maco 4x5 infra red.

[randall 'red' thomasson]

hi folks! i am getting ready to try this film and am waiting on an 89B filter an d pyro developer. i've gotten what i believe to be some good advice and help on the film and processing. sample shots i've seen are awesome. have any of you sho t this film yet? just curious as to your results and developing processes. e me or answer here as i have the site bookmarked. i was bummed that kodak quit makin g 4x5 IR. oh well, that will be a plus for the maco company i guess. thanks. red .

[N Dhananjay]

Its a nice film - not as much halation as HIE (HIE didn't have an anti halation backing, while Maco does) but loads better IR effect and Wood effect than the Ilford and Konica films - it is supposed to have peak sensitivity around 820nm. I developed it in XTOL 1:3 for about 12 minutes, EI was in the region of 10 or so with an IR filter in bright daylight. Pretty clean and nice results. Cheers, DJ.

[Eric Pederson]

I've enjoyed this film as well. I have needed more development time than N Dhananjay for my lab technique (using 60ml of straight Xtol in individual tubes), so do make tests for your technique. I also found EI10 about right with that filter/light/dev. I'll cite my own page for some casual 35mm tests of this film (same emulsion, I believe, but I haven't yet put any 4x5 images up): http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~epederso/Photo/IR/Test.html

I'll also add that I have scratched the emulsion of this film several times during processing making me suspect that it may be softer when wet than the films I normally process in 4x5 (FP4+, Tmax), so use some caution in handling (as I now do).

[Mat Nikon]

Can you use T-Max developer with this film?

[randall 'red' thomasson]

hi mat! i sent you an e but it came back. i'm not sure about the t-max developer. i haven't shot any maco yet as i'm still waiting on the 89B filter. i plan on using 'pyro'. here is a guy who has been helping me:

www.RobertHallPhotography.com

he does a lot of infra red. good luck. 'red'.

[Mat Nikon]

Sorry bout the email. Reason I asked about T-Max is because thats the one I'm using at the moment. I know I can use it for 135 HIE. Dont want to spend more money buying and storing different types of developers. Would love to try 4X5 IR.