Large Format X-Ray Photo

[Cholentpot]

So here we go.

Crown Graphic, MIN-R shot at ISO 100 metered via Sunny 16, f/8, 1/100. Focused on O on the square the open sign using the rangefinder. Developed via the Taco method. Rodinal 1:100 in 800ml water. Did not test temp of water. 6:30 agitate with inversions every 30 seconds. Scanned with DSLR, 6 photos and merged in photoshop.

I'm pretty happy with it. Sure, it's not razor sharp but it's sharp where it needs to be maybe, need a higher shutter speed next time and slightly shorter development. I got some funny grins from people while doing this. It's not every say you see someone tromping around with a press camera I guess. At least no-one called the police.

I'm going to attempt an Instax later on.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Yeah, at least with a Graphic or similar people don't just assume you're a Chinese or Russian spy...

 

[Cholentpot]

Yeah, at least with a Graphic or similar people don't just assume you're a Chinese or Russian spy...

I was missing the hat and cigar though.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Yeah, gotta have the brown or gray fedora. And don't forget the big card stuck in the band, reading "PRESS".

 

[Nokton48]

HRU Fixing Step Dental Clips 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

I've decided to use these Dental Clips I bought on Ebay, to hold down two sheets in the Cesco flat bottomed trays, and keep them off the bottom, and keeping them from moving around (which scratches!)

Here two sheets are in the TD4 Fix

HRU Wash Step Dental Clips 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

• Here the two sheets are moving into the wash tray. This has caused a lot of grief, if a sheet touches ANYTHING it is scratched with HRU.
  
  The sheets are well distanced, off the bottom, and can get a decent wash with getting scratched.

HRU Dry Step Dental Clips 3 by Nokton48, on Flickr

When I go to the dry step, I move both clips to opposite ends. So the water can drain off properly.

I have made three runs this way, with only one teeny scratch (my fault, right in the middle of the image area).

Getting perfect sheets with HRU no defects is not an easy matter. So far I can see no reason not to continue tray processing in this way clean perfect negs result

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I've tried many different methods, and flat-bottomed trays are the way to go, especially for double-sided film.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Great. Have purple for Tmax and blue for Mammo.

I was 2/3 on exposures. One was possibly user error, I might have left the shutter preview lever open and pulled the darkslide. I did slice some more a little small so they're kind of loose in the holders. Live and learn. I can get two 4x5 and one 2x3 out of a good cutting. Film did not scratch horribly at least from the negatives viewed.

It would be nice if that blue cleared leaving a clear base, just like Tmax!

 

[Nokton48]

HRU Maki

flex Std Mic-X 240 f4.5 Tele-Arton by Nokton48, on Flickr

Plaubel Makiflex Standard camera 240mm F5.5 chrome barrel mount Schneider Tele-Arton at F22. One pop of Broncolor Pulso C171 monolight strobe with Broncolor Pulso Beauty Dish. No fill.

8x10 Fuji HR-U XRay film cut into 4x5s straight Microdol-X replenished in a tray development by inspection under custom red light. 4x5 Lisco Regal holder.

8x10 RC Aristo #2 Multigrade dev Omega DII with diffusion Omegalite head.

 

[Cholentpot]

HRU Maki

flex Std Mic-X 240 f4.5 Tele-Arton by Nokton48, on Flickr

Plaubel Makiflex Standard camera 240mm F5.5 chrome barrel mount Schneider Tele-Arton at F22. One pop of Broncolor Pulso C171 monolight strobe with Broncolor Pulso Beauty Dish. No fill.

8x10 Fuji HR-U XRay film cut into 4x5s straight Microdol-X replenished in a tray development by inspection under custom red light. 4x5 Lisco Regal holder.

8x10 RC Aristo #2 Multigrade dev Omega DII with diffusion Omegalite head.

I feel like I'm paying with my pop's power tools and you're all turning out handcrafted pieces. Nice work.


Crown Graphic, 135mm lens (the standard one) f/6.3ish, supposed to be 1/5th but I messed up or shutter messed up or something. Jobo Taco method, Rodinal 1:100, 6:30. Focused using the GG scanned with DSLR.

 

[Nokton48]

I feel like I'm paying with my pop's power tools and you're all turning out handcrafted pieces. Nice work.

Thanks Cholentpot

 

[bnxvs]

Something went wrong ... ((( Either the developer was too cold or the rinsing water was of poor quality. Small spots throughout the image field are not properties of the film itself. It's my mistake.
The drawing on the cup is blue. Strobe: umbrella and speedlight. Fuji HR-U, exposed as E.I. 200. Developer KGB-20 (homemade analogue of the new HC-110). 3 minutes, dilution 1:60.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Hmm. Emulsion pinholes, or microbubbles on the film surface in the developer for part of the time. Rinse water won't make light spots on the negative (to make dark on the positive). I presume your HC-110 clone doesn't use carbonate alkali, so gas bubbles from reaction with stop bath seems unlikely; I'm going to go with bubbles. They aren't dark enough on the scan to be dust on the negative at exposure time.

