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

[seezee]

Feel free to have a look at post 4534 where I described the effects of nonflipping longer than 30 seconds in my trays.
A little hint for protecting the emulsion is hidden in this post, too :-)

If the developer doesn't reach the emulsion in a good way, you will get two densities in one negative, in the best case.

Ritchie

Thanks, I had forgotten that one. So are you stand developing, but also flipping every 30 seconds? You mention stand developing at the end of the post. Or perhaps that was in tanks.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Someone inquired about filters. I tested this several years ago and posted results here. You'll have to go back and search. I prefer to use #8 or #15 yellow Wratten filters, as well as the light green #11, on double-sided green latitude.
Also, if you really want to play with double-sided x-ray and minimal agitation, you really should stay away from trays. But, flipping the film each time it is agitated is smart. And.... flat-bottomed trays are the best. Just my personal opinion!

[seezee]

Someone inquired about filters. I tested this several years ago and posted results here. You'll have to go back and search. I prefer to use #8 or #15 yellow Wratten filters, as well as the light green #11, on double-sided green latitude.
Also, if you really want to play with double-sided x-ray and minimal agitation, you really should stay away from trays. But, flipping the film each time it is agitated is smart. And.... flat-bottomed trays are the best. Just my personal opinion!

Thanks for the advice. For 4×5, I probably will. When I get my Century Universal in working order, I will be tray developing. So I will probably not be stand developing those negatives.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I have some 8x10 hangers and fashioned a plexi-glass tank so that I could do full on stand in very dilute Pyrocat-HD. I think I posted results somewhere in this long thread...

[andrewch59]

I only tray developed as I had no tanks. Agitate too fast and you get flow marks and dark edging, develop too slow and you get mottling. I would try to avoid doing pics with lots of sky, as it really showed the flaws. I did control it by using very weak developer mix and agitating longer.
My best result so far was using rotary, yes with xray one slip and you just have a negative full of scratches, but wow, when it all goes correctly there is less dust marks, scratches and mottling. If tray developing use a tray a lot bigger than your film size, to prevent the developer splashing back off the side of your tray and avoid any tray that has grooves in the bottom, this causes an area of faster flow too! Thrift shops and the like always have old pyrex dishes going cheap. Perfect developing trays.

[seezee]

Those bulbs are so freaking bright I can't imagine why you'd need two of them in one location. One bulb illuminates my 24 foot wet darkroom

I have them pointed away from my work area, into a corner of my bathroom. White ceiling, seafoam green walls. Reflected, indirect light. So 2 bulbs better than 1.

[senderoaburrido]

Someone inquired about filters. I tested this several years ago and posted results here. You'll have to go back and search. I prefer to use #8 or #15 yellow Wratten filters, as well as the light green #11, on double-sided green latitude.
Also, if you really want to play with double-sided x-ray and minimal agitation, you really should stay away from trays. But, flipping the film each time it is agitated is smart. And.... flat-bottomed trays are the best. Just my personal opinion!

I took a look and it was very helpful. You've convinced me to give yellow a try.

[plaubel]

So are you stand developing, but also flipping every 30 seconds?

No - I would call this technique flippdeveloping instead of stand developing:-)

What I have seen in my trays is that 45 to 60 seconds without flipping the negative will result in uneven development.
But maybe I have to mention that I use Rodinal, which exhausts quick, especially in dilutions of 1:100 and weaker.

The layer on the tray bottom has less access to fresh developer than the layer on top, and once exhausted, Rodinal becomes lazy as a slowt.


Stand development in a tank for me has the advantage of totally advoiding any scratches and further gives identical development on both sides of the film, without burning the highlights.
I have to look forward to the other advantages of stand development, concerning the shadows...

Ritchie

[senderoaburrido]

Used yellow filter in mail, and this weekend I'm finally picking up all the stuff from my PO box, including the UV stuff. I'm eager to share the results with you guys.

I got a 135mm chrome-barrel EL-Nikkor, which hasn't been as extensively tested as the shorter focal length EL-Nikkor's for UV transmission. Should cover 4x5, and at 30$, it was worth a try. Gonna' slap a B+W 403 filter in front and see what I can get using Ektascan B/RA film.

[Bazz8]

I recently started using x-ray film, double sided Kodak green sensitive. The only trays big enough that I had are cat litter trays which I use satisfactorily for paper. They have a dimple in the bottom which I knew would be a problem, and it was - scratches all over the place, both sides, since I tried to give each side the same development. I'm wondering why people are talking about a piece of glass on the bottom of the tray? To me, this is an immediate source of frustration, as the sheet sticking to the glass would make flipping the film difficult, and itself a source of possible scratching from frustrated fingers. Why not conventional fluted trays, which allow some movement of developer underneath and allow easier flipping?