Shot my first 4 sheets of 14x17 X-Ray Green sensitive film on Saturday, developed them today. For a first attempt shot in the dark type thingy the film turned out OK, seems a tad thin, not sure if that is what X-Ray film should be like or if I underexposed or underdeveloped a bit (probably under exposed).
This is my procedure on this first attempt.
- shot and exposed at 50 ASA (maybe under did the bellows factor by 1/2 a stop)
- developed 1/200 for 6 minutes 30 seconds in Rodinal, constant slow agitation, flipping the film ever 45 seconds or so.
- Stop 30 seconds, fix 6 minutes (hardening fixer), Hypo Clear 5 minutes, wash 5 minutes. I ran the film through fairly fast to try and avoid scratches. X-Ray film scratches very easily.
- Dried in my negative drying cabinet.
The neg looks thin to my eye but also holds what seems to be lots of subtle detail. I will try making some contact prints later this week. The film has a blue tinge to it which is a bit off putting and rounded corners. I think thou it should work great for my proposed portrait work. I might try exposing it longer in daylight. The trick is if there is more blue light then you get more exposure, if you get less you need longer exposures (not sure how to judge that!).
The great bit of news in these experiments is that my new 14x17 camera performed very well, no bellows light leaks or such. I will continue to fix up the camera here and there, and figure out the best working systems such as moving the person subject closer or farther from the camera instead of trying to move the huge camera and tripod : ))
Anyway a good deal all round for my first attempt. I am happy. Here are a few pics:
Update* On arriving home I found my rather expensive 14x17 Chinese made dark cloth waiting for me. I hope I can use this for the 16x20 and 11x14 cameras also. I will no longer have to use the shitty semi transparent grey cloth like in the above pics.
This is my procedure on this first attempt.
- shot and exposed at 50 ASA (maybe under did the bellows factor by 1/2 a stop)
- developed 1/200 for 6 minutes 30 seconds in Rodinal, constant slow agitation, flipping the film ever 45 seconds or so.
- Stop 30 seconds, fix 6 minutes (hardening fixer), Hypo Clear 5 minutes, wash 5 minutes. I ran the film through fairly fast to try and avoid scratches. X-Ray film scratches very easily.
- Dried in my negative drying cabinet.
The neg looks thin to my eye but also holds what seems to be lots of subtle detail. I will try making some contact prints later this week. The film has a blue tinge to it which is a bit off putting and rounded corners. I think thou it should work great for my proposed portrait work. I might try exposing it longer in daylight. The trick is if there is more blue light then you get more exposure, if you get less you need longer exposures (not sure how to judge that!).
The great bit of news in these experiments is that my new 14x17 camera performed very well, no bellows light leaks or such. I will continue to fix up the camera here and there, and figure out the best working systems such as moving the person subject closer or farther from the camera instead of trying to move the huge camera and tripod : ))
Anyway a good deal all round for my first attempt. I am happy. Here are a few pics:
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| Camera set up in my campsite |
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| Washing X-Ray film neg |
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| The rather thin neg reflecting me. |