BTW, Google doesn't seem to know about KGB-20 developer -- can you link to your source? Or is it your invention?

 

[bnxvs]

This is definitely a processing error. I develop quite a lot of materials every day in this composition, this problem arose only in this particular case ... because of my negligence, of course. ))) Perhaps this is a defect in the film itself, since this particular sheet was inserted into the cassette about 4 months ago. All this time, the cassette was just lying on the table in the laboratory.
The developer is currently under testing. As soon as the results are finally stable, I will publish information on the composition, etc.
Here's a crop of an image from the same film and developer taken the day before (E.I. 200).

 

[Donald Qualls]

Nice. That's some fine, high resolution results.

I've had spots and mottling (light on the negative, dark on the print) on sheet film that sat in the holders for a decade or more, but I assumed that was due to condensation moving sensitizers, or a chemical reaction with the same end result. Mine were much bigger than that; easily visible to the naked eye and covering a substantial fraction of the negative. If the same film is okay when used within, say, a couple weeks of loading, it might be just a signal not to load your holders until shortly before they'll be used. Or it might actually be a coating defect in the film (those often will affect just a relatively tiny area, compared to a master roll, which is how they get past after-coating, after-cutting statistical tests to get out in the "wild" where you or I might encounter them).

 

[bnxvs]

Another picture from my tests. Fuji HR-U, P&S 3D printed camera, 4x5, E.I. 200, P.Gainer's Metolal 1+100, "Winter morning"

 

[Nokton48]

Another picture from my tests. Fuji HR-U, P&S 3D printed camera, 4x5, E.I. 200, P.Gainer's Metolal 1+100, "Winter morning"
View attachment 255925

Looks great! Nice lighting

 

[bnxvs]

Thank you!

 

[Cholentpot]

Might as well post the mistakes too...

Crown Graphic, Min-R Rodinal 1:100, 6 min using Stearman tank. Sheets got stuck together, live and learn. Getting far more scratches using the stearman than when I went for the taco method. I need to run a few dozen sheets through both methods and see which is best for Xray film.

 

[Nokton48]

HRU Filter test 1 YG 103mm Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

Procession of Clouds Filter Test #1

Sinar Norma Handy tripod mounted, 65mm F8 Super Angulon with Schneider 65mm F8 Center Filter. Fuji HRU XRay film 8x10 cut down to 4x5 in Graphmatic back. EV 8 2/3 ZIII Sinar Norma 103mm Yellow Green Glass Disc. F22 2/3 at 1 second EI 50. Tray developed by inspection under red safelight straight Microdol-X 12 minutes at 68F

Arista 8x10 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion Head Multigrade developer

HRU Filter test 2 Yellow Dark 103mm Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr




Procession of Clouds Filter Test #2

Sinar Norma Handy tripod mounted, 65mm F8 Super Angulon with Schneider 65mm F8 Center Filter. Fuji HRU XRay film 8x10 cut down to 4x5 in Graphmatic back. EV 8 1/3 ZIII Sinar Norma 103mm Yellow Green Glass Disc. F22 1/3 at 1 second EI 50. Tray developed by inspection under red safelight straight Microdol-X 12 minutes at 68F

Arista 8x10 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion Head Multigrade developer

HRU Filter test 3 Yellow Dark 103mm Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

Procession of Clouds Filter Test #3

Sinar Norma Handy tripod mounted, 65mm F8 Super Angulon with Schneider 65mm F8 Center Filter. Fuji HRU XRay film 8x10 cut down to 4x5 in Graphmatic back. EV 8 1/3 ZIII Sinar Norma 103mm Yellow Green Glass Disc. F22 1/3 at 1 second EI 50. Tray developed by inspection under red safelight straight Microdol-X 12 minutes at 68F

Arista 8x10 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion Head Multigrade developer

HRU Filter test 4 Yellow Dark 103mm Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

Procession of Clouds Filter Test #4

Sinar Norma Handy tripod mounted, 65mm F8 Super Angulon with Schneider 65mm F8 Center Filter. Fuji HRU XRay film 8x10 cut down to 4x5 in Graphmatic back. EV 8 1/3 ZIII Sinar Norma 103mm Yellow Green Glass Disc. F22 1/3 at 1 second EI 50. Tray developed by inspection under red safelight straight Microdol-X 12 minutes at 68F

Arista 8x10 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion Head Multigrade develope

 

[Cholentpot]

