X-Ray Film, Not Just for Shattered Ulnas Anymore!

Above: The aforementioned Ulna 0__0 If you thought X-Ray film was just for this kind of stuff, keep reading, you may be surprised!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the crazy notion that I would start shooting with X-Ray film. Yes, that's right, the same stuff that enabled you to look at your first broken bone can be loaded and shot onto just like any other B&W film. Pretty cool, huh? Well let's take a look at some of the other things that makes X-Ray film it's own unique shooting experience:

1. The Cost - This stuff costs ~ $0.33/sheet in 8x10 after taxes and shipping. Compare that to a premium B&W emulsion such as Kodak TMax 400 at ~ $8/sheet or Ilford HP5+ (my goto film) at ~$4/sheet.
2. The Look - X-Ray film comes in two basic flavors, blue sensitive and green (with some blue) sensitive. Blue sensitive reacts to light similarly to very early B&W films in the look of the final image, while the green sensitive film has a very nostalgic orthochromatic film look (think 1920's B&W).
3. The Feel - Since neither kinds of x-ray film are sensitive to red light, you can load, unload, and even process this film under a red safelight! It almost feels like cheating, coming from spending hours in complete darkness shuffling around film in trays.

The best resource for X-Ray film! (click image

So why isn't every photographer out there shooting this super-cheap "wonder film"? Well, that's because it has it's own set of equally unique flaws that make it more of a specialty film more than an all-purpose film like today's emulsions. For starters it's a little finicky to process, having light sensitive emulsion on not one, but both sides! This means that if you're used to developing sheet film in trays in stacks of 4-10 sheets, forget about it. Processing x-ray film like that would give you more scratches on the film than if you let your cat try and process your regular film by hand.

To add another layer of complexity to this persnickety film, you have keep in mind the color of objects in the picture before photographing it.

My first image shot on X-Ray film

Let's say you're shooting a still life of a green apple and a red apple with green sensitive film. To a standard B&W emulsion, the apples would both appear as middle grey tones, the green apple being just a hair lighter than the red. On green sensitive x-ray film, however, the green apple would be a very light grey tone, with the red apple going a very intense dark grey, almost black. Red, being the compliment of green, will barely be recorded by green sensitive film while green light itself will be recorded even lighter than if using a modern/panchromatic film. The best way I've found to counter this color-visualization problem is to quickly "flick" a green colored filter in front of one eye to see how the light is captured. Why do you have to "flick" the filter? Human eyes are crazy adaptive to changing light situations, and it's very easy to fool our eyes into seeing tones that won't really be as light/dark as we perceive them after adapting to a colored filter.

Shot @ ASA 100 w/ Yellow filtOnce the two issues above have been worked out, there's still the issue of film speed and development to handle! Since there's no real base-line ASA listed for x-ray films, it's anybodies guess as to how to shoot them, let alone process them. The popular opinion of the moment favors two very distinct shooting styles with this film. One camp shoots the film for traditional silver printing and scanning by shooting the film at a low ASA of 50-64, then stripping one of the sides of emulsion, ala Fuji FP-100c negative reclaiming. The other camp shoots the film at a slightly higher ASA 100-200, and keeps both sides of the emulsion intact, to keep that larger negative density for alternative photographic processes such as carbon, platinum/palladium, albumen, and more. My first image (above), was shot at ASA 50, and came out way, WAY too dense to do much of anything with on silver gelatin papers. Considering just how overly dense it was, carbon printing and more contrast-needy alternative processes may be the only way to print those kinds of negatives. Personally, I've found shooting somewhere between ASA 100-200 gives me acceptable prints with silver, and ample density for carbon printing. And with the addition of a yellow filter (see image right), even more contrast can be controlled, and a little darkening of the sky can be obtaining with this naturally contrasty x-ray film. That's all the work done in-camera, now to bring it all together in the darkroom.

