Color Scanner

in printing, an electronic device that automatically eliminates imperfections in color separation detected during the preparation of colored images from drawings, paintings, and photographs. In a color scanner the luminous flux from an electron-beam tube is divided by an optical system into three beams that scan in synchrony (corresponding to the number of negatives being corrected). The beams pass through the negatives, which attenuate their brightness to varying degrees, and then strike photoelectric devices. The signals produced are fed to a computer, which determines the amount of correction needed for the light beams as they are projected onto a photographic film. As a result, corrected color-separated diapositives are created on the film. Color scanners are usually produced as one section of a device that performs color separation and color correction at the same time.