HRU Filter test 1 YG 103mm Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

Procession of Clouds Filter Test #1

Sinar Norma Handy tripod mounted, 65mm F8 Super Angulon with Schneider 65mm F8 Center Filter. Fuji HRU XRay film 8x10 cut down to 4x5 in Graphmatic back. EV 8 2/3 ZIII Sinar Norma 103mm Yellow Green Glass Disc. F22 2/3 at 1 second EI 50. Tray developed by inspection under red safelight straight Microdol-X 12 minutes at 68F

Arista 8x10 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion Head Multigrade developer

HRU Filter test 2 Yellow Dark 103mm Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr




Procession of Clouds Filter Test #2

Sinar Norma Handy tripod mounted, 65mm F8 Super Angulon with Schneider 65mm F8 Center Filter. Fuji HRU XRay film 8x10 cut down to 4x5 in Graphmatic back. EV 8 1/3 ZIII Sinar Norma 103mm Yellow Green Glass Disc. F22 1/3 at 1 second EI 50. Tray developed by inspection under red safelight straight Microdol-X 12 minutes at 68F

Arista 8x10 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion Head Multigrade developer

HRU Filter test 3 Yellow Dark 103mm Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

Procession of Clouds Filter Test #3

Sinar Norma Handy tripod mounted, 65mm F8 Super Angulon with Schneider 65mm F8 Center Filter. Fuji HRU XRay film 8x10 cut down to 4x5 in Graphmatic back. EV 8 1/3 ZIII Sinar Norma 103mm Yellow Green Glass Disc. F22 1/3 at 1 second EI 50. Tray developed by inspection under red safelight straight Microdol-X 12 minutes at 68F

Arista 8x10 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion Head Multigrade developer

HRU Filter test 4 Yellow Dark 103mm Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

Procession of Clouds Filter Test #4

Sinar Norma Handy tripod mounted, 65mm F8 Super Angulon with Schneider 65mm F8 Center Filter. Fuji HRU XRay film 8x10 cut down to 4x5 in Graphmatic back. EV 8 1/3 ZIII Sinar Norma 103mm Yellow Green Glass Disc. F22 1/3 at 1 second EI 50. Tray developed by inspection under red safelight straight Microdol-X 12 minutes at 68F

Arista 8x10 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion Head Multigrade develope

Good highlights and shadow details. Interesting. I'm still at the 3 for 4 stage of shooting this stuff IE I manage to get an image on 3 out of 4 sheets. I feel like I'm starting at level one with film again shooting 4x5. Weak links in my process keep popping up. Now it's my tripod, It was fine for 35mm and MF but 4x5 no good. It's a Star-D, guess I need an upgrade. Any suggestions that won't clear my bank account?

 

[Nokton48]

I used a yellow filter, Microdol developer and a Star D tripod to take the above. ^^

 

[Cholentpot]

I used a yellow filter, Microdol developer and a Star D tripod to take the above. ^^

I ordered a Titall quick release for my Star D. Might solve my shifting issues.

 

[Nokton48]

I fogged some Ilford Commercial Ortho with my old safelights, so I knew I needed something safer....

Jason Lane (the dry plate manufacturer) knows exactly what he is talking about. I ordered a batch of his ASA 25 glass "Speed Plates" and was waiting for shipment. He emailed me that he had to toss and re-do coating more plates, they were ruined by safelight fog. He then told me what he made up as a replacement. I followed his lead, and I'm delighted, no fog even after eighteen minutes of development, with lamp six feet away. Go with the 3 watt LED from Lowes, and it goes into the Kodak Bullet Safelight, with the dark red 1A filter. So it's a 3W LED, being additionally filtered by the dark red Kodak 1A. VERY VERY deep red light is emitted and I have have zero fogging now. I have one in one corner for film cutting and loading, and one over the developer tray, both more than six feet away. And more than bright enough once my eyes adjust, I can hold a sheet up and inspect the shadow values quite accurately. Works great for me!

3W LED from Lowes:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Energetic-Watt-EQ-A19-Red-LED-Light-Bulb/1000623747

Thanks for this Jason Lane!

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

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

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

 

[Nokton48]

Auto Maki no 2 150 2.8 Xenotar HRU 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Automatic Makiflex #2 150mm F2.8 Xenotar wide-open 1/15 Fuji 8x10 XRay HRU cut down to 4x5 in Graphmatic back StarD tripod. Development 12 minutes 60F straight Mic-X replenished by inspection of shadow values by deep red safelight. 8x10 Arista #2 RC Omega DII 180 Rodagon f22 35 seconds Omegalite diffusion head Multigrade developer

 

[Nokton48]

Auto Maki no 2 180 2.8 Xenotar HRU 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Auto Maki no 2 180 2.8 Xenotar HRU 3 by Nokton48, on Flickr