If you want to try again with this film, Freestyle
has recently expired Maco IR820C sheet film version on sale at half price for
$35.00 a box. I got three boxes myself, and there are now 13 boxes remaining at this
price. B&H's price is now $75.00 a box.
Sorry to hear some of you had an unfavorable experience w/ Maco IR. I have bought a few weeks ago a box of the expired sheet (4x5) film described immediately above this post by Andre. I am a novice LF shooter in general, and this was my first ever IR experience in LF.
My workflow: 1. Meter with Nikon SLR set at ISO 6, without a filter. 2. Expose with Hoya R72 filter.3.Develop in D76 1:1 for 12 min @68F.4. Scan with Epson flatbed & do some minimal adjustments in PS.
Results can be seen a here. These shots may not be artistically great, but reinforced my interest in IR, and have proven (to me, at least) that Maco is worthwhile. I will actually buy another box of expired film.
Addendum to step 3 above. I soak the film in tap water for ~1 min before development (see Eirik Berger's post above).
How do you manage to get this film flat? In their PDF instruction Maco recommends hanging a heavy weight while drying at the bottom of the film, up to a few Kilo grams since the film has a polyester base. This is another unique thing about this film. Does this work with out damaging the film?
For sheet film, I hang it up the same way I hang up other films, using a black medium size binder clip. I have no problems and do not add any additional weight to the bottom of the sheet. It dries flat.
Ramin:
I must admit that I missed the part with the heavy weights in the pdf, although I read it upon purchase of the film. Have noticed that the film base is a bit slippery, so that the dedicated metal clips I generally use for hanging sheets to dry slipped off. So I improvised by using a set of wire hangers (from thr dry cleaners) and hanged wood clothespins from the horizontal part of the hangers. The wood clips worked great, and the film came out flat. No weights, though, and frankly, can't see how could (and why would) one want to hang kilos from the sheet.
Hi all .I think Maco 820 ir is a great film with fine grain.It gave to me very sensational pictures but I must agree with comments on quality control and ISO variations. Also I dont know if it worths the pain to get one or two succesful shots in a 120 roll.In my last try after a long walk (3 hours) in a mountains top with tripod and a heavy camera I got very nice shots but when I develloped the negatives I found the markings and the number that is printed on the paper that wraps the roll on my best shot! How nice to have a black background with a nice tree in wood effect and the number -10- somewhere in the background! Come on guys at MACO ,it must be a better way to live with this film... But I dont give up ,I like this film. Also a big problem of it -i think- is his very low speed compared to HIE. Even the subltle movement of leaves etc is recorded. Kris
Have only used it in 4x5 sheet, but there indeed seems to be some unevenness in quality. Some sheets have stippling on them (white dots) that I have not noticed on TMax developed by me the same day with the same chemicals and technique. Also, less critical to the quality of the final image but perhaps illustrative to Maco's QC, the notches on the sheets are ocasionally very shallow, making it difficult to appreciate which is the emulsion side. These points nothwithstanding, Maco is the only manufacturer that I know about to (still) make IR sheet film. I will try to learn to live with its idiosynchracies, in order to make LF IR.
BTW the link to my Maco shots above is outdated, the new link is here.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks