Large Format X-Ray Photo

[MattKing]

Usually they come in a sleeve/envelope each sheet. How is that cheaper to package?

Because with X-ray film, it can be done under safelight, instead of absolute darkness.

 

[Nokton48]

18x24 Sinar Norma 300 Xenar F4.5 Rembrandt Lighting by Nokton48, on Flickr

The cool thing about having multiple Normas, is that you can leave them set up for a while. Getting ready to shoot this one. Classic Rembrandt Lighting, Broncolor Beauty Light pointed straight down from up high as possible. Silver reflector on the floor tilted towards the subject. Lens is 300mm chrome Schneider Xenar, on custom made Norma board. Xenars are lovely to shoot through at near full aperture. The focus blows out behind the front row of petals which I find attractive. Strobe meter says F22 at EI 50 so just one pop will do. Canvas Background is by David Maheu "Kelly Grey" Like it Stormy Grey middle key with no corner vignettes. I can vignette with light if required

I'll be shooting 18x24 Kodak Mammo film and I'm thinking of going back to using straight Microdol-X for a shorter time, like five minutes. Think "Pull Processing" XRAY film gets too hot easily and needs some chemical restraint. Nothing like big negs for contact printing direct. BTW you can see the Norma 18x24cm framelines on the glass so the film image will be cropped as such.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I know I posted this video on Photrio somewhere earlier this month. Makes more sense to post it here...

 

[MattKing]

I'm sure that the additional cost of the paper sleeves is hugely outweighed by the labor and quality control cost savings of being able to do packaging under safelight.

 

[gone]

I love that B&W flower shot Nokton48. This is something I'm moving towards, slowly. The LF images from X ray films have been amazingly good.

 

[Nokton48]

I love that B&W flower shot Nokton48. This is something I'm moving towards, slowly. The LF images from X ray films have been amazingly good.

Thanks Momus!

 

[choiliefan]

Is the Min-R film notched like regular sheet film?

 

[Nokton48]

Yep. See here upper right. The other side is completely different, so definately one sided. No antihalo backing here so a bit of "blooming" occurs, particularly point source highlights. I like that

Sinar Norma 18x24 Lisco Holders XRAY by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Carestream/Kodak mentions for his X-ray films, that one of the coatings (the one facing away from the luminescent foil, that would be the lens in our case) is coarser than the other. Could it be you removed the finer coating?

The side of the film that is facing the lens during exposure is slightly sharper. I've stripped both sides and scanned to check and see if there was much of a sharpness difference. The side facing the lens is slightly sharper...at least with the green latitude stuff I've been using from cxsonline.

 

[Donald Qualls]

The side of the film that is facing the lens during exposure is slightly sharper. I've stripped both sides and scanned to check and see if there was much of a sharpness difference. The side facing the lens is slightly sharper...at least with the green latitude stuff I've been using from cxsonline.

That's what I'd expect. Two reasons: first, that's the side you're focusing your image on; second, the light scatters a little as it passes through the first emulsion, resulting in loss of sharpness beyond just the defocus.

 

[Nokton48]

18x24 Mammo Sinar Norma 300 Xenar Arista No 2 RC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Second test of 18x24cm Kodak Min-R XRay film developed 18 minutes at 60F Straight replenished Legacy Mic-X. 300mm Schneider Xenar barrel lens AT f22 Yellow Filter. Four pops Broncolor C171 Beauty Light Contact Print 8x10 Arista #2 RC Multigrade dev. Again interesting how the red flowers go deep black.

 

[Donald Qualls]

18 minutes at 60C

Really sixty degrees Celsius??

 

[Nokton48]

Really sixty degrees Celsius??

60F ambient in my basement darkroom

 

[Donald Qualls]

60F ambient in my basement darkroom

Ah, that makes a lot more sense for the time given, as well.

 

[Algo después]

...just in case, someone around here has tried to make trichrome with x ray film ? it could this be the cheapest way to shoot in color?

Color images from B&W film...

Some of my images I've made over the last year. I've really enjoyed exploring and experimenting with the process. It's fascinating how it works and how you can use the technique to create images that are not picture postcards (but you can do that also). I would recommend to anyone playing with...

www.photrio.com

 

[Donald Qualls]

I doubt X-ray film will work well for tricolor -- even the "green sensitive" has very low if any red sensitivity. I haven't seen that video, but I expect he had to use a huge filter factor for the red channel, if not just bring it down to orange (which would give somewhat "off" color in the final product).

Given the effort involved, especially for 4x5, I doubt this is worth the cost saving compared to $6 a sheet for Portra 160 or E100. Especially if you routinely process your own C-41 in smaller formats anyway.

 

[DWThomas]

For what its worth, toward the bottom of this post of mine in the WPPD thread (Fuji HR-T has been my goto film for large format pinhole work) I illustrate an interesting effect apparently related to the non-panchromatic properties of the film.

