> It
may be, but CdS cells abound, and I don't see them going away
> anytime soon. There's so little cadmium in them that I really don't see
> it ever being a problem.
You and I know it's not a problem,. but that is
hargly going to satisfy
the non-scientific idiots we have in charge. I beleive that all CdS LDRs
are not RoHS compliant ;-(. This doesn;'t affect home constructios (at
least not in the UK), it does matter if you're going to use them commerially.
CdS cells have quite a few problems that have made them obsolete for
photographic purposes: temperature dependence, slow response and memory
effect. They need a significant time to adjust to a different level of
illumination to give a normal response. The response becoming non-linear
with age has also been reported. For a long time cameras have been using
silicon photodiodes instead.
As an example of the memory effect, the manual for a Durst darkroom
exposure meter, which I have just been given and which uses a CdS cell,
says to illuminate the CdS cell immediately beneath the lens of the
enlarger for 15-20 seconds before making a measurement.
They do work well all the same, most of my cameras that actually have an
exposure meter use CdS cells. And they seem to be easily available.
/Jonas