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

I just tried divided pyrocat with Fuji Green and got no usable results. The staining was terribly uneven to the point of looking like every image had been double exposed with a lava lamp. Also lost a couple of stops of speed.

What I tried was: ISO 100 incident meter reading, 3 min pre wash , 5 minutes A 1:15 (with foto flow), 5 minutes B 1:15 after draining A for extra 30 sec., then stopped and fixed normally. This was done in a Jobo, 12 exposures in the drum @ 75F. I've had good luck with divided HD before with Pan F, HP5 and FP4 in sheets and 120 using this technique, but this time it was a complete waste of a day's shooting. If someone else has tried divided cat on X-ray with success I'd love to hear the details as this would be an elegant solution to the high contrast of these films.

I did it once, but on 8x10 in a tray, with a small amount (I think 100ml) of 1:10 and I think 5 minutes per bath. The results seemed quite usable indeed, but I found it a bit wasteful and not all that superior to regular 1+100 and similar dilutions in terms of contrast control. I gave up after that experiment just because I didn't really find it worthwhile.

What format was this, in which drum and how much solution did you use? Btw, I didn't use a surfactant; never sw the need for that and from what I read, it seems to cause more problems than it solves.

Hi Guys,

I was given a couple of hundred, plus, sheets of green 10x8 x-ray film from the guy I bought my Wilderness V camera from.
I would prefer to develop in my Jobo drum with Catlabs CL81, as I don't have a dark room, and use Ilford ID-11 as I have all this to hand. I appreciate that this info might be buried in the previous 480 pages of this thread but if someone could steer me on the right track it would be great.
I'm looking for development times, temperatures, dilution rates etc.

Thanks ...Sweep

HI koraks,
This was 4x5 used a Jobo 2551 tank with 600 ml of solution (1:15) with baffles. I've used this set up with other films as noted with only an occasional minor issue. Perhaps the two sided emulsion makes turbulence a bigger issue.

I don't have anywhere to tray develop so daylight tanks is my only option. Given the recommendation from Sandy King that you should have at least 70 ml of 1:100 per 4x5 sheet, I've been developing only 4 sheets per 600 ml of 1:100 with good success. This was an attempt to use the full capacity of the tank and control contrast. So I'm back to the old ways for now. Maybe next I'll try 2:100 and 8 sheets.

Thanks,

Sweep
I've had good luck (until now) with Pyrocat HD though I've not shot a lot of the x-ray yet. I like the fact it is a hardening developer since the X-ray film is more prone to scratches. When I was getting started with HP5 I also used ID-11 in the Jobo, as I recall the development time was about the same as the pyrocat.

Check the massive development chart for "Fuji HR/RX". You'll see several entries for xray film. Fuji HR-S is a green film. http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

I've developed many sheets of Fuji HR-S in a CL-81. It does tend to scratch the edges, but if you're careful you won't scratch the image itself.

I'd love to have one of the CL81 thingies, but haven't bitten the bullet yet on the costs for the holder and the appropriate tank...

Alan, the double sided nature of the film may be the issue in combination with the baffles. I haven't used the baffles, but I use a 2500 tank and the 6 film reel. With xray, I do 4 sheets in 300ml at 2+2+100 and 12 minutes for salted paper prints (ie. insane contrast). 1+1+100 at 10 to 15 minutes is about out right for Van Dyke prints; for silver gelatin, it would probably have to be somewhere around 8 minutes, but I don't do that with xray. Since the film is double sided I usually only develop 4 sheets at once as that equates 8 sheets of regular film, which is already stretching the limits of developer depletion at this volume. I arrived at this through trial and error and it may be far from optimal still, so I may do it differently in the future. However, so far, the results are very usable; good control of contrast and plenty of room to match the negatives for whatever printing process, and development is perfectly even as far as I can tell. I always load the film onto the reel with the side that was facing the lens towards the center of the reel. I'm not sure if that is necessary, it's more a matter of superstition.

Thanks Koraks, since I scan everything I've used 6 minutes with 1:1: 100 with good success but that's with 4 double sided films in 600 ml. I got in trouble by trying to rush.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alanbutler57

I just tried divided pyrocat with Fuji Green and got no usable results. The staining was terribly uneven to the point of looking like every image had been double exposed with a lava lamp. Also lost a couple of stops of speed.

What I tried was: ISO 100 incident meter reading, 3 min pre wash , 5 minutes A 1:15 (with foto flow), 5 minutes B 1:15 after draining A for extra 30 sec., then stopped and fixed normally. This was done in a Jobo, 12 exposures in the drum @ 75F. I've had good luck with divided HD before with Pan F, HP5 and FP4 in sheets and 120 using this technique, but this time it was a complete waste of a day's shooting. If someone else has tried divided cat on X-ray with success I'd love to hear the details as this would be an elegant solution to the high contrast of these films.

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Divided pyrocat works very well in a tray.

Thanks for your guidance guys but I think I've just goofed as I misread the Massive Chart and just ordered a load of Rodinal. Now as I was just about to post thanks, and re-reading the posts, I notice that the green stuff is Fuji HR-S which calls for X-tol :(
Is Rodinal something I can make work or should I return?
Please find a couple of photos of my specific film.

thanks ...Sweep
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