[en] A digitally controlled emittance measurement, data acquisition and processing system has been designed, implemented and used to determine emittances of negative ion beams extracted from high-intensity negative-ion sources equipped with cylindrical and spherical geometry cesium surface ionizers. Comparative studies indicate that the emittances of ion beams extracted from the source equipped with a spherical geometry ionizer are lower by 13% to 21% than those extracted from the source equipped with a cylindrical geometry ionizer. This difference may be attributable to geometric factors rather than differences in the sizes of the emission areas at the points of negative-ion generation. Studies reveal that the emittances of these sources are independent of ion mass for most of the materials investigated and independent of ion current over the range of ion currents used in these investigations (4μA to 12 μA)