Large Format X-Ray Photo

Cholentpot

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Here's a few more,


Century Graphic 2x3. Developed in D-76 1:1 for 8 min.


This one was way over exposed but I was able to recover most of it in Lightroom. f/8, 1/300 also D76 1:1 for 8 min.

 

NB23

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Guys, what about freezing the film and then cut it? Would that help against scratches?

Film thawes quite fast... but cutting three 8x10 sheets into 4x5 while its in frozen/cold state seems reasonable, and it would result into 12 sheets. Enough for a session.
 

Vaughn

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8x10 x-ray film developed at the hospital. Platinum/palladium prints.

The boys were playing in the dirt and I had them come over one at a time.

PS -- I have cut 14x17 x-ray film down to 7x17 with a rotary cutter. Nice being able to have the safe light on. I believe I put a piece of paper down first on the rotary cutter to avoid scratches.
 

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Cholentpot

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I think I'm getting the scratches during the loading and unloading of the sheet holders. I don't think I'm getting them during cutting.

Or.

I was thinking about scratches and somehow the film was insulted and scratched itself out of spite.
 
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Nokton48

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Cholenpot,

With the Fuji HRU double sided (twice as likely to scratch two sides!) I'm not getting any scratches at all while loading and cutting. Zero. With the Graphmatics I even cycle the back through a couple of times looking for scratches and dust. There are none of either, but in case of dust I carefully blow it off the plate. No scratches at all ever.

As soon as it is wet, it's a different ball game. I have decided I don't want to touch it with anything, I mean anything. So I use the cheap dental clips and smooth bottomed Cesco trays, the dental clips elevate the sheets -slightly- above the bottom of the tray, so it -never- contacts the bottom. If you touch it at all with anything it's game over.

HRU Fixing Step Dental Clips 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

HRU Wash Step Dental Clips 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Paterson made nice plastic print forceps and I bought a bunch of them for moving the XRay film around. Everybody works differently but I'm not changing anything with this process, I am not getting any scratches at all if I am diligent. Scratches are rare but can still happen. This is super delicate uber delicate emulsion when wet. Tanks haven't worked for me it scratches coming in and out
 
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Vaughn

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Big sheets (8x10 to 7x17) I developed in trays and kept the sheets off the bottom of the tray. Some folks have used a sheet of glass on the bottom of the tray for a smooth surface.
 

Cholentpot

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You're saying the Stearman is scratching my film? Come to think of it, the taco method kept the film cleaner. However the 2x3 shouldn't be scratching using the method that I use. I think I'm just rough with the film loading and unloading. I'm new to it so I have not figured out all the ins and outs.
 
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Nokton48

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Could be. I bought an SP445 and it's not gone well for me. But perhaps it works well for you? Everybody works differently
 
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Nokton48

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Kodak 1A Grey Bullet Safelight 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

This one is the Lowes red LED with Kodak 1A red filter. This is 6-7 feet above my film cutting area and -ZERO nada- fog with MIN-R and HRU. Bright enough to comfortably cut film with no issues whatsoever. Thanks to Jason Lane for steering me to this thingee. Not inexpensive but it works great. I think Jason uses this to coat his ASA 25 Speed dry plates. His old safelight would fog the high speed plate emulsion. So if it works for coating, it will work for loading and developing.

Kodak 1A Grey Bullet Safelight 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

And this second one is 6-7 feet above my developer tray and again -ZERO nada- fogging of HRU, MINR, and Ilford 50 ASA Ortho. Routinely I go as long as twenty minutes in the dev tray, lifting the neg out of the cesco flat bottomed tray by the dental clips, to carefully inspect the deep shadow areas.

This is the red 3w LED from Lowes. Road tested by me.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Energetic-Watt-EQ-A19-Red-LED-Light-Bulb/1000623747
 
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Nokton48

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Loading 13 6.5x9 Makina Holders HRU by Nokton48, on Flickr

I have a lot of old sheets of 6.5cmx9cm sheet film in a variety of flavors. I used a sheet of this vintage stuff to set up a "fence" for cutting the Fuji HRU XRAY with my Rototrim cutter. After I cut down a scrap sheet of HRU and test fit it, it is easy to load these dinky Makina holders. I'm doing thirteen to start and that's a good amount to carry around with my Makina II, my favorite Makina. Cool thing is I can shoot handheld, about 1/100 at f6.0 in full sun with yellow Makina filter. Plaubel used to call the Makina "The World's smallest Large Format Camera". I will agree with that
 
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Nokton48

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Handheld HRU 200th F6 Med Yello MicX by Nokton48, on Flickr

Made another couple tests yesterday, decreasing exposure by one and two stops.

