Digital pictures of x-rays??

[mlellis]

hi all...im new here and i have a random question.....does anyone know how to take digital pictures of radiographs?? i work at a vets office ane we are trying to keep digital records of x-rays....it's kind of hard to get them to turn out well because you have to take the pictures while the films are on the light table (otherwise the details do not show up) but im thinking that the pictures are not turning out sharp because even the dark parts of the xrays are somewhat transparent....if anyone has any suggestions i would be thrilled!

[mwfanelli]

hi all...im new here and i have a random question.....does anyone know how to take digital pictures of radiographs?? i work at a vets office ane we are trying to keep digital records of x-rays....it's kind of hard to get them to turn out well because you have to take the pictures while the films are on the light table (otherwise the details do not show up) but im thinking that the pictures are not turning out sharp because even the dark parts of the xrays are somewhat transparent....if anyone has any suggestions i would be thrilled!

Have you tried using a scanner instead? Place the x-ray on a white piece of paper of the same size. That should scan well.

Or, spend the big bucks and get a digital x-ray machine! :-)

[mjs1973]

I tried scanning an X-ray with a flatbed scanner a few years ago, but I couldn't get a good scan to save my life. I've been meaning to put it on my light box to take a pic of it, but haven't gotten to it yet. I have taken photos of slides on my light box without any problems, so I don't know why the X-ray would be a problem. I will try it tonight and see what I get.

[Lionheart]

We use a UMAX x-ray scanner at the office. Not sure what model, but it's dedicated specifically for xray scanning, although it will scan other documents as well. As far as taking photos, you need a very good light box or light table with very even distribution of light to the edges. You'll need a small table top tripod to mount your camera, as close to 90 degrees to the film plane as possible. Shoot at the lowest ISO speed available, and shoot at least 2 stops below wide open on the aperture, white balance should be set for flourescent lighting (since most light boxes are flourescent) or auto white balance works just fine as well. I've done it this way a few times on xrays that came in from outside offices (referalls or second opinions) when the flatbed scanner wasn't immediately available and I was in a rush. It works fairly well too. I recommend using a scanner if you do a lot of this. That way your scans go directly to the computer where you have immediate control over organizing and naming the images.
Leon

[mjs1973]

The lightbox works pretty good. Here are a couple that I just shot. Hey, this is also my first self portrait!!!

[SmartWombat]

hi all...im new here and i have a random question.....does anyone know how to take digital pictures of radiographs?? i work at a vets office ane we are trying to keep digital records of x-rays....it's kind of hard to get them to turn out well because you have to take the pictures while the films are on the light table (otherwise the details do not show up) but im thinking that the pictures are not turning out sharp because even the dark parts of the xrays are somewhat transparent....if anyone has any suggestions i would be thrilled!

Scanning won't do it, unless you have a huge transparency scanner !
You might be able to rig up a light box on top of a scanner to illuminate the film from behind, but you'd probably also have to disable the internal light and just use the transmitted light.
I know there are some (expensive) scanners that have this buiilt in, our Agfa in the marketing department can do it..

Otherwise, the contrast range of X-Ray film will probably exceed what your digital camera can capture. JPEG is limited to 8-bit so it can't store all that you captured in RAW..
Either you ned to expose for the area of interest, or use 16-bit TIFF instead of 8-bit after converting from RAW.
If you already have a diagnosis, I'd say expose to show that diagnosis initially.
If you want to capture the full range, either whoot RAW or take who shots exposed for sshadow and highlight and merge them in photoshop CS2 HDR format.

DICOM was the clinical imaging exchange standard last time I wrote software for that, if you want ot exchange the omages with other centres later then it may be worth looking for software for that.

While I worked in a clinical imaging unit we never scanned X-Rays. Still used Film !
The body scanners stored the images and we archived everything on optical disk. But for diagnostics still printed film using dedicated laser units. It has a greater contrast range than monitors, and it's what doctors are used to. You can also view it anywhere there's a (cheap) light box rather than having to have imaging stations everywhere.

[mlellis]

Thanks so much guys.....im going to try a few things...we don't really need anything super clear right now...just toying with the idea of getting everything stored digitally as well as the films....we take alot of clients from other vets and the main reason for the digital xrays is ease of email....probably not ready to spend a ton of money though..so ill give these a try!!

[Loupey]

OK, Michael, I've got to ask - just how did you get a nail stuck in your thumb?! I usually hit mine with the hammer, not the nail

Share please. I assume a nail gun? But you missed.

[photo08]

Hi everyone....
Im a dentist & dont have a digital xray machine at my office...Also i dnt have a ViewBOx-my boss doesnt recommend it due to economic constrains..
I use Canon A 95 camera & these are the pics i took withut having a Viewbox,,,,bt it s not clear at all.... now what to do -how to get digitla x ray pics without having a ViewBox.??

[mjs1973]

OK, Michael, I've got to ask - just how did you get a nail stuck in your thumb?! I usually hit mine with the hammer, not the nail

Share please. I assume a nail gun? But you missed.

Hey Loupey,

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. I was holding one end of a very long boad at the very peak of a roof. The board was going to be the facia of the building and was being nailed under the overhang of the roof. I had to lay down on the roof to hold the board in place, but it was pretty heavy so I had to hold it with both hands. My friends sister was on the roof, so I asked her to nail it in place. She did, but the gun jumped and fired a second nail that stuck in my thumb. I didn't realy feel it, but it did make me jump, which really scared her.

It didn't hurt or bleed at all. I tried to pull it out myself, but couldn't get it. The guys who's building we were working on is an EMT so he came up on the roof to look at it. He said to leave it and he'd take me to the hospital. As I started to climb down the later using just my uninjured hand, he started down right on top of me, stepping on my good hand! I made him stop and get a camera on the way to the hospital to take some pics. He drove, I took the pics, but they didn't turn out all that well. The Dr. gave me a pain killer (still didn't hurt tho), pulled the nail out, flushed the hole out real good, and sent me home.

[SmartWombat]

now what to do -how to get digitla x ray pics without having a ViewBox.??

1) Get a light box.
2) Make a light box.
3) For small x-rays likt the one you showed, put them in a slide mount and use a slide copier attachment

[photo08]

thanks for the reply..
how to make a Light Box..?? :cryin:
whats a slide mount & slide copier attachment..??

my camera is Canon A 95...Do help me out..

regards.....

[jewels]

wow that's a lot of work just to have a digital back up of an x ray. As a x-ray tech, I used to use a dedicated x-ray film scanner (which accepted 8x10,10x12 and 14x17), it took long time to get a good scan. Nowadays, those $10k film scanners are worth nothing as every facility is/will be going filmless. (?ebay) as long as it isn't dicom you might be able to pick up a used one and rig it to a computer, back then not everything was dicom compatible. I will take home an x ray and try to scan it on my Canon flatbed scanner and see what bone detail comes up. -jewels