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

[Jay DeFehr]

I'm definitely going to try the stripping, along with a few other wild ideas I have. Thanks for the tips. I'll let you know if I learn anything useful.

[mgeiss]

Thanks for your comments!

@Jay
Exposure was between a few seconds in sunlight and a few minutes on cloudy days. The camera has an f/300 pinhole and i usually add some exposure for reciprocity effects.

@Dann
Yes, the stripping works just fine. A few seconds and all that is left on the backside is a nice clean film base.

@Jim
It depends on how you develop the film. I use Jobo Expert drums when i have more than one sheet to develop, or a Jobo 1520-1530 combo for single sheets. When the wet films are taken out of the drums, I get big scratches on the back almost every time. I never got to like tray or tank processing and don't have a permanent darkroom.

[Jim Fitzgerald]

So there is the problem. If you are going to shoot x-ray film you need to use flat bottomed trays or tanks. I use tanks for the 8x10 and trays for my ULF stuff. Remember you can scratch the film loading and unloading. It amazes my how people scratch film, but they do.

[mgeiss]

I don't see it as a problem much, it's just two minutes more work with every sheet and soon becomes routine. I don't need the extra density from the second emulsion either, so for me there's no need keeping it.

I know many people prefer tanks or trays, but I really like the expert drums for anything 4x5" or larger.


Besides that, I use it only for pinhole imaging and do my normal 8x10" work on Efke.

[Scott --]

And for the stripping, you tape the negative, good side down, to a sheet of glass and paint on the bleach mix, then rinse off, right? Or has the protocol evolved?

Think it's time I pull the trigger on some green 10x12...

[Jay DeFehr]

Danke, herr Geiss! I only tried drum development of X-Ray film once, with exactly the results you describe- I got a perfectly developed negative with huge scratches on the back. Now I wish I hadn't thrown that negative away!

[Andrew O'Neill]

If you intend to use xray film for alternative processes such as carbon, you should not strip the backside emulsion as you will end up with a negative with half the density range. No problem if you are printing on VC or graded papers silver papers.

[mgeiss]

Dann,

I didn't use anything but pure bleach (Danklorix brand here in Germany) yet. I tape the sheet to a piece of glass and keep it horizontally. I haven't experienced any problems with this method and just use a soft 2" brush to apply the bleach, wait a few seconds to let the bleach work and give it a short rinse. Most of the time, there will be some spots left, where the emulsion didn't go away, so I do a second run. After that, I rinse again and wipe everything with a soft, damp and lint-free cloth.

[Scott --]

never seen the need to do the stripping. Never done it and my images print just fine. KISS is how I work.

Jim, I work with a hybrid workflow (for now), so scan my negatives. Also, I do daylight drum developing, and have no facilities for tray developing, so a scratched back emulsion is going to happen. So stripping looks like it might be the way to go for me. I might try carbon one day, and have a proper darkroom to develop in, but today ain't the day...

[Ari]

I have a question regarding this topic, as I don't print carbon. Since I strip the emulsion on x-ray film, I always expose my film as if it had only one emulsion layer. How much additional exposure would be required to print carbon with one emulsion layer?

Dann,
I'm not sure how much you are already compensating for the stripped emulsion.
Once I found the film's speed, in my case ISO 320, I treated it like regular film, at least with regards to exposure.