Modern Panchromatic Film and IR

**Peter De Smidt** · 23-Jul-2011, 10:09

See: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=78561

**Fragomeni** · 24-Jul-2011, 00:52

Great input everyone! Thanks for all the thinking points!

**R Mann** · 30-Sep-2011, 07:43

Any thoughts/reactions/problems on the Nyte Vu goggles now that you have had them for a few months?

**Fragomeni** · 30-Sep-2011, 10:31

Any thoughts/reactions/problems on the Nyte Vu goggles now that you have had them for a few months?

They are fantastic! An important point to make however is that I modified them considerably which was a part of the plan pretty much from the start. In order to meet my specific needs I had to make a few changes. First, the IR LEDs that come in the Nyte Vu goggles ouput 850nm. This wavelength produces a red glow that I was not comfortable with. I used film data sheets to determine the range where most 100 iso films stop being sensitive to red light and 850nm was a little too close for my comfort. I don't remember all the numbers but I wanted to be well outside of the film's sensitivity range. I think the data sheets show the films I looked at are sensitive up to around 700-750nm (don't quote me cause I can't remember at this point). I disassembled the goggles and replaced the 850nm IR LEDs with 940nm IR LEDs. 940nm IR LEDs are a fair bit deeper into the IR spectrum and produce very little glow from the visual spectrum at all. The glow is almost unnoticeable and it is certainly not enough to cause any exposure on 100 iso film during the time span it would take to develop film. I also disassembled the head brace and strap of the goggles and mounted them in a set of welding goggles with the glass removed. This provides a light tight seal on your face which prevents visible light produced by the screens in the goggles from reflecting off your face and exposing the film.

I tested everything and with the changes I made (speaking mainly to the LED switch) there is absolutely no visible or measurable exposure to the film with the use of the goggles. I checked to make sure there was no measurable exposure using an X-Rite densitometer.

There are a couple of tricks I’ve had to implement as well. I prefer to use my hands as opposed to tongs and I found that the white rubber gloves (standard hospital gloves) I use reflected too much IR and threw off the sensor cause a major loss of contrast and the inability to see much at all. The solution was a switch to dark blue/purple gloves that my girlfriend brings home from her job at the hospital. They are more opaque and much darker and do not reflect anywhere near as much as white gloves and therefore don’t throw off the sensor.

The most amazing thing about the experience was finding that under the IR goggles the negatives glow like they’re sitting on a light box! Complete sharp visibility! The image begins to come up within the first 10 seconds and then learning how to judge where the highlights should be was very easy. I set up the darkroom to develop some 4x5 test sheets (images of various contrast levels) using my already established time and temperature scheme. I did everything as I would normally do using time and temperature with the addition of the goggles so that I could observe what was going on visually. This gave me a very clear idea of where highlight placement belonged with various contrast situations and within 4 negatives I was developing by inspection like I’d been doing it my whole life. I really have no idea why this isn’t the standard method of development now. One more important thing to note is that typically when speaking of development by inspection (under green safe light as most people do it) you look at the base side of the film to see the highlights coming up through the milky base of the film. With the IR goggles that is completely unnecessary. You see every tone in the image as clear as if you were looking at it develop on a light box. Quite remarkable.

Well, that’s my experience so far

**Andrew O'Neill** · 30-Sep-2011, 13:42

That's very interesting, Peter. Thank you.

**EdSawyer** · 30-Sep-2011, 13:55

Pics of the goggles would be cool to see. Sounds like an interesting way to work in the darkroom!

-Ed

**Fragomeni** · 30-Sep-2011, 16:03

Pics of the goggles would be cool to see. Sounds like an interesting way to work in the darkroom!

I'll take some pictures of the goggles tonight and post.
I'll tell you, it's really revolutionized how I'm approaching development and it's even having an effect on how I go about making exposures. My photographic experience is entirely based on my awareness of my environment and my ability to make visually objective decisions in relation to the mechanics and controls I have over the equipment. I've always had a major intrinsic problem with the development phase of my process. I've always used time and temperture very well and the negatives it yields for me are very good but my problem was with having everything "in the dark" (pun intended) i.e. not being able to visually observe and visually understand what was happing during development and not being able to make visually objective decisions during development. It took a couple of years for me to start to seriously investigate IR as a way of working in the darkroom and it was only when a friend introduced me to a very good photographer/printer who had begun to use it himself. I saw his work and spoke with him in depth about his experience using it and about the wavelengths of IR light and the sensitivity range of various films and I was convinced that this could be a solution to the visual gap that I always felt was holding me back from working the way I want to. Watching the negatives develop and observing how much control I can have simply through visual observation using IR in the darkroom has made me fall in love with photography all over again.

**Fragomeni** · 9-Oct-2011, 20:23

Sorry for the delay. Things have been quite busy around here and I forgot to post the pictures.

**cyrus** · 11-Oct-2011, 16:06

How easy was it to swap out the LED lights? Does it require special tools or electrical knowledge? Soldering?
Do you feel a need to kill Sarah Conner whrn you erar these?

**Fragomeni** · 11-Oct-2011, 16:22

Hahahaha, it does feel somewhat Terminator-ish. They are actually very low profile so you don't need to worry about some long tube sticking out from your face (like with other night vision scope designs) and knocking into things.

Swapping out the IR LEDs wasn't overly difficult but I have moderate experience with soldering. You have to be careful not to touch anything other then the posts on the IR LEDs. I'm sure if you're sloppy you could end up shorting out the board. Basically, I used the soldering iron to head the solder holding the IR LED posts in place. Each IR LED has 2 posts (positive and negative). With heat alternating between posts, I was able to slowly shimmy the LEDs out of the holes they are soldered to. It was then fairly easy to replace them with the new IR LEDs. I just added a small bit of solder to reinforce the new bonds. Overall it was fairly easy but if you don't have experience doing something like this I wouldn't tackle it without a little help from someone who is more familiar otherwise you risk ruining the goggles and you're out of the money.