Radiographic Density

Radiographic density (AKA optical, photographic, or film density) is a measure of the degree of film darkening. Technically it should be called "transmitted density" when associated with transparent-base film since it is a measure of the light transmitted through the film. Radiographic density is the logarithm of two measurements: the intensity of light incident on the film (I0) and the intensity of light transmitted through the film (It). This ratio is the inverse of transmittance.

Similar to the decibel, using the log of the ratio allows ratios of significantly different sizes to be described using easy to work with numbers. The following table shows the relationship between the amount of transmitted light and the calculated film density.

Transmittance (It/I0) 1.0 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.0001 0.00001 0.000001 0.0000001

Percent Transmittance 100% 10% 1% 0.1% 0.01% 0.001% 0.0001% 0.00001%

Inverse of Transmittance (I0/It) 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 10000000

Film Density (Log(I0/It)) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Densitometer