How are plain film (standard radiograph) images captured?
Standard radiographs can be digitized by either a video camera or a film scanner. Video cameras (commonly referred to as a “camera on a stick”) were in fact the method of digitizing any image for transmission as recently as five years ago. Typical camera systems utilize a light box designed to illuminate radiographs, an extension arm for holding the camera above the film, and a high-sensitivity video camera with a zoom lens. This is an inexpensive but poor-quality method of image acquisition. Film scanners and digitizers arrived on the teleradiology scene a few years ago. There are two basic types of film scanners: (1) CCD (charge coupled device) digitizers and (2) laser digitizers. There is considerable debate about which technology is superior. Laser digitizers seem to be perceived as providing better images; CCD digitizers seem to be perceived as offering more value for the money. Certainly, CCD technology has improved considerably over the past few years, and today high quality CCD