The final step in taming x-ray film involves very careful handling and processing. Two sides to the emulsion means 100% more chances for scratches on the film, both when dry loading the film, and when wet processing. It helps being able to do all of this under a red safelight, but still exercise caution with this film. I always wear gloves loading, unloading, and processing, to make sure I don't cover the film with fingerprints that'll show up in the final print. Next comes the issues of scratch-free development. There are three main approaches to doing this: processing one sheet at a time in flat bottomed trays, processing one sheet at a time in ziplock bags, and processing with stainless steel film hangers. At the moment, until I've got the rest of my 8x10 hanger kit assembled, I'm stuck tray processing one sheet at a time. In order to save chemistry, I've been using 1L of Pyrocat HD, 2:2:100 for a run of four sheets. Highly dilute, compensating developers are recommended for x-ray film, as it is very contrasty in nature, but I've seen acceptable results obtained from D-76, to Rodinal, all the way to standard x-ray developer. The other bonus to using a staining and tanning developer such as Pyrocat HD, is that it hardens the emulsion throughout processing, reducing the chances for scratching during stop, fixer, and washing.

That's about all I have to offer on x-ray film at the moment. If you haven't tried some of this very unique, affordable film, trying 100 sheets of it in 8x10 costs less than a tank of gasoline, and gives you a lot of room for experimentation. If you'd like to know more about shooting with x-ray film, or would like to see some more examples, please visit the two links below: (also consider registering with the Large Format Photography Forum)

X-Ray Film Examples and Comparisons

Images Shot on X-Ray Film

Thanks for stopping by, and long live film!

The 52 Project, Week 15: Elegant, Electric, Ektar 100

 Like stated last week, this week is all about color, and boy is there ever color!

Released in 2009, Kodak Ektar 100 film was introduced with the promise of being the world’s sharpest 100 ASA color negative film. Though it seems like a pretty tall claim, as of 2010, there really aren’t that many color negative films that are new to the market. Some more information can be found on Kodak Ektar 100 here:

Kodak Ektar Data Sheet

Stockholmviews Review

Roger and Frances Review

Kodak Ektar Flickr Pool

My $.02, Ektar is vibrant, saturated, and sharp as hell! Let’s cut to the samples.

Color gives this game a very cool feel.

Scan 1: Riverside Park Shuffleboard

Yep, I'm using a subject from last week into this week's post. These old folks were also my first test for Kodak Ektar. They also gave me a chance to explore how it handles incredibly bright back-lighting. 

Nah nah na nah nah!

Scan 2: Scottie Puppy Tongue

Just on my way out of the park after finishing my B&W roll of Tri-X, I came across this adorable Scottie puppy. He was quite excitable and happy to see the camera so close and down on his level.

Their hotdogs are as cool as their stand.

 Scan 3: Jim's Hotdogs at BalloonFest

 Previously the owner of the Findlay famous Jim's Gym, Jim the fitness guru has now forayed into the world of hotdog vending. You should check them out if you get a chance.

Jimshotdogs.net

Jim's Hotdogs on Facebook

For some reason she thinks I'm photogenic.

 Scan 4: Lauren Bagley with Pentax K1000

 Thanks to a Photography 101 class and a lot of bad influence from me, Lauren has become a fellow film nut. Heck, she even just won a copy of Pat Sansone's "100 Polaroids" from the awesome guys at The Film Photography Podcast. Oh yeah, they also gave her a Polaroid camera loaded with Impossible Project Film. Yeah, I'm a bit jealous.

Something Good: Got daylight? Got something that needs to “pop”? Ektar 100 is your go-to!

Something Bad: Not bad so much as a coping point, but this fantastically sharp film needs to be made in a faster version. ASA 100 has a lot of uses, but not nearly as many as say 400. :p

Something Learned: Ektar 100 is interestingly pleasing on skin tones. It has a similar skin tonality of Portra NC with a magenta “kick” while maintaining beautiful yet controlled saturation of pretty much everything else.

