T h e development of photoelectric devices has occasioned considerable changes in all types of instrument in which intensities are measured or compared. These devices are directly sensitive to flux and the optical systems used with them must be designed accordingly. At very low intensities the photomultiplier cell allows a light flux of only a few quanta per second to be measured and the theoretical limitations and practical arrangements are discussed. In the ultra-violet spectrum, the photoelectric technique must be revised, but efficient detectors for the whole region are known and some are described. Infra-red detection requires recourse to the ' internal ' photoelectric effect in semiconductors, and the properties of the most important detectors of the class are briefly described.f T h e efficiency of the eye and the photographic plate will be compared with that of photoelectric devices in 6 7 .