Problems w/ EFKE Infrared

[Andrew O'Neill]

I would give Rollei's infrared a shot before switching to Ilford SFX, as that is not a true infrared film.

Hi TtamNedlog,

I am quite convinced that Efke IR and Rollei IR are one and the same. Efke is on a thicker film base.

Hi Al. Yup. Lots of big sky in that province. Next time I go there, I'll make sure I give a lot more exposure and back it up with another sheed exposured through a red #29 just to be on the safe side...mind you, you don't get the IR look as much though.

How long do we have to wait for the Chinese to start making old Kodak IR sheet film? I sure miss that stuff...

[al olson]

How long do we have to wait for the Chinese to start making old Kodak IR sheet film? I sure miss that stuff...

I was hoping Kodak would license Ilford to make it again. I don't think Kodak intends to restart it ever! It would be especially sweet if we could get it in 120 and sheets.

[al olson]

I am quite convinced that Efke IR and Rollei IR are one and the same. Efke is on a thicker film base.

Especially since the Rollei info comes from Karl Mahn:
http://www.mahn.net/DL_MAHN/TFIN606e.pdf

[TtamNedlog]

I've only shot a handful of infrared, all of it being Rollei, so I haven't had the chance to try Efke and compare personally. The folks over at digitaltruth have done some fairly extensive comparisons though, and the results seem to show quite a difference in the two films.

Efke and Rollei Infrared Comparison
Survey of Infrared Films
Survey of Infrared Films part 2
Efke, Rollei, Kodak, and Ilford Comparison
Spectral Sensitivity

They have some other pages discussing each film specifically, but those are the links that deal with comparisons.

Good luck with your IR endeavors though. I love IR imagery, I just don't care for actually taking the pictures. Shutter speed limitations and all the extra work setting up each shot put me off to it. Although as a newcomer to large format, and loving it, maybe I should give IR another shot because it's certainly no more involving than setting up a view camera for a shot.

[Wallace_Billingham]

FWIW I do not find the Rollei and Efke IR films to be the same at all. Most Rollei films at the moment are old AGFA stock and have nothing to do with Efke/Photomekina.

If you believe the Efke and Rollei materials they also have very different spectral sensitivites according to the curves they produce.

If you develop them in a day light tank and fill it up with water and then quickly dump them out after only a few seconds, the Efke film will pour out a deep purple dye that my guess is the IR sensitizer because the other Efke films such as Efke 100 or Efke 50do not do this. When you try the same thing with the Rollei film you also do not get that deep purple dye.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Thanks for that, Wallace. Those side-by-side examples are pretty convincing. Efke looks inferior next to Rollei in regards to sharpness. Funny though, my Efke negs do not look soft and mushy, even when I compare them to my Rollei negs.

[gregstidham]

I don't have any advice for you, but I can report that I've shot IR820 in the mid day Canadian snow and it recorded the scene fine. Also, your exposure of 1/2sec and f/11 with an R72 should have been fine in my opinion. I don't have any problem with reciprocity failure until over a second and boy does it fail fast. Most of my thin negs were the result of reciprocity failure than anything else.

I process my IR820 in HC110 Dil B 68F for 10 min. and I rate the film at ISO 6 with an R72.

[soeren]

Thanks for that, Wallace. Those side-by-side examples are pretty convincing. Efke looks inferior next to Rollei in regards to sharpness. Funny though, my Efke negs do not look soft and mushy, even when I compare them to my Rollei negs.

Those samples are most likely 35mm or 120 film so your sheets will look very different
Best regards

[Wallace_Billingham]

I don't have any problem with reciprocity failure until over a second and boy does it fail fast. Most of my thin negs were the result of reciprocity failure than anything else.

yeah the Efke IR820 does have very bad (or good depending on what your want) reciprocity failure.

My guess is that Efke IR820 is the same exact film as Efke 100 only they add an IR sensitizer to it, and that the IR sensitizer has massive issues with reciprocty.