Next Week: This blog will be featuring an absurd amount of wieners, that is all. ^_^

Black Rapid Double Strap RS DR-1 Review

Click image above to goto Black Rapid's info page. Where do I begin with this sleek, sexy, trendy, almost necessary piece of equipment? Well, how about the beginning.

In the beginning, photographers had one camera. Until the late 1920's, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone toting around two or more view cameras; it just wasn't economical. Besides, back then, clients gave time a little more consideration, what with glass plates, tintypes, and large film to develop. Fast forward to the 1950's and 60's where rangefinder cameras and medium format ruled the day. It made sense to have more than one camera, each for different focal lengths, client needs, film speeds, etc. Not everybody had two bodies, but those that did found their job easier with the inclusion of another body. Unfortunately for photogs of that day, they had to deal with choking on leather and/or more uncomfortable straps.

Let's take another time skip to the digital age/today where showing up with two cameras at a wedding means you're probably related to the family, but not the hired photographer. Ok, enough cheap shots at "Uncle Bob", but seriously, two cameras is a must for most situations (except vacation, where you should be relaxing).  So besides juggling the manufacturer provided straps between two arms, a neck, or all of the above, what can a busy photographer do? The answer is sling it up with the R-Strap.

If you haven't heard of the R-Strap yet, don't worry, you're only about two years behind, and should probably watch this:

And now for a closer look at today's review, the RS DR-1:

Ok, so its cool looking, and Black Rapid has you convinced you can gun somebody down with your new strap, but what can it really offer you? For one thing, it completely eliminates strap burn. By placing the double strap over your shoulders and across your back and chest, weight is distributed more evenly and allows you to move more freely. With smaller gear, this isn't much of a big deal. But when you're photographing a baseball tournament with a 1D + 70-200 f/2.8 and a 50D + 300 f/2.8* on board, weight becomes an issue, FAST.

*The 300mm f/2.8 is strongly discouraged with R-Strap usage due to its excessive weight. I've tried it on multiple times with no troubles.

So we've covered running around and thinking that you look cool during a sports tournament, but what about an event that's a little more dressy, say a wedding? Well, the RS DR-1 comes in handy once again. By adjusting the length of the strap to just below a suit jacket opening, the R-Strap allows you to wear an open jacket over-top itself, and still shoot comfortably. I personally haven't tried it with a vest, but have heard through the grapevine that it’s a bit more of a hassle. Adjusting the position where the strap "catches" your camera is also a cinch, easily adapting to whatever equipment combinations you throw at it. The last wedding I posted on the 52 project, weeks 4&5, I was using the RS DR-1 interchangeably between 3 cameras: a 1D mark ii, a 5D mark ii, and a Hasselblad 500C, all very differently weighted cameras, with no hassle whatsoever. 

For those that don't like reading as much, here's some key bullet points:

Pros:

• Solid build materials on strap and mount rings
• Holds 2 DSLRs + long lens + flash easily
• There's little to know when it comes to using it. Got a tripod screw mount? You're set.
• Breaks down into 2 separate, functioning R-Straps
• Adapts easily to a variety of equipment combinations
• One size fits most*

*if your chest size exceeds 50" maybe event photography shouldn't be your gig.

Cons:

• Tripod mount rings known to slip (Google "R-strap" "fail")
• Carbinger screw locks too tightly sometimes, need pliers to get open again
• It's not cheap, $130 for a well made strap, but come on
• Makes you a little more conspicuous when shooting an outdoor event

Bottom line, this strap is worth the money if you're always fumbling around with multiple camera bodies. It does what it advertises, and takes a beating as it's only a strap. It won't make you a cooler guy or a better photographer, but it may keep you more relaxed during a hectic event which could lead to a more successful day. More often than not, it'll keep gear where you need it, when you want it, and out of harms way. In this profession, that's the best we could hope for.