Going to shoot 8X10 this weekend after nearly 10 years

[jbrianfoto]

Hopefully this is the right forum for this post -

Sold off my 8X10 gear 10 years ago - been slowly building a system again (restored a KMV, a camera I've wanted for years) - got a few lenses - film - film holders. A few days ago I finished fabricating lensboards, mounted my lenses. I am enthusiastic about finally getting out to shoot. For the past several years I've noted things along the road that I wanted to shoot on 8X10, now I have to put up or shut up.

My biggest struggle is finding / making the time to shoot and follow up with darkroom time. I've had to plan this out for more than 3 weeks.

Am going to be using X-ray film for the first time. I have no idea how it's going to turn out. I know it's going to take me some time to get the hang of things again, fumbling with the camera, darkcloth, focusing. It'll be fun. If I get any keepers I'll figure out how to post 'em here.

[karl french]

Frankly, if it's been such a long time since you've shot 8x10 why wouldn't you use some standard panchromatic film such as HP5+, FP4+, 320TXP, 100TMX, 400TMY or Adox CHS 100 II? It seems like figuring out X-ray film when you have so many other details to reacquaint yourself with just makes things more complicated than they need to be.

Three years ago I started shooting 8x10 again after a long hiatus, now it's all I want to shoot. Have fun.

[Luis-F-S]

Don't forget to pull the darkslide..........;)

[dsphotog]

Great JB!
Happy shooting!
Enjoy the process!

[jbrianfoto]

I shoot 35 by the bag full. I wanted to start 8x10 again but WOW the film prices. After reading all the good posts here about Xray, I thought it might be fun (and I got 200 sheets for less than $100 including shipping).

I'll try real hard to remember the dark slide ;-). I also have to decide which side means unexposed (forgot what my final decision was years ago).

[evan clarke]

I shoot 35 by the bag full. I wanted to start 8x10 again but WOW the film prices. After reading all the good posts here about Xray, I thought it might be fun (and I got 200 sheets for less than $100 including shipping).

I'll try real hard to remember the dark slide ;-). I also have to decide which side means unexposed (forgot what my final decision was years ago).


Just make good ones..It will make you very happy..

[Brian C. Miller]

Oh, great, now they're all going to want one! ;) And here we've been trying to dissuade people from using 8x10 and larger. Oh, the cost of it all! But we won't tell them about the joy and satisfaction.

X-ray film scratches easily, so put a sheet of glass on the bottom of your trays. There's plenty of x-ray film development info on the forum.

Enjoy!

[StoneNYC]

X-ray is nothing difficult, I don't know why Karl thinks it's complicated. Blue film is 200 speed and green is 400 speed, anything labeled "half speed" is half the speed of that color, so half speed green would be 200...

It's as simple as that...

Plenty of dev times out there for the X-ray Films.

Bleech strip one side if you're brave... Or don't, with 8x10 it shouldn't matter too much if you aren't really printing huge.

No issues.

The first time I developed anything larger than 4x5 was 11x14 x-ray film, and it was no trouble at all.

[Drew Wiley]

Don't worry about film prices. Once you've toted around your 8x10 plus a motorized film winder salvaged from a B52, the next trip you'll decide to leave the extra
600 lbs at home and just carry one or two ordinary holders. Relax, unwind, take your time, and just enjoy looking thru the groundglass until something really really
connects with your soul, and you know its a keeper! Good fishing!

[evan clarke]

This film thing is really cheap, high quality entertainment. You could spend $100 to watch a baseball team lose!!

[Drew Wiley]

Yeah, but baseball players earn more than I do. So they should pay to laugh at me when I forget to reverse a darkslide or close the shutter, and ruin the shot!

[peter k.]

This film thing is really cheap, high quality entertainment. You could spend $100 to watch a baseball team lose!!
... +1 great.. ;-)

[dsphotog]

This film thing is really cheap, high quality entertainment. You could spend $100 to watch a baseball team lose!!

Must be a Brewers fan.
At least there's beer at a ballgame.

Go Giants!

[dodphotography]

... +1 great.. ;-)

Double +1 lol

[John Kasaian]

This film thing is really cheap, high quality entertainment. You could spend $100 to watch a baseball team lose!!
So true!

[jbrianfoto]

Just souled my first 4 sheets.....wow, that's a lot of contrast! Yup, first two scratched when I had them in the perma wash, till then, they were fine. I have a nitrogen burst rig, so the film sits in hangers - other than the high contrast they look very even and nice.

I think I'll move over to the X-ray forum for more talk and presentation of negs.

[jnantz]

Just souled my first 4 sheets.....wow, that's a lot of contrast! Yup, first two scratched when I had them in the perma wash, till then, they were fine. I have a nitrogen burst rig, so the film sits in hangers - other than the high contrast they look very even and nice.

I think I'll move over to the X-ray forum for more talk and presentation of negs.

yeah, xray film is like shooting paper negatives ( contrast wise ) so ...
i've never shot xray film
seems like a good way to go through a lot of fixer (double sided emulsion )
so i shoot paper negatives instead you can use enlarging filters to soften the contrast ...
welcome back to 8x10

[jbrianfoto]

Don't worry about film prices. Once you've toted around your 8x10 plus a motorized film winder salvaged from a B52, the next trip you'll decide to leave the extra
600 lbs at home and just carry one or two ordinary holders. Relax, unwind, take your time, and just enjoy looking thru the groundglass until something really really
connects with your soul, and you know its a keeper! Good fishing!

This made me laugh out loud! I struggled yesterday with the 35 mindset of taking 10 full film holders everywhere with me (even my back yard). I have to get a grip and take my time, not be worried about the small quantity of film.


Will start watching eBay for a surplus B52 power 8x10 film spooler (maybe one from a U2 would be cooler).

[Andrew O'Neill]

Xray film is not like photo paper at all, and not all are double-sided. I shoot double-sided and single-sided. They are not that difficult to work with. If you are using double-sided, be extra careful not to scratch the emulsion facing away from you. I use flat-bottomed trays, but many people use hangers. Dilute developers are the way to go to tame contrast. I use Pyrocat-HD. Xray films are also excellent for alt processes.