Decrease exposure, increase dilution or decrease development?

drgoose · Apr 24, 2016

So I was shooting Fuji HR X ray film at EI of 50 and developing it on trays using PMK pyro 1+2+100 for 7 minutes and ending up with scratch negatives but with good density. I recently acquired some tanks and hangers and because PMK pyro oxidizes in minutes it would be really expensive to make 15 liters every time I want to develop a couple of sheets of film so I decided to give Dektol a try. I dove into the thread from Hell (only 400 and some pages of X ray thread) on the large format photography forum and found some people using Dektol 1:10 for 6 minutes so I decided to give it a go. I exposed my sheet again at EI 50 and then developed it in the tank one sheet for 5 minutes and one for 8. I ended up with one bullet proof negative and one kryptonite proof negative so my question is what is the next logical step?

-Decrease my EI to 100 or 200
-Increase my Dektol dilution to 1:20
-I really don't want to decrease my time to less than 5 minutes.

Thanks in advance....
Joaquin

Gerald C Koch · Apr 24, 2016

Your talking about two different things. Exposure builds density. Development builds contrast. You can't correct for one by adjusting the other. You first need to establish an EI for this film. The one you determined for PMk would be a good start. Then determine a development time.

I have not worked with x-ray film but Dektol is not usually considered a film developer. Something like DK-50 might be a better choice.

RalphLambrecht · Apr 24, 2016

drgoose said:
So I was shooting Fuji HR X ray film at EI of 50 and developing it on trays using PMK pyro 1+2+100 for 7 minutes and ending up with scratch negatives but with good density. I recently acquired some tanks and hangers and because PMK pyro oxidizes in minutes it would be really expensive to make 15 liters every time I want to develop a couple of sheets of film so I decided to give Dektol a try. I dove into the thread from Hell (only 400 and some pages of X ray thread) on the large format photography forum and found some people using Dektol 1:10 for 6 minutes so I decided to give it a go. I exposed my sheet again at EI 50 and then developed it in the tank one sheet for 5 minutes and one for 8. I ended up with one bullet proof negative and one kryptonite proof negative so my question is what is the next logical step?

-Decrease my EI to 100 or 200
-Increase my Dektol dilution to 1:20
-I really don't want to decrease my time to less than 5 minutes.

Thanks in advance....
Joaquin

I would give less exposure first.Then, I'd try increasing the Dektol dilution.

Decrease exposure, increase dilution or decrease development?

drgoose

Gerald C Koch

RalphLambrecht

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