The Film Photography Project
A Resource for Film Shooters Worldwide
If you’re a Large Format film shooter, shooting X-Ray film is an inexpensive and helpful option when starting out due to the fact that you can develop your film under a red safe-light! FPP’s in-house large format film expert devotes Episode 15 of his Large Format Friday Series to discussing “The X-Ray Option” (including new FPP 4×5 X-Ray Film!)
Today, June 12, 2020 Mat Marrash posted his Large Format Friday Episode 15 featuring FPP 4×5 X-Ray Film.
One of the topics I get asked about the most, in-person or online, is “How the heck do I use x-ray film with my large format camera?” First let’s start off describing just what this stuff is. Back in the not so distant past, if your doctor needed to check for a broken bone, they would have to take an x-ray which was exposed and developed on a large sheet of film. Some clinics and commercial applications still rely on this technology worldwide because of its cost effective and portable nature. Though we might not think of it like we think of photographic film, they’re not too different. Yes, it’s blue. In medical and industrial uses, blue was the most common base available supposedly to reduce eye fatigue in Radiology. Another funny thing about this film is that it actually has two emulsion sides, not one. This means there’s light sensitive coating on both sides of the film, so there’s no right or wrong way to load the film into holders. Now onto the downsides: Film is orthochromatic – cannot see red light, also don’t use tungsten balance lights Lower speeds – most x-ray films have an ISO range of 5 – 100 EASY to scratch – lack of protective layers means less handling of film, the better Let’s load up some film under a safelight, shoot it, and see what we get when we develop by inspection! Blog Posts for Reference: http://matmarrash.com/blog/2012/2/2/x…
http://matmarrash.com/blog/2012/8/28/…
Great, Ongoing Source of Collective Knowledge: https://www.largeformatphotography.in…
Film Photography Project X-Ray Film: https://filmphotographystore.com/coll…
Content by Mat Marrash https://www.matmarrash.com