Author: Tom Eddleman
Published:
Revised: April 04, 2005
An interesting topic was brought up by Bob Pickard recently as to how translucent different films were to UV light. I took an OAI Model 358 Stepper Exposure Analyzer and took 4 readings from different films that I had on hand and averaged them along with a no film test.
Note that translucency (and therefore exposure time) is just one measure of a film’s performance; its ability to produce clear, dense images is paramount.
Here are the results:
FILM EXPOSURE # READING IN mJ/cm sq.
No Film 1 32.58
2 33.20
3 33.48
4 33.26
Average 33.13
AccUart 1 19.30
2 21.89
3 23.92
4 23.41
Average 22.13
High Res 4 clear inkjet 1 27.46
2 28.55
3 26.90
4 28.08
Average 27.75
High Res 4 Polyester Laser Imaging Film
1 6.0
2 8.719
3 7.068
4 6.272
Average 7.0325
Rayzist Vellum 1 9.403
2 10.20
3 9.767
4 10.89
Average 10.07
No Film 1 33.98
2 35.11
4 34.16
5 34.69
Average 34.49
This is the order in which I took the readings with a no film reading first and last. Of course the no film readings gave the most transmittable UV energy, but the inkjet films gave the second most with the Laser Imaging Film being last.