Can we use X Ray/Sonography film for daylight photography?

[dileep prakash]

HI: I've been wondering if we can expose sheets of film used for X Ray or Ultrasound with normal daylight and get a picture. Or can these films be used for making l arge format negatives under an enlarger. Has anyone tried this out. Does it work ? Thanks Dileep

[John H. Henderson]

I took a quick look at Kodak's data sheets. They have a blue-sensitive film, and a green-sensitive film, called X-ray B and X-ray G, respectively. I didn't look for an equivalent ISO speed. As far as spectral response, they'll record daylight images, but they are not panchromatic.

[Martin Jangowski]

You can use X-Ray film for daylight photography. However, it is only sensitive to blue light (and UV). This is not a really big problem (there were only blue sensitive materials 100+ years ago, and they made _really_ fine photos), but usually these films are coated on both sides (to increase sensitivity). So, you will have a _very_ thick emulsion, heavy problems with halos and no sharp pictures... it might be worth a try, but only as a experiment. I don't think you can use it for pictorial photography.

[David Willis]

The stuff we use in our lab has emulsion on both sides. However, I have seen some films in the trash that have a notch on the top, which, to me, may indicate that the emulsion is only on one side. I was going to try enlarging slides onto X-Ray films for alt process printing, but haven't really tried it yet.

[dileep prakash]

If these films can be exposed using an enlarger then they may be worth a try when doing cyanotypes. Any suggestions.