(not so) News: some lenses may be radioactive...

[Gabriel M.A.]

The following Petapixel posting: http://petapixel.com/2013/05/03/dec...dioactive-especially-if-theyre-made-by-kodak/ ...


(finally) states in its last paragraph:

But don’t worry too much. Even if you spot one of your lenses on the list, you probably won’t need to invest in a Geiger counter.

Phhheew! Surely the Twitter Era Readers will get through the whole article; I'd hate to see power readers take the headline as a call to raise the alarm.

What they should really make a point of making (split sentence in infinitive made, almost) is that you should never smash or dispose of in the trash!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Original papers on the subject: D. Frydman and N. Wright, The British Journal of Photography, 20 March pp 330-332 and 344, and 29 October 1987, pp 1280-1281

"Hot Glass - Could your lens be radioactive?" by Roger W. Hicks, Shutterbug magazine, July 1997, page 206.

More research has been done since, so you won't get the full story from the above, but yes, some lenses are 'hot' -- I even created an autoradiograph with (as far as I recall) an Aero Ektar.

Cheers,

R.

 

[raid]

I once borrowed a Geiger counter! When set to "sensitive", the meter was moving.

 

[JRminox]

Grand'Ma alarm clock was radio active too, may be that's why she died at 94.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Wait till they raise the alarm on cosmic rays during plane travels.