An inspection apparatus to inspect a ceramic honeycomb body , the apparatus comprising: a light source configured to direct light toward a first face of the ceramic honeycomb body into channels of the ceramic honeycomb body , wherein the portion of the light that is transmitted through the channels of the ceramic honeycomb body is emitted from a second face of the ceramic honeycomb body; a lens configured to receive at least a portion of the light transmitted through channels of the ceramic honeycomb body ; an imaging device configured to capture images of the transmitted light ; a support chuck configured to support the honeycomb body ; and a controller configured to control the support chuck to increment the ceramic honeycomb body by angular increments from previous positions to new positions, receive the captured images corresponding to each new position, analyze each captured image by calculating an average intensity of the transmitted light at each new position, and compare the average light intensity at each new position to a stored value of the average of transmitted light intensity at the previous position to establish the position at which the average light intensity of the transmitted light is maximized, said position being an alignment angle, adjust the support chuck based on the analysis to align the channels and the lens optical axis to each other at the alignment angle. a light source configured to direct light toward a first face of the ceramic honeycomb body into channels of the ceramic honeycomb body , wherein the portion of the light that is transmitted through the channels of the ceramic honeycomb body is emitted from a second face of the ceramic honeycomb body; a lens configured to receive at least a portion of the light transmitted through channels of the ceramic honeycomb body ; an imaging device configured to capture images of the transmitted light ; a support chuck configured to support the honeycomb body ; and a controller configured to control the support chuck to increment the ceramic honeycomb body by angular increments from previous positions to new positions, receive the captured images corresponding to each new position, analyze each captured image by calculating an average intensity of the transmitted light at each new position, and compare the average light intensity at each new position to a stored value of the average of transmitted light intensity at the previous position to establish the position at which the average light intensity of the transmitted light is maximized, said position being an alignment angle, adjust the support chuck based on the analysis to align the channels and the lens optical axis to each other at the alignment angle. control the support chuck to increment the ceramic honeycomb body by angular increments from previous positions to new positions, receive the captured images corresponding to each new position, analyze each captured image by calculating an average intensity of the transmitted light at each new position, and compare the average light intensity at each new position to a stored value of the average of transmitted light intensity at the previous position to establish the position at which the average light intensity of the transmitted light is maximized, said position being an alignment angle, adjust the support chuck based on the analysis to align the channels and the lens optical axis to each other at the alignment angle. <EOS>