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

[SergeiR]

I don't know what certain school that would be. But for the Ortho film school (X-ray film is one) it is a very good process to start with. With Pan film, it is much more difficult to do.

Let us be like Chinese proverb "may thousand flowers bloom, may thousand schools prosper".

I for one never expose for shadows.

People can cook bacon in great many ways. And it will be still tasty in most of them.

[SergeiR]

One example would be Mortensen's "Expose for the highlights and develop for the shadows" method.

yup. thats one other way to do it. Except for occasions of great outdoor contrast where he caves in (its in his "Outdoor portraiture")

Other way is to figure out midtone placement & etc.

I honestly think that artistic vision is more important than technical perfection. Never should technical aspect be driving solution. After that it just becomes more of common sense derivative..

Anyway.. Too much talking. Too technical.

8x10, Kodak CSG, R09 (aging) 1:100, 12 minutes rotary, 360mm Heliar @ f5.6, light metered at f11 (-2 stops down to compensate for bellows extension, which i sometime miscalculate)

Lana by Sergei Rodionov, on Flickr

[Peter De Smidt]

Outstanding, Sergei! (and Lana, of course!)

[mdarnton]

Lana is looking great. Nice to see!

[SergeiR]

Thanks, guys. She wanted new headshot, to sort of document progress on hair growing

[Tin Can]

Yes and very nice hair. We all love Lana. You too Sergei!

Thanks, guys. She wanted new headshot, to sort of document progress on hair growing

[Alan9940]

Hey SergeiR,

If you don't mind my asking... What temp are you processing at with R09 at 1:100 for 12 mins? I've always sat in awe of the smooth tonal range you're ability to pull out of x-ray film. In all my use of Ektascan, I've not even come close to your results. Really thinking about giving the Kodak CSG film a go now. Lovely portrait!!

Thanks!

[SergeiR]

Hey SergeiR,

If you don't mind my asking... What temp are you processing at with R09 at 1:100 for 12 mins? I've always sat in awe of the smooth tonal range you're ability to pull out of x-ray film. In all my use of Ektascan, I've not even come close to your results. Really thinking about giving the Kodak CSG film a go now. Lovely portrait!!

Thanks!

Thank you.

No secrets about it - its just tap water, around room temp, which for Dallas is about 70 degrees on typical day.

(Dallas is awesome like that, most of time you can do C41 or E6 processing without any true water baths )

I use two rotary processors - Jobo CPE on film setting (1 i think it is) or Unicolor (single setting) that is a bit faster. I love Unicolor for being water-less and taking less space, but its really annoying trying to catch tank all the time, as it keeps trying to run off the processor ( i am sure i can hack something for it, but oh well)

[DeKlari]

Kodak BioMax XAR Film, I shot as ISO 35, (f4.5, 1/15s) then I ran it through a tray of X-ray film T2 developer (diluted 3 times) for just one minutes. The film was transferred to the water tray and after fix for 5 min. After fixation film was washed for 10-15 minutes in running water.
Carl Zeiss 21cm f4.5 210mm Tessar, Improved Seneca View Camera (1906), 5x7 https://www.flickr.com/photos/126027...7646002305868/

[mdarnton]

I have a couple of questions for those who might have actually done their fixing/washing tests homework:

First question: I notice that it takes less than 10 seconds for xray film to clear in the fix. Given the traditional advice to fix for twice the clearing time, does this mean that 20 seconds in the fix is adequate? Has anyone done any chemical tests to confirm anything about this?

Next question: does the quick fixing imply that the film needs less wash time? Has anyone done any tests to determine the proper washing time for xray film, based on the usual chemical tests?

Finally: what's different about xray film that it fixes so quickly? It appears, by the density, that it might have more, not less silver than conventional films, so it would seem that the opposite might happen: slower fixing.

Thanks for any answers.....