PURPOSE: To shorten the cycle time of recording or reading, to evade the damage of a stimulative phosphor sheet and to prevent winding inclination in a standby zone from occurring by allowing the stimulative phosphor sheet where a residual image is erased to stand by at an erasing completion position.

CONSTITUTION: After the radiograph of an object which stands in front of a photographing board 30 is recorded on the stimulative phosphor sheet IP(a), the sheet IP(a) is displaced to a direction A and carried to an image reading part 24 through carrying systems 36 and 38. In the reading part 24, the sheet IP(a) is irradiated with a laser beam by an optical unit 44, and generated stimulated luminous light is condensed by a condensing unit 46 and converted into an electrical signal. Next, the sheet IP(a) whose image is finished being read is carried to an erasing part 26. The erasing part 26 erases the residual image by turning on a light source for erasing 54. Thereafter, the sheet IP(a) is carried to a standby part 50, allowed to stand by at the position of a sheet IP(c) and carried to a standby part 31 through the erasing part 26 and rolls 63 and 65 in accordance with the photographing circumstances of the preceding sheet.