Handheld Fuji HRU Plaubel Makina II 1/200 f6.0 Plaubel Yellow filter Mic-X 12 minutes 5x7 Aristo #2 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion head Multigrade dev. Plaubel Makina sheet film holder was utilized.

Key Day Full Sun. Great I can shoot handheld with XRay film. The Makina II is getting to be my favorite Makina. Plaubel used to market it as "The World's Smallest View Camera". I will agree with those sentiments after using it for a while.
 
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Nokton48

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Two 13x18cm HRU in 11x14 Tray by Nokton48, on Flickr

Presently the largest size HRU i have attempted has been 4x5 which I enlarge to 8x10. Now I am getting started with 13x18cm for several reasons. I have a number of original 13x18cm Sinar Norma film holders, and cutting down an 8x10 sheet, I can get one 13x18cm, and three 6.5x9 sheets with just a small amount of scrap left. So I get all that for 32 cents a sheet which to me is a great deal. Presently I have loaded six 13x18cm holders and it is pretty easy to do for me. Never any scratches yet while the film is dry. When it is wet that is another story.

So now I have ordered four 11x14 Cesco trays from B&H cause I am moving up in film size. Extra XRay dental clips are required as you can see. The purpose is twofold; A) Keep the sheet completely off the bottom of the tray where is will smudge or abrade during agitation. B) Keep the sheets from moving around when agitating, bumping into each other which causes major scratching. Touch this stuff when it is wet, and it's game over. With a bit of due diligence and extra care you can produce perfect sheets without any scratching whatsoever. Yes I scratch sheets but that's my fault not the film.

I can fit 16x20 trays in my Delta Sink but there is no room for washing and big is very cumbersome. Large Deep tanks are in my future but not quite yet. Cesco trays are great for small film runs.

I'm using Paterson trays to mock up and to see how the sink fills up. I think I have enough room for this including washing.
 

Cholentpot

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I just developed some MIN-R last night night. I had cut it down to 2x3 and shot out of a Century Graphic.

In order to cut down on scratches I did a semi stand of 1:200 rodinal for 15 min with a flip at around 7 min. Negatives look a bit thin, I'll know how they came out when I scan.
 

MattKing

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Nokton48

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Abandoned Orchard Apple Tree HRU Maki 210 Heliar by Nokton48, on Flickr

In my neighborhood there are remnants of the apple orchard that stretched for a good distance many decades ago. At the back of my property is one of the original trees, now gone wild.

Plaubel Makiflex Standard, 210mm Makiflex Auto Iris Heliar, Fuji XRAY HRU 4x5" cut from 8x10. Grafmatic Film Back, Sinar 103mm Glass Disc Yellow Green. 1/15 at F5.6 Legacy Mic-X 18 minutes at 60C. Aristo #2 8x10 Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion Head Multigrade dev
 

Wayne

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They must be just cutting down larger formats.
 

Donald Qualls

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Wayne said:
They must be just cutting down larger formats.
Click to expand...

I'm certain they are; I've never found X-ray film smaller than 8x10 unless it was those little dental tabs (barely a 35mm frame).

Honestly, for that price, I'm not sure there's anything gained (other than the fun of trying a new film stock that you can tray develop under red safelight, of course). Costs the same per sheet as Fomapan 100.
 

Wayne

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And costs 10 times more than cutting down your own.
 

Donald Qualls

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Wayne said:
And costs 10 times more than cutting down your own.
Click to expand...

Well, but doesn't carry the learning curve waste -- learning to cut your own without scratching, getting the dimensions right (film needs to be smaller than its nominal size to fit the film holders), avoiding safelight fogging, fingerprints, dust...

But I don't see any reason to pay as much for X-ray film (still subject to all of the above before it arrived in my mailbox, plus several of those hazards in my own handling) as I would for a faster panchromatic film. I can throw on a minus-red or blue filter if I want the "look" of the spectral limitations.
 

Andrew O'Neill

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Double-sided x-ray has a very different look and feel than panchromatic films. That's probably down to it being double-sided, and no AH layer. I'm not fond of the single-sided stuff, though.
 
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