Summary
The manufacturers of photographic plates and films usually illustrate the spectral sensitivity of their material by means of wedge spectrograms. Such a spectrogram shows a wavelength scale and a dark surface (at the negative), extending to varied heights, perpendicular to the scale. These ordinate values are, however, functions of the wavelength distribution of the light source as well as of the spectral sensitivity of the material. By suitable filters, the light source can be made iso-energetic, and the spectrogram then shows directly the sensitivity to light as a function of the wavelength.
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References
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Bäckström, H. The wedge spectrograph and the colour sensitivity of photographic plates and films. Appl. Sci. Res. 4, 43–48 (1955). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02316468
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02316468