Abstract: With a simulation method for backlighter radiography established in the paper, we study the effect of many non-ideal factors on the Abel density inversion of plastic target shell frequently used in inertial confinement fusion. These non-ideal factors include the pixel size of the recording screen, the spatial distribution of backlit intensity, the non-monochromatic spectra of backlighter source, the diffusion of pinholes and the shape of pinholes. The details of the density profile can be covered up by large size of pixel; the Gaussian backlighter intensity can result in lower density relative to real density profile and unphysical negative density; the density shows a certain deviation from real profile if the L-band of Mo is used as the backlighter source; the peak density can be decreased significantly by the diffusion effect if the thickness of the shell is smaller than the size of the pinhole, and the results can be improved if the Wiener filter is used to process the radiography. With the same area of pinholes, the peak density for the elliptical pinhole is smaller than that for the circular pinhole.