IR Film development

[SAShruby]

Was awesome!!! We saw about 10 in a hour. Spectacular.... If I would have a motorized tripod, it would be a great photo. Milky Way,meteors, stars... lovely.

Hey, there is a air show in Abbotsford starting today until Sunday. Wanna go shoot some planes maybe?

[aporodagon]

There was an article a number of years ago in Camera and Darkroom (I believe) on modifying a spot meter for IR. You have to open the meter, remove the IR filter (it's cyan in colour) to improve IR sensitivity and replace it with a piece of IR gel filter ( I used a Kodak 87C gel on a Gossen Ultra Spot). It worked well once calibrated, then Kodak discontinued HIE. I haven't worked with IR since then, but a lower pass filter could be used instead of the 87C.

[rguinter]

Yes 87C is pretty high cutoff if I recall. Probably not much use now that HIE is no longer available fresh. But HIE does pretty well with just about any filter above yellow. So may not be necessary.

These were done two weeks ago with HIE 120, 6x4.5-cm using a yellow 2 and a B&W graduated red to darken the sky. Exposures were f16 @ 125 handheld. Bob G.

[rguinter]

P.S. This one must be a "brain-o" not a typo.

Meant to use the acronym HSI in the previous thread. I'm not completely sure where my brain conjured up HIE. Although I seem to have been using it consistently in my notebook too.

I guess this "getting old" stuff is no good. But the alternatives are not so good either. BG

[Brian C. Miller]

I too have noticed the occassional fogged sheet once the film approached expiry date and past it. It's important to use the box up asap.

I developed some Efke this weekend, and I didn't see any fogging. The film has an expiry date of 2007, and has been in the fridge, not the freezer.

but overall they were flat and… fogged. So the question I have is where they got fog on them.

When I first started using 35mm HIE, I was loading my daylight tanks in a changing bag. I went through five rolls before I realized that was my problem, and then loaded the tank in absolute dark. Perhaps your dark room isn't as "dark" as you think it is, and there is an IR spectrum leak. The other problem may be the darkslide on your film holders, and you set your holders in direct sunlight for a bit. Or maybe your camera has an IR spectrum leak.

Try this: load your holders at night, and keep them in a cardboard box. Select a scene (anything leafy) where your camera is in the shade. Make your test exposures, and then develop the film at night. Also, develop one sheet right out of the box. If the supposedly blank film is fogged, there's your problem. If only the exposed sheets are fogged, that's your problem. If none of them are fogged, then try an exposure with your camera in direct sunlight and see what happens.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Hey, there is a air show in Abbotsford starting today until Sunday. Wanna go shoot some planes maybe?

Not at $30 a head... and then there's the heat stroke that usually follows. So, did you go?

[Cor]

I too have noticed the occassional fogged sheet once the film approached expiry date and past it. It's important to use the box up asap. What's the expiry date on the box? How do you store it?

Just last weekend I shot some MACO AURA (aka EFKE 820ir without anti-halo layer, not that it gives you the glow as seen with HIE), which expired in 2003..no fog except a bit higher B+F which is easily printed through..

I have used quite a few expired boxes (Got a couple of boxes for testing which were then close to the expiry date) without problems, apart form the nice factory build in pin holes which inadvertently are in the highlights..

I do store the film at -20degC though, and keep a working stock at 4degC..and about 4-6 holders ready at room temperature

Best,

Cor

Oh btw..I shot at 1.5 ASA, with a 70 red filter, overcast day,some sunlight through thinner clouds: 90mm SA at f22 for 4 seconds, a tad over exposed.. I use a Gossen Lunasix Pro lightmeter which serves me surprisingly well for IR

[SAShruby]

Not at $30 a head... and then there's the heat stroke that usually follows. So, did you go?

Yeah I did, was awesome but too hot. F/A-18 Super Hornet was great. Loud.

[SAShruby]

I developed some Efke this weekend, and I didn't see any fogging. The film has an expiry date of 2007, and has been in the fridge, not the freezer.



When I first started using 35mm HIE, I was loading my daylight tanks in a changing bag. I went through five rolls before I realized that was my problem, and then loaded the tank in absolute dark. Perhaps your dark room isn't as "dark" as you think it is, and there is an IR spectrum leak. The other problem may be the darkslide on your film holders, and you set your holders in direct sunlight for a bit. Or maybe your camera has an IR spectrum leak.

Try this: load your holders at night, and keep them in a cardboard box. Select a scene (anything leafy) where your camera is in the shade. Make your test exposures, and then develop the film at night. Also, develop one sheet right out of the box. If the supposedly blank film is fogged, there's your problem. If only the exposed sheets are fogged, that's your problem. If none of them are fogged, then try an exposure with your camera in direct sunlight and see what happens.

Brian, thanks. I shot some IR last weekend, plan to develop them tonight, I will keep you posted.

[612tom]

BTW, the Harrison is definitely not IR safe.

I use a Harrison tent with this film, have loaded holders and dev tanks at home and in the field with no problems - have I been lucky?!

I rate the Efke 820IR at ISO 3 when using a 720nm cut opaque filter. Then add reciprocity of about 2 stops giving bright sun exposures of about 4 or 8 seconds at f22 or f32. Developing in Ilfosol 3 1:9 for 8.5mins at 20deg c.

Pretty happy with the results...