Rollei Infrared 400

[paulbarden]

I’m often disappointed when I see my results on Rollei IR film. It ain’t no HIE. Not even close.

[Ari]

Surpised to hear you say that, Paul.
That shot you linked to in post #2 is pretty frickin' awesome. I'd be happy with that look.

I suspect HC-110 will give me the results I expect, but I'll try the Eco-Pro undiluted first.
No, it won't be HIE, but it should be closer than what I got.

[Ari]

Got to some testing today with HC-110 dilution B. I like it much more than Eco-Pro/Xtol as the contrast is there.
I'm not trying to make IR film look semi-normal, I want to emphasize its IR qualities.
These test shots were slightly ruined by my developer being at 65F, not 70F. My fault, of course, and I'll soon post another series of test shots properly developed.
I shot at 50 ASA, bracketed by one stop and used an IR720 filter.

Here is the first series: https://www.flickr.com/gp/zsari/BHf3p9

[paulbarden]

Surpised to hear you say that, Paul.
That shot you linked to in post #2 is pretty frickin' awesome. I'd be happy with that look.

I suspect HC-110 will give me the results I expect, but I'll try the Eco-Pro undiluted first.
No, it won't be HIE, but it should be closer than what I got.

There is a world of difference between the Rollei film and HIE. The Rollei version barely qualifies as IR film. Sometimes I like what I see, but in the back of my mind I can picture how HIE would render a scene, and Rollei IR400 never, ever meets my expectations.
Yeah, thats a nice enough photo (the one you mentioned), but I can't help imagine how amazing it would be if it were done on HIE.

[Ari]

These are, unfortunately, things we have to get used to in this brave new world of weird film suppliers and their shoddy films.
No one's going to make Type 665 or Type 52 again, same for Kodachrome and Plus-X. Even new FP4+ isn't the same as old FP4.
Out of all the lost films, I'd be happiest if someone would bring back HIE, as it used to be.

My old guy rant is now over. Let's get back to pretending Rollei is actually an infrared film.

[Ari]

I just added another series of test shots, this time processed correctly.
But the first 2 shots were accidentally underexposed by 1/3 stop, not a big deal but why can't this ever go easy for me?
ASA 50, HC-110 B, IR720 filter, etc etc It's all there.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/zsari/0dc805

[Peter De Smidt]

The N + 2 is looking good!

[Ari]

I like the N+1 and N-1, or 25 ASA / 100 ASA.
With a reasonably fast lens, you can shoot at F/4 and 1/125s.

[grat]

I can assure you, you didn't screw up as much as I did my first try with Rollei. The most embarrassing was that I've got a "flip" bracket so I can swing the IR filter out of the way, focus/compose, and flip the filter back. So the first try, I completely forgot to put the filter back. +6 stops of exposure produced a remarkable, if not entirely usable, negative.

Then, in an effort to get rid of my 6+ month old open bottle of Ilfosol 3 (stored in 100ml bottles), I mixed Ilfosol 3 at normal 1+9 dilution, only to discover no one develops Rollei IR 400 with Ilfosol 3 at the 1+9 dilution. So I found another film that used the same time as the 1+14 dilution, and used that-- in other words, I guessed. But apparently I guessed well.

https://flic.kr/p/2m1v8an

I claim no artistic composition, and the image has not been cleaned-- it's much dustier than I expected. I admit to adjusting levels and some sharpening.

[Ari]

Thanks, but it isn't my first roll. There were 3 others that I really messed up, including the same trick with/without filter.