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

[wclavey]

A piece of felt on the plywood?

I'm going to put a sheet of glass down on the table on the cutting blade side of the paper cutter... so that the film that drops from the cut falls onto the smooth glass... so it should be lower impact to the film surface and easier to pick up... I also want to be more "purposeful" in my placement of the 8x10 sheet into the stops I glued to the paper cutter for making the actual cut... placing it in the right spot, being careful not to slide it into the right spot...

[EdWorkman]

My scratches are rather short and very random- I blame myself in handing the film in the tray- even one-at-a-time. Smooth bottom trays allow me to make scratches with my fingernails I guess. I have six sheets loaded for an excusion today, and good intentions to use hangers in tanks in Pyrocat HD. BTW, early-on I had successful tests but forgot that writing on the film to identify a sheet [at the loading flap] would end up in an important part of the image.
so it goes

[Robert Hughes]

What's the best technique for tray development with this X-ray (green sensitive) film? Earlier I agitated vigorously and flipped the sheet every couple minutes, but got lots of scratches. Yesterday I let the film sit 5 minutes/side with gentle sloshing; the scratches were a lot less, but I had uneven development (a lot of buildup at the edges of the frame).

[BetterSense]

What's the best technique for tray development with this X-ray (green sensitive) film?

Don't tray process. I never fully solved it, and went to hangars, thanks to the generosity of my hangar-donor.

[Gene McCluney]

Don't tray process. I never fully solved it, and went to hangars, thanks to the generosity of my hangar-donor.

Hangers only work for up to 8x10 (in general) and other odd large sizes such as 7x17 and 8x20, 20x24 all have to be tray processed because of lack of hangers and tanks to accomodate.

[BetterSense]

True. I was only thinking about 4x5 because that's what I shoot.

[EdWorkman]

DannL
As I understand it, access of chemical to the backside is problematic in Jobo- but real Jobophiles can weigh in here. So unless one bleaches the emulsion off the back Jobo might not work well. Then again, if the rear emulsion is removed tray processing should not be such a scratch problem

[venchka]

Plain water dissolves the backing layers on normal film in my Jobo 3010. I imagine that fixer would get back there too and remove the second emulsion. Ooops. Senior moment. The print tubes may be different.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

It is quite possible to use 11x14 hangers. These are still made by Wolf and are available new for about $50 per piece. The tanks are available used on eBay, and yesterday i even saw a complete 11x14 tank set with sink and inserts for sale (although it was in Billings, Montana). The problem for me is that the tanks take 5 gallons of chemicals to fill! Too much for me.

[Richard M. Coda]

I know you're right. For that reason I always bleach the emulsion off the back. Its just another step like fixing and washing. My concern here, I suppose, would be an even development over the entire sheet of film (the front emulsion layer only).

I bought some Xray film to play around with on 11x14. I believe it is double coated.

I have never bleached anything. How do you bleach just one side of a negative without affecting the other side with the fixed image? Tape to glass?

I appreciate your guidance.

Thanks.

Rich