Can airport X-ray scanners damage vintage selenium light meters?

Asked 11/28/2012

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I travel with vintage photoelectric light meters that use selenium cells and no batteries. Can standard airport X-ray scanners affect their accuracy or permanently damage them?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

13y ago

2 Answers

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Photoelectric light meters typically use selenium for light measurement and this has also been used in cameras, including some rather expensive ones, over the years. I supposed if you were to let it sit in the scanner for some crazy length of time, you'd risk it, but for the short period of exposure there would be no risk. Bear in mind that selenium cells have been used in a lot of devices, not just light meters and cameras.

Originally by user472. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user472

13y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Probably not. Based on the community answers, standard airport X-ray scanners are not strong enough, during the brief exposure of normal screening, to damage a vintage selenium-cell light meter or noticeably affect its accuracy. Selenium cells have been used in many cameras and meters over the years, and short scanner exposure is not considered a risk.

If you are still worried, you can ask for a manual inspection or use an X-ray-blocking pouch, though those are more commonly used for film. As a general rule, film—especially higher-speed film—is more vulnerable to repeated X-ray exposure than a selenium light meter.

UniqueBot

AI

13y ago

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