Help with Fujifilm HR-T30 X-ray Film?

[NathanMcKnight]

Hi, I'm new here. I've been playing around with making cameras and trying to teach myself how to expose and develop film. I got a load of this HR-T30 X-ray film from Fujifilm and I've kind of just been going about it by trial and error. Does anybody have an idea of what the ISO equivalent of this stuff is? I've had a hard time getting good high-contrast images out of it and between using homemade cameras, old developer, and just not knowing what I'm doing, it's been really hit or miss. I've gone through so many equations and test strips and reading through web pages that kind of, but don't quite fit my needs that I've basically ended up confusing myself back to just going by trial and error. I'd love any advice I could get.

Thanks,
Nathan

[Tin Can]

Light meter

Sunny 16

25 to 100 ASA

[Tin Can]

https://www.zzmedical.com/x-ray-acce...-ray-film.html

[NathanMcKnight]

Thanks for the reply—I've definitely referred to some of your posts on here in my initial tinkering. I'll have to review my Sunny 16. I have been using a light meter, assuming an ISO of about 80, which has helped me more reliably get images, rather than just nothing. But now I'm reliably getting not great images. One of the problems I've run into is that my homemade cameras are, well, weird. As a result, when I plug my numbers into online calculators like those linked below, I get numbers that don't work.

For example, the "camera" I'm working with at the moment has an aperture radius of 120mm and a focal length of 350mm (literally an oatmeal canister nested inside a cracker tin with a giant magnifying lens on the front—I know, I know...there's my problem right there, but what can I say? I like weird.) ...which gives an f-stop of 0 ...but none of the calculators I've come across allow me to enter 0 for the aperture f-stop so instead I'll try 0.1 or 0.01 but those two values give radically different EV targets. In lieu of a shutter, I'm just switching my studio light on and off, which I reckon probably inaccurately that I can get down to about a tenth of a second. Assuming the X-ray film is ISO 80, an f/stop of 0.1 tells me I should aim for EV -3 whereas 0.01 gives me EV -9.644 ...short of giving up and just being a normal photographer/human being, what would you do? Am I figuring my numbers wrong? Is it just the imprecision in my janky setup?

Again, thanks for your reply; you've already been more helpful than you realize.

https://calculator.academy/f-stop-calculator/
https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/exposure

[Andrew O'Neill]

The best thing to do is to test it to find EI that works for you. Shoot a few sheets at different EI's. Start at EI 50 for one sheet, 64, 80, 100 for the others. Develop all the same. Go from there. For the two types of XRAY that I use, double-sided green HR-U, and Ektascan BR-A, I use EI 80. Both are developed in D-23 1+1.

[NathanMcKnight]

Thanks for your reply. I've kind of tried to work along those lines, and that's helped... the EI numbers are essentially the same as ISO, right? Obviously, I'll need to get better control of my lighting. But for developing, I've mostly used Dektol at 1+2 or stock solution for quick and dirty trials, and I've also experimented with caffinol, though mostly for prints. I actually have a bin of various ancient developer mixes, and I'm wondering if maybe one of these would give me better results?

D-19
D-76
Xtol
Microdol-X

[Tin Can]

Pick ONE developer and use it for years tp learn it

I use any Rodinol for all film, except film before WW11

[NathanMcKnight]

Dektol it is then.

[Daniel Unkefer]

Take a look at Microdol-X. The advantage with XRAY is that it is sssslllloooowwww developing. I've gone as long as 25-35 minutes at 62F, which is not the usual way most folks work with XRAY. This stuff comes up way quick. Better to slow it down if possible. And it squeezes every last bit of tonality out of the stuff

I use Legacy Microdol-X from Freestyle, and use the old Kodak recipe to make the proper original replenisher. This stuff lasts forever, I'm not kidding. My last gallon of it lasted four years. And it gets better as it "seasons". So quite economical in the long run. Also good in deep tanks. I do filter mine every so often

[NathanMcKnight]

Alright. I've been developing by inspection and leaning into stronger solutions to squeeze more trials into a night's work. Below are some typical results, along with a found negative I developed which turned out a little better, which I think means my issues are likely more in the exposure than the development. When you say "the old Kodak recipe" you mean from J-4027? https://125px.com/docs/techpubs/kodak/j4027-2003_11.pdf