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

[oakranch]

Thank you very much. How much would I dilute the developer to start with so that I would have time to watch it work and soften contrast a little?

[Tin Can]

I have not used D23 yet, but plan to

I use Rodinol 1/100 at 70f 7 minutes under dim red safe light, very gentle agitation

stop is plain water 30 seconds

Fix for twice clearing time, which you can see happening

adjust developing time as you see fit

wash in low flow water for 10 minutes, hang by corner to dry

[Jim Noel]

I use it straight.

[Tin Can]

Ken Lee, a member here has very good advice on film and paper,

Here is his D23 dissertation

[oakranch]

Thank you all. I know I have seen a page in this massive collection talking about using D23 diluted to ease the contrast but I don't recall the ratio nor can I find the page again.

[Tin Can]

Read the Ken Lee link he fully describes it

Thank you all. I know I have seen a page in this massive collection talking about using D23 diluted to ease the contrast but I don't recall the ratio nor can I find the page again.

[michael_wi]

From about a thousand messages ago:

I made a spreadsheet culled from APUG, here, blogs, flickr, and google searches. It is a few years out of date. Meant to share this a long time ago but life gets in the way sometimes.

Find on my google docs - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing
It is set to anyone can edit.

EDIT:
It contains 4 tabs
1) name, EI/ISO ratings, sensitivity types, light exposed under (when given or obvious), and development info.
2) Film names, types, and box thumbs in an "equivalent" table. Discontinued films are also included
3) Notes, DIY developers with credit, Andrew O'Neil's X-Ray Film Reciprocity Effect chart (2010)
4) ANSI standard cut film sizes. in, mm, min/nom/max for 2" x 3" to 12" x 20" and 9cm x 12cm to 24cm x 30cm

[ericantonio]

Expose at 40 asa, develop and fix like any other film

D23 and any fixer works fine

I came to this thread to look for this. Yep, 500+ pages is a lot to go through and forum software isn't great for searching.

I am planning on doing some PT/PD prints this year and read that x-ray film is great for that cause of the high contrast it produces. And seems a bit more economical for contact printing.

[Jim Noel]

I came to this thread to look for this. Yep, 500+ pages is a lot to go through and forum software isn't great for searching.

I am planning on doing some PT/PD prints this year and read that x-ray film is great for that cause of the high contrast it produces. And seems a bit more economical for contact printing.

Exposure is dependent on your film, your latitude, weather and the time of day. In San diego on a nice day I use an EI of 100 from 2 hours after sunrise until an hour prior to sunset. Before and after these times I drop the EI to 25-40 dependent on the amount of red in the light. This can be determined by bouncing the light off a CD which acts like a prism and allows one to see the full available spectrum. On cloudy days ther Ei may drop as low as 10-12. Experience is the basis of exposure with these films on other than nice days. I have been using Orthochromatic films since the 1930's which was well before I Got an exposure meter.
Films - Carestream EB/RA and Fuji HRU.Developed in whatever seems handy that day, always by inspection.

[ericantonio]

Exposure is dependent on your film, your latitude, weather and the time of day. In San diego on a nice day I use an EI of 100 from 2 hours after sunrise until an hour prior to sunset. Before and after these times I drop the EI to 25-40 dependent on the amount of red in the light. This can be determined by bouncing the light off a CD which acts like a prism and allows one to see the full available spectrum. On cloudy days ther Ei may drop as low as 10-12. Experience is the basis of exposure with these films on other than nice days. I have been using Orthochromatic films since the 1930's which was well before I Got an exposure meter.
Films - Carestream EB/RA and Fuji HRU.Developed in whatever seems handy that day, always by inspection.

Woop! That is some good info. And when you mean latitude, like as in longitude/latitude right? I'm in SoCal too.

"always by inspection". I did that for a living in NYC. 3 of us in NYC did it commercially. At the time, nobody was doing commercial B&W with inspection. Green light and footswitch all the way!