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

[Jim Noel]

Attachment 207670
Half speed green, unsure of brand. Rating it at 5 to 10 and developing for 12mins in D-76 diluted 1:3. I was really struggling with exposures until I realized 6 mins in the soup was way to short! Lens is a Cooke series II in a compound shutter (prior to the soft focus). Overcast and breezy day 2 sec@4.5 hopefully all the sheets are in this good of shape. Expired in 2011.

REMINDER; On cloudy days, as well as early morning and late afternoon the available light contains more red to which x-ray and other orthochromatic emulsions are not sensitive. Thus - underexposure if not accounted for. Although I generally use a film speed of 100, I have gone as low as 6 on very overcast days which we have frequently.

[senderoaburrido]

[Tin Can]

Like!

and again a portrait that could be posted in September Portraits

[Daniel Unkefer]

4x5 Fuji HRU Mic-X 5 minutes by Nokton48, on Flickr

My first Norma 4x5 photo in twenty five years taken yesterday. Fuji 8x10 HR-U X-Ray cut down to 4x5, Graphmatic Holder, 4x5 Sinar Norma 180mm f5.6 chrome Durst Componon lens, full key sun. This was exposure #6, two stops over ambient reading of grey card EI 50 TTL Sinarsix 1/15 @ Fll. Short development is stock Legacy Mic-X 5 minutes 68F. Cesco flat bottomed 8x10 trays, sheets developed singly. I did a sort of ring-around, varying exposure and development times. This is the lowest contrast version which I like. Very little scratching so I am pleased.

8x10 Arista RC #2 Multigrade dev Omega DII with Omegalite circuline head

Cool thing is this works out to about 7 cents per 4x5 sheet. I may load up the truck

[Daniel Unkefer]

4x5 Fuji HRU Mic-X 8 minutes by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is decreasing exposure one stop as shown above, but increasing dev time from five to eight minutes. My wife prefers this version.
So this one EI 25 harder development

[seezee]

I'm with you — the 1st one is better.

[Brianr]

Me too, the first one.

[John Earley]

Me three. First one.

[Daniel Unkefer]

Thanks for your opinions, Guys!

Loading Up The Truck Fuji XRay by Nokton48, on Flickr

OK HR-U is going to work for me in the larger formats. So I am loading up the truck as I have no idea how long it is going to be available.

400 8x10 sheets of HR-U plus the hundred I already have. Hopefully a lifetime supply. While I was at it I grabbed a hundred sheets of RX-N, which is the blue two sided high speed Fuji XRay film.

Great fun ahead I predict. I loaded four 4x5 Graphmatics, and four 2x3 Graphmatics, with HR-U this morning.

Kodak Min-R Single Sided Mammography 18x24cm by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is single sided 18x24cm Mammography XRay I found a while back. I do have one Sinar Norma 18x24 film holder, so this will make nice sized contact prints.

The big bonus is that I can cut it into four 9x12cm to fit my European holders and cameras.

25 cents a sheet for single sided 18x24. Looks like these came from France.

[Jim Noel]

I am a great believer in having plenty of film. I am 91, and my 8x10 and 5x12 stock was down to 400 and 500 sheets respectively,so I took advantage of the Ilford ULF order to stock up, as well as a final source of 5x12 dental film.. I told my wife I want to die with only one sheet of film left.