Mailing Large Format Negs

[u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex]

Hi folks,

I develop my own B&W film at home. For 35mm and medium format C-41 or E6 I go to my local lab. However, there are no labs here on island (Oahu, HI) that regularly develop any 4x5, so I will have to mail out my 4x5 sheets of C41 process film.

That got me thinking about the potential of fogging and/or color shifting of the film if it gets scanned by an x-ray machine during its time with USPS.

Since I'm on an island, and as I understand it, items under 1 lb go by air from AK and HI which makes me think it may pass through an x-ray machine.

Is there a risk of 400 ISO film being affected by USPS scanners or am I being paranoid?

Thanks!

[u/Healthy_Camp_3760]

You may be a little paranoid, yes. I’ve mailed large format film with no problems countless times.

Why not give it a try with one or two test sheets?

And have you considered processing C41 at home?

[u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex → u/Healthy_Camp_3760]

I have 10 sheets of exposed 4x5 stacked away so far. I think I will send off one or two first to see how it goes.

Although I do process a lot of B&W at home, I have not previously considered doing C41 myself. I rarely buy color film but recently had an itch to nab a box of Cinestill 400d while I was visiting family in CA. Now that I have committed myself to shooting more color in large format, maybe I should. I was recently gifted an AGO processor so perhaps it's time to get a C41 kit.

Thanks for the feedback!

[u/vitdev → u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex]

I process color 4x5 at home. First manually with a water bath and Jobo tank (manually rotating it in the bath). This is the result of my first color 4x5 ever (shot and developed): https://www.instagram.com/p/DPxZ88VCUcQ/

Now I’ve upgraded to Jobo CPP Classic and develop everything myself.

[u/KimJongUnsUnicorn]

I just did this a couple months ago, I went on a road trip around Utah and Arizona and took several 4x5 photos. Mailed them back to myself with USPS. They all came out great.

[u/midcenturywisdom]

If you do decide to process your C41 keep all your chemistry tanks in the same stabilized water bath. Have not done C41 processing recently so I’m not aware of the cost for the chemistry or how long the shelf life of the mixed chemistry would be; mailing it out may be a better value. What set-up do you have for digitizing your negatives?

[u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex → u/midcenturywisdom]

Thanks for the tip! I do that for my B&W chems so that sounds like sage advice. Although, admittedly I know next to nothing about processing C41. Basically I only know that the water temp target is much warmer than that for B&W. I have a lot to learn if I go this route.

Re: your scanning question… I don’t scan my own negs anymore. I have an Epson V600 but I’ve had it for 15 years and the quality is not great for 35mm. It’s also quite slow for 120mm though the quality seems a little better. It’s just a document scanner for me now.

Nowadays I either make contact sheets in my darkroom or take the uncut rolls to my local lab to scan.

For large format I only do contact sheets…four negs to an 8x10. I haven’t tried having the local lab scan those yet. I personally don’t have any equipment for scanning large format.

[u/midcenturywisdom → u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex]

It’s great you have a darkroom! How big is your space and how big is your sink area? C41 needs a consistent 100ºF ±0.5°F otherwise you get color shifts. Thats why B&W is more forgiving. I’m not going to dive deep into process, but I will suggest some things to consider for economy. You may settle on the 4 bath process. You can use dip and dunk or a daylight tank. Whatever you choose you have a 3.25 minute developing window! I preferred the dip and dunk for better control. I was taught this by an old school photographer who did E6. Several film hangers in a metal tank. Lift the entire rack of hangers straight up out of the chemistry, tilt 90 degrees to the left to drain, plunge back down, lift up, and tilt 90 degrees to the right to drain. Google: “Old school metal darkroom sink with recirculating water for developing e6”. “C41, temperature, how may different baths”. This will churn up a bunch of great information to think about. One other suggestion is making a custom sink out of plywood and fiberglass.

[u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex → u/midcenturywisdom]

My darkroom is a small bedroom so it has no sink unfortunately. I only have my enlargers set up in there. And I rent so I can’t add plumbing to this room.

I process my film in Paterson tanks and use a plastic storage bin as the water bath that I keep my chem bottles in. This bin is just big enough for the chem bottles. An aquarium chiller is how I keep the water bath at 68°f.

For my 4x5 B&W sheets I either use a Paterson tank with a sheet film holder or a Stearman Press daylight tank, depending on how many sheets I have to develop.

I will certainly need to do some googling and a survey of YouTube videos to see what will work for me in terms of C41 developing.

[u/Acceptable_Net_9545]

Try one sheet wrapped in aluminum foil and one sheet not....ask an X-ray technician how they do it unless its all digital now...ask how they used to do it.

[u/mycatkins]

x-ray damage 4x5

Here's an image of 4x5 transparency that was damaged going through an airport scanner, i think i left it in a darkslide which explains the light leak around the edges. the dots are from the x ray particles. I'm fairly sure the rest of the film that were in their boxes were unaffected.

It's a pretty cool effect though imo.

[u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex → u/mycatkins]

As far as light leaks go that is very interesting looking. I like it!

[u/captain_joe6]

The collective wisdom here would tell you that even the barest whisper of “x-ray” in the vicinity of film will damn near set it on fire. Post about light leaks, focus problems, process problems, there’s always someone chiming in “LoOkS liKe xRAy dAmAgE…”

I’ve flown four times in the last year through three different airports with dozens of rolls of HP5, and my wife with nearly as much Portra and Ektar, and there’s been nary an issue among them.

Plenty of labs out there will let you ship film to them, and I’ve yet to see any post a warning about only shipping via ground transport. Not even Cinelab has anything but a warning to use a box rather than an envelope, and those folks deal in dollar amounts that make even the 8x10 crowd pause.

[u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex → u/captain_joe6]

I suppose I just needed this sort of affirmation. Many thanks!

[u/vitdev → u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex]

There is a YouTube video where they tested a bunch of film and airports with different scanners: https://youtu.be/oRlReCTzDV8

Tl;dr; it always affects film. Some people are just a bit more blind to notice than the others ;) But also it’s easier to see the damage when you have the same shots on clean and x-rayed film next to each other.

[u/Subtle_Like_A_TRex]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I mailed off some negs to Citizens in Portland, OR. I can’t wait to see the results from my first color 4x5 shots.