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Phase One multispectral camera on a copy stand, under red lighting
Equipment· Phase One

Multispectral analysis

Phase One Rainbow – information invisible to the human eye, with a single camera system

  • VIS
  • IRR
  • IRRFC
  • UVRFC
  • UVL
  • UVR
  • UVIL
  • VIL
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Since 2018 Tripont has been the Phase One Cultural Heritage regional knowledge centre: lab, training and support in one place. The group has purchased Phase One’s multispectral system.

The new Phase One Rainbow process makes it possible to use several multispectral imaging technologies with a single camera system.

The essence of the technology is that light sources emitting in different spectral ranges, combined with suitable filters, reveal information in the digital images that is invisible to the human eye.

Phase One Rainbow multispectral system: camera on a copy stand, with filtered light sources on both sides
Multispectral image sequence

A Bruegel painting beyond visible light

Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The Strife of Lent with Shrove-Tide (1550–1562, oil on panel, 25 × 34 cm; Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen) – the full image and details in the visible, ultraviolet and infrared ranges. Video: Phase One.

Eight captures in different spectral ranges

During the analysis, eight images are taken in different spectral ranges.

  1. VISvisible-reflectedimaging under visible light
  2. IRRinfrared-reflectedimaging under infrared illumination
  3. IRRFCinfrared-reflected false colorinfrared illumination, shown in false colour. (False-colour display means that we represent bandwidths other than the visible red, green and blue components that make up the image on the display, so that wavelengths invisible to the human eye can also be visualised.)
  4. UVRFCultraviolet-reflected false colorultraviolet illumination, shown in false colour
  5. UVLultraviolet-induced visible luminescenceimaging of visible luminescence induced by ultraviolet light
  6. UVRultraviolet-reflectedimaging under ultraviolet illumination
  7. UVILUV light with IR pass filterimaging of ultraviolet illumination through an infrared filter
  8. VILvisible-induced infrared luminescenceinfrared luminescence induced by visible light
Black-and-white image of a handwritten document, processed from a multispectral capture and made legible
The same manuscript detail captured in different spectral ranges, side by side

Applications of multispectral analysis

  • Authentication of art treasures and paintings
  • Studying painters’ techniques
  • Art-historical research
  • Revealing alterations
  • Making scraped-off handwriting visible
  • Criminal investigation
  • Forensic examinations
A stained, damaged old photograph of a couple in visible light (VIS)
The same photograph under ultraviolet light (UVR): details emerge from behind the stains
VISUVR

Drag the slider: the same old photograph in visible light (VIS) and under ultraviolet light (UVR).

PCA-processed false-colour multispectral image: lines and marks on a sketch that are invisible to the eye
Videos

Multispectral imaging in practice

Phase One Rainbow multispectral imaging system (Phase One)
Charter digitisation for the National Archives of Hungary (Tripont)
Multispectral imaging: an important digitisation tool in the 21st century (Phase One)
Enquiry

Interested in this device?

Request a tailored quote, or arrange an online demonstration with our specialists.

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