A densitometer is a measuring device used in the printing industry to measure the density or optical density of printing inks or films. The density refers to the light absorption of a printing ink on a printing surface or a light passage in a transparent film and is a measure of the colour intensity or concentration.
Reflected light densitometers measure prints or photographic prints, while transmitted light densitometers measure films for printing plates or screen printing, slide films and negative films.
Compared to a colourimeter or spectrophotometer, however, a densitometer can only measure tonal values, but not colour tones; they are virtually colour-blind.
A densitometer usually consists of a light-sensitive device, a light source, a reading head and a display or measuring device.
Important for the proof: Although densitometers can measure colour densities, two identical colour densities do not necessarily have the same colour impression. Densitometrically measured values from a proof cannot be compared with the same values on an offset print, a print cannot be densitometrically adjusted to the values of the proof.
Densitometers from Techkon are widely used in the pressroom.
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