X-ray radiography

Tom Dixon asks about the suitability of mammography film for the
radiography of paintings, and whether to purchase a desk-top
automatic processor.

While I can't speak about mammography film, I would say that if you
want archival permanence for your films, you should stick to manual
processing, where you can ensure you have sufficiently long fixing
and washing times.  Personally I have always used 5 minutes in Fixer
1, 15 minutes in Fixer 2 and at least 30 minutes washing.

The other point is that unless you expect to process very large
numbers of films every day (like a hospital X-ray department), an
automatic processor just isn't economic.

Barry Knight
Senior Conservation Scientist
English Heritage


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:5
                  Distributed: Thursday, June 21, 2001
                        Message Id: cdl-15-5-006
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