My dad is an X-Ray tech and he’s into photography too so he thought I’d get a kick out of hearing about the RadPRO he uses at work. It’s a portable X-Ray machine with a 17″x14″ sensor. Holy crap, I had to see this for myself!
Radiography and photography are pretty similar. The main difference is that radiography uses X-Rays instead of visible light. Because X-Rays aren’t normally traveling through air around us, the machines have to generate them.
It’s kinda like using an off-camera flash for every shot. Actually I guess there’s another main difference: instead of bouncing light off the subject and onto the sensor, X-Ray machines shoot the X-Rays through the subject and onto the sensor.
Bones and other dense stuff block the X-Rays while they pass through muscles and other soft tissues. That’s what lets you see what’s going on inside the body.
The X-Ray tube is on an arm that can be put into whatever position the tech needs. See, it’s just like putting a strobe on a magic arm! The RadPRO can shoot around 30 X-Rays before it needs to be recharged, and it can hold about 1500 images on its 120GB hard drive.
The sensor is corded and can be put pretty much anywhere. Dang that thing is huge! The sensor costs a quarter of a million dollars. Just the cord from the sensor to the machine costs two grand! No wonder going to the hospital costs so much.
Did I mention the RadPRO is made by Canon? RAD!
When shooting, the tech grabs the corded remote and hides behind a wall. I hope that wall has plenty of lead in it.
The RadPRO weighs 1225lbs so you can’t exactly put it on a shelf. They just park it in the hallway or in some other designated spot. It even has its own electric drive motor so the tech doesn’t have to wear himself out pushing the thing around the hospital.
I hope my dad doesn’t get in too much trouble for showing me around. Thanks dad!
.:Bohan
|