Infrared Film Question - Is it plug and play?

[rguinter]

Greetings everyone: I've been using some old Konica 750 IR film and I've pretty well nailed down the exposure with my Tiffen 87 IR filter for proper exposure. Can anyone with experience with the Rollei film tell me how it might compare with the Konica? I just bought a bunch of the Ilford SFX and with similar exposures I get almost nothing on the negative. So I guess the Ilford has little if any sensitivity beyond the Tiffen filter cutoff. If someone can give me some thoughts on the Rollei I will consider buying a bunch of it while it's still available. I'm looking for the strong IR (Woods) effect. With all the comments about trouble with the Efke I guess I'll simply avoid that one altogether. Comments would be welcome and appreciated. Cheers. Bob G.

[rguinter]

... Both the Rollei and Efke have an anti-halation layer that you'll want to remove with a good pre-soak before developing. The Efke is essentially useless without a really good pre-soak...Drew

Also... Just wondering what would happen to the negatives without a pre-soak?

[drew.saunders]

Also... Just wondering what would happen to the negatives without a pre-soak?

I've had an incomplete pre-soak, and had strips of developed film and strips of undeveloped film. From that limited experience, I'm guessing you might get clear film, or at least have to develop for much longer.

[JRJacobs]

I'm looking for the strong IR (Woods) effect. With all the comments about trouble with the Efke I guess I'll simply avoid that one altogether. Comments would be welcome and appreciated. Cheers. Bob G.

Hi Bob -

I do a fair amount of IR shooting. I have found the Efke to have the strongest wood effect. I don't consider it a difficult or troublesome film to use. Just keep in mind that it is slow and has reciprocity, so you need to calculate your shoot times. I do not use a hardening fixer with it, and have had no problems with scratches, although I do handle my negatives carefully.

SFX is not considered to be a true IR film as the cutoff is too low.

[Jay W]

You mentioned this in the start, but the Wisner leather bellows certainly isn't light tight, and I think this is true for leather bellows in general unless they're lined. I knew this, but I forgot and blew a few sheets of HIE last year. (I also have an IR bellows) Yeah, I still have some HIE in the freezer, but it does seem to age even when frozen.

Jay

[Brian Ellis]

That borders on superstition, though. Even HIE (which was more infrared sensitive than any currently available infrared film) was modestly sensitive overall (about ISO 24 when shot without filter, with light and IR sensitivity adding up). Weak visual light sources did not matter more to HIE than they would have to Tri-X, and the luminous paint on your watch or red LEDs are visual only. What you have to do is block infrared sources - but these generally are not visible, and hunting down them used to be close to impossible, which originated "block every potential source in sight" methods like the one you mention.

Today, some twenty-five years after CCD video became consumer standard, checking a darkroom for IR tightness (or indeed a scene for IR intensity and quality) is easy and cheap - any old video camera with "night shot" mode can do it, and suitable Video8 camcorders with dead recorder section are next to free at any garage sale.

Sevo

It might have been superstition, I never felt like wasting any HIE to find out. My theory was that it took about 2 seconds to remove my watch and maybe another 10 seconds to throw a towel over the timer. I figured better to spend those few seconds taking precautions rather than taking any chance at all of ruining a roll or a bunch of sheets of HIE containing images I had spent many hours making. And I'd do the same thing today with any IR film for the same reason.

[Wallace_Billingham]

Also... Just wondering what would happen to the negatives without a pre-soak?

I have done it and it just takes a bit longer to develop, but got no ill effects. I presoak all the Efke films for the same reason. It takes a while for the emolsions to soften up you can do that with developer, or you can do that with a presoak.

The advantage with a presoak is that time is not very critical. Once its soft, its soft and extra time in plain water does no harm. With developer once its soft it starts to develop and you are never really sure how long that might take.