 

[grat]

In the video, the film used had a slight red response, even though it's technically an ortho film. And yes, he had to expose for a reaaaaly long time to get anything on the red channel.

 

[bnxvs]

Perhaps it makes sense to make a positive out of the "red" negative. And apply the holotyping technique to it in order to reduce the density. Mixing the original negative and the resulting positive may provide additional information. Perhaps... !!!

 

[Nokton48]

18x24 Mammo Shortie Sawed Off Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is a test shot (my Shorty Norma) French Kodak 18x24cm Mammo Film, processed in D23 1:1. Taking camera is my new Annie/Avedon inspired 8x10 Norma. I applied 30 degrees of front and rear swing, the Norma original recessed lensboard is sharp all the way across the field. I like how the DOF drops off with the 360mm f5.6 Norma Symmar. There appears to be highlight blooming, which I find kind of attractive. Best thing about this film was that it was not at all expensive. And I have a lot of it

My "Shorty Sawed-Off Norma" has a basic rail cut down, to just accomodate a 120mm lens. Here it is shown with the 47mm f8 Super Angulon, which I am looking forward to using a lot with 2x3 and 6x9. This is not a telephoto camera, but I can easily lift and carry it with one hand without strain. The lowly Star-D tripod is sturdy enough with this setup, given proper time to settle down. I cut both ends off a basic Norma rail with my Lil Machine Shop Bandsaw. So it is now simply a hollow tube perfect length for Field and Architecture.

 

[Cholentpot]

18x24 Mammo Shortie Sawed Off Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is a test shot (my Shorty Norma) French Kodak 18x24cm Mammo Film, processed in D23 1:1. Taking camera is my new Annie/Avedon inspired 8x10 Norma. I applied 30 degrees of front and rear swing, the Norma original recessed lensboard is sharp all the way across the field. I like how the DOF drops off with the 360mm f5.6 Norma Symmar. There appears to be highlight blooming, which I find kind of attractive. Best thing about this film was that it was not at all expensive. And I have a lot of it

My "Shorty Sawed-Off Norma" has a basic rail cut down, to just accomodate a 120mm lens. Here it is shown with the 47mm f8 Super Angulon, which I am looking forward to using a lot with 2x3 and 6x9. This is not a telephoto camera, but I can easily lift and carry it with one hand without strain. The lowly Star-D tripod is sturdy enough with this setup, given proper time to settle down. I cut both ends off a basic Norma rail with my Lil Machine Shop Bandsaw. So it is now simply a hollow tube perfect length for Field and Architecture.

That's clean.

 

[Bronson Dugnutt]

Perhaps it makes sense to make a positive out of the "red" negative. And apply the holotyping technique to it in order to reduce the density. Mixing the original negative and the resulting positive may provide additional information. Perhaps... !!!

In the video, the film used had a slight red response, even though it's technically an ortho film. And yes, he had to expose for a reaaaaly long time to get anything on the red channel.

Realistically, this was a test of the filter's efficiency rather than any red sensitivity of the film. Most filters aren't going to block 100.00% of the non-red light. Adding any sort of longer wavelength response to a b&w emulsion requires additional chemistry and incidental sensitivity is pretty unlikely. Ultraviolet, however, is another matter as alt process printers and emulsion makers can attest.

18x24 Mammo Shortie Sawed Off Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is a test shot (my Shorty Norma) French Kodak 18x24cm Mammo Film, processed in D23 1:1. Taking camera is my new Annie/Avedon inspired 8x10 Norma. I applied 30 degrees of front and rear swing, the Norma original recessed lensboard is sharp all the way across the field. I like how the DOF drops off with the 360mm f5.6 Norma Symmar. There appears to be highlight blooming, which I find kind of attractive. Best thing about this film was that it was not at all expensive. And I have a lot of it

Never tried any mammo films myself, but recently used my 2nd to last sheet of double-sided green HR-U for a 35mm enlargement. It's outstanding stuff if you can cope with the foibles. I'm hoping to use a few sheets from the next box (along with litho film) to create enlarged internegatives from 16mm slides. Possibly for contact printing, but mostly just because.

My avatar is from an 8x10 x-ray exposure... gotta shoot more film!

 

[Nokton48]

That's clean.

Thanks Cholenpot. I shoot multiples and print the cleanest one.

 

[Cholentpot]

Thanks Cholenpot. I shoot multiples and print the cleanest one.

Everything I shoot is full of scratches...

 

[grat]

Realistically, this was a test of the filter's efficiency rather than any red sensitivity of the film. Most filters aren't going to block 100.00% of the non-red light. Adding any sort of longer wavelength response to a b&w emulsion requires additional chemistry and incidental sensitivity is pretty unlikely. Ultraviolet, however, is another matter as alt process printers and emulsion makers can attest.

The video went through all of this-- his red 25A filter goes down to 590nm, the film goes up to 610nm, so there's 20nm worth of "red" at a very low sensitivity to work with, and as far as I know, Rollei Ortho 25 is one of the few ortho films that go as high as 610nm.