A patent/JP3258322B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
-
1996
- 1996-10-10 HK HK187396A patent/HK187396A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
---|
See references of WO9303416A1 * |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
EP0596991B1 (en) | 1996-07-03 |
JPH06509661A (en) | 1994-10-27 |
WO1993003416A1 (en) | 1993-02-18 |
GB9116625D0 (en) | 1991-09-18 |
DE69211993T2 (en) | 1997-01-30 |
HK187396A (en) | 1996-10-18 |
DE69211993D1 (en) | 1996-08-08 |
JP3258322B2 (en) | 2002-02-18 |
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