Abstract: Optical apparatus incorporating a lighting source capable of providing a substantial equal irradiance at each point of an image plane for use in backlighting transparencies during their reproduction and recordation. There is also disclosed and claimed apparatus using the lighting source to produce for the first time high quality electronic images in an analogue format of medical imagery originally or subsequently produced in a tangible form such as X-ray, CT, or MR images. There is further disclosed an integrated system providing apparatus for converting, storing, and retrieving images originally produced in tangible or intangible form that are subsequently converted to an analogue electronic format and stored in analogue format on an optical disc in an optical disc library. The system includes the apparatus for converting the tangible images into high quality electronic images and for converting digital images produced during CT or MR imaging or the like into a common analogue medium.