Use of X-ray film: technical discussion with example images

[axs810]

Randy Moe - Thanks for the update! I know I'm going to have to do some safelight tests before hand, but I just wanted to double check with everyone to see what works best for them. I've already bought two safelight bulbs (one from freestyle, and one that works for wet plate but not xray) but those ended up not working out for me. I'm in a tight spot for money so I had to ask again about how others store their xray film and what safelight they prefer to use so I don't "waste" as much money on bulbs and stuff. My last sheet of Ektascan was given to me by a friend and was stored in a locker at school. After shooting and developing it had faint lines going thru the whole negative horizontally so that's why I was curious how others store their film. I'm going to be ordering a box of Ektascan 8x10 soon, and that'll probably be the last box I can buy for about 4-6 months lol...


Thank you all for your responses it's much appreciated!

[jp]

I just store the box of film I am using on a shelf in the darkroom. Excess boxes get ziplock bagged and frozen.

[Tin Can]

X-Ray film is just film. A quick Google and we have this as first response.

http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploa...d_Handling.pdf

Remember all film is only a few human lives in existence.

Many here choose to freeze film as Kodak recommends for periods greater than 6 months. Double ziplocks are a great idea.

But we should be using film as the consumable it is. It will go bad and will not last forever, no matter what we do.

Freezing and refreezing film is a bad idea, imho, too much handling. Freeze unopened boxes once and for as long as your refrigeration system lasts, which is not really that long.

I store my fresh film inside my climate controlled studio. Never hot, never cold. If I have excess film I store MINE in a dedicated refrigerator at just above freezing. I don't remove a box of LF film and take a few sheets and then return it to cool or frozen storage facilities. Common sense, I think. Once out of cool or frozen storage is stays out and is consumed.

I have lots of old film that people give me, none of it was ever stored in ideal conditions. Some of it is still usable, some is pretty useless, for me.

My prize 'old stuff' is 800 sheets of 8x10 AZO contact paper. I rescued it from an abandoned building in Detroit. It was in heavy dust, on the floor, for who knows how long, many years certainly, in an old studio without heat, AC and broken windows. The boxes have a bit of moisture damage on the outside, but as far as I can tell, this AZO is just fine. The boxes are undated. I'm aging it a bit more in my studio...

Film as we know it may or not exist another 2 lifetimes. I am starting to learn DIY emulsion methods. X-Ray is simply a temporary tool, we now have.

Love the one you're with.

[Corran]

Fantastic shots, great perspective. I like the light/dark motif, especially in the 2nd.

[Peter Lewin]

Craig, I really like the control you are getting from your x-Ray film. A lot of other examples seem to be either rather dark or rather contrasty, but you are getting a really nice tonal range. Very nice series of images!

[Craig Tuffin]

Craig, I really like the control you are getting from your x-Ray film. A lot of other examples seem to be either rather dark or rather contrasty, but you are getting a really nice tonal range. Very nice series of images!

Thanks Peter! It's certainly been a lot of failures to get to this point

"Fantastic shots, great perspective. I like the light/dark motif, especially in the 2nd."

Cheers Corran...glad you like them.

[Donald Qualls]

The most important handling rule for freezing and refreezing film is to avoid condensation conditions. Water on the sensitive surface of film (that's both sides, for most x-ray stocks) can remove or relocate sensitizing dyes, leading to localized areas of reduced film speed (or increased, where the dye lands when the water dries) or changed color senstivity, as well as adhesion between sheets or of film to packaging (gelatin is a marvelous glue; it's been used for centuries to bond furniture together).

Don't open the airtight package until the entire box of film is up to ambient temperature (allow 12 hours out of the freezer for 8x10; I give 4x5 eight hours; even from the refrigerator, its best to allow several hours for the temperature to equilibrate). If you do choose to refreeze the film, close it up airtight and remove as much air as possible at room temperature (ideally the lowest humidity you can manage), before putting it in the freezer. I'd agree with the recommendation to minimize the number of transitions; consuming the film after thawing is probably best (but not all of us can use an x-ray size box of 8x10 or larger in a reasonable time after thawing).

Randy, a blue-sensitive, very slow emulsion is pretty easy. Broadening the spectral sensitivity requires chemicals that are going to be permanently out of production when film production ceases (which looks pretty good to be after I no longer care due to my own expiration); they were developed specifically for this one purpose and are used for nothing else. Making faster emulsions (= larger grain) is mainly a process of "ripening", letting the halide crystals grow, but it requires aging at controlled temperatures in the dark, before applying the emulsion to the base. Dry plates, as used ca. 1880, are well within range. Panchromatic film may be permanently beyond amateur production.

[Tin Can]

Donald,

The best emulsion advice for DIY I have found, is published by Denise Ross, http://www.thelightfarm.com/

I am going to try her methods this winter. I got a bunch of 5x7 glass plates for a start with dry plate.

Gathering supplies as I can. Big bottle of Everclear was called for, so I have that to scare people with.

[andrewch59]

Donald,

The best emulsion advice for DIY I have found, is published by Denise Ross, http://www.thelightfarm.com/

I am going to try her methods this winter. I got a bunch of 5x7 glass plates for a start with dry plate.

Gathering supplies as I can. Big bottle of Everclear was called for, so I have that to scare people with.

First thanks to all those that have supplied input to this thread, your information has been priceless. I have purchased 100 sheets of 10x12 blue half speed film and have achieved great results with it (just ordered 100 11x14 sheets). I purchased over a thousand of various sized sheets of printing paper off ebay for $36, and am having a ball.

In regards to the dry plate emulsions, there is a great set of instructions by Mark Osterman, refined from the 1800s, this may be the same one found on thelightfarm site. I have all the ingredients for dry plate and collodion as per John Coffers no7 recipe for wet plate and hopefully will experiment at xmas time. At present having too much fun refining pics with xray negs.
Thanks again for all the advice

[Tin Can]

First thanks to all those that have supplied input to this thread, your information has been priceless. I have purchased 100 sheets of 10x12 blue half speed film and have achieved great results with it (just ordered 100 11x14 sheets). I purchased over a thousand of various sized sheets of printing paper off ebay for $36, and am having a ball.

In regards to the dry plate emulsions, there is a great set of instructions by Mark Osterman, refined from the 1800s, this may be the same one found on thelightfarm site. I have all the ingredients for dry plate and collodion as per John Coffers no7 recipe for wet plate and hopefully will experiment at xmas time. At present having too much fun refining pics with xray negs.
Thanks again for all the advice

I cannot find Mark Osterman books on dry plate. You mention John Coffer, do you know if his DVD includes dry plate? I'm a book learner and avoid workshops.