Re: my first HIE!

[boblong@xxxxxxxxxxx (Robert Long)]

On Sun, 18 May 1997 14:24:22 +0200, you wrote:

|4.  I had some problems  during bringing in the film into the spiral.

Tell me about it.  I gave up on my last roll, put it in the tanks
without the reel, and left the tank in the changing bag for a
half-hour.  When I came back and tried again, it went onto the reel
almost perfectly.

|was a very faint thin light stripe (appr. 1 mm width) over the whole
|length of the film.  It=92s hardly detectable and has no sharp edges. It
|looks more like an irregular pattern of the grain. (it=92s light on the
|negative and thus black on the actual photo). =20

Mysterious.  If it were along the edge of the film I'd think it might
be due to contact with the reel.  But evidently it's in the image
areas.

|5.  Can anyone advice me about a better  method of spiralling in the
|film?=20

I don't know about Paterson tanks, which I've never used.  Nikkor had
a feeder thingie made out of stainless steel that I found helped a
good deal with problem films--until I misplaced it.  Ansco used to
make a plastic tank (IR-safe??) that had little ball-bearing grips at
the head of each spiral groove.  These thingies pulled the film into
the reel when you swiveled the top plate back and forth--clockwise,
then counterclockwise.  Saved a lot of grief with some films, though I
haven't used it in may years and have no idea whether a similar
mechanism is still on the market.

|7.  I developed the film in XTOL stock solution during 6 minutes at 24
|degrees Celsius. Agitation during the first 30 seconds and after every
|30 minutes 5 seconds agitation.=20

That should yield higher contrast than I'd like to work with.  Kodak
rates it for a CI somewhere around 8.0.  Normal pictorial-image CI
range is near 6.0, which would call for around 4.5 minutes at 24
degrees C or 6 minutes at 20 degrees--which I prefer working at
anyway.  Also, you may get better results with agitation only once per
minute--particularly if you go to longer development times via lower
temperature or dilution.

|8.  The two stops underexposure were the best?? The normal exposure
|(1/60 F11) was too heavy. Next time I expose at 100 ASA and develop
|during 5 minutes, 24 degrees.  Or should I only bring the time down to 5
|seconds?

Um... 5 seconds??  I'd suggest dilution 1:1 and using 7 minutes at 24
degrees (if you really like to work that hot) and agitating 10 seconds
out of ever 60.  But that's based solely on Kodak's recommendations;
you have first-hand experience with XTOL, and I don't--yet.

|9.  Grain looks almost comparable with HP5 film, so not bad at all.
|Maybe XTOL keeps grain down to the minimum.

According to Kodak, the 1:1 dilution should make it, if anything, even
more minimal.  But your comment is encouraging; I'm just about to run
my first roll in XTOL.

|10.  I would like to know how to judge an IR negative. Should the sky be
|almost blank and the vegetation black and contrasty to the sky?  Some
|negatives (the overexposed) look heavily covered. The sky is not clear.
|Are they  no good?  Are there any standard rules or hints for the
|selection of the best negatives?

With a "milky" sky (your description, I think) the sky won't be
entirely clear unless you severely underexpose.  Black vegetation and
clear sky only occurs with a...well, clear [blue] sky.

|some reactions. I enjoy reading all the questions and answers in this
|newsgroup and I learn a lot from them. Many thanks!

Hey, I'm learning from you!

Bob Long
(boblong@xxxxxxxxxxx)
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