With now four IR films on the market, it seems as if the good old days, when several IR films were available on the market, are back!

Maybe Kodak could even be persuaded to modernize Ektachrome IR into E-6 compatibility....

Some first experiences with the Ilford SFX-200

FROM: Eduardo Ayrosa 
SUBJECT: Re: Exposure for near-Infrared Film - Any ideas?????
DATE: Mon, 06 May 1996 09:56:24 +0100
ORGANIZATION: Direct Connection

About the Ilford SFX200...

> Let us know more about how it works out, I may have to play with it
> in the 35mm camera after all.

I used on yesterday and got some interesting results. The day was not 
very sunny but it was possible to see some blue sky here and there. I  
shot flowers and portraits, and the results were not as obvious as with 
the Kodak film but there was a difference between the SFX200 and any 
common film. 

The pictures I got without any filter were a very tiny bit overexposed 
at ISO 200, but the overall appearance is of a common film. With red 
filter (Cokin) the usual effects appeared: bright foliage, dark skyes 
(not as dark as with the Kodak film), dark eyes, pale skin... I 
bracketed most of the shots and the results were mixed: some were good 
at the camera reading (which doesn't mean too much on these 
conditions...), some better at +2, some better at -2. Hence, exposure is 
tricky as usual. I also used a IR Lee filter, and it simply blocked all 
the light. It might work with very long exposure times, but if you can 
carry a tripod ypou can carry a changing dark bag as well and use Kodak 
film.

I developed in T-Max for 9 1/2 minutes, and the negatives were pretty 
good, I believe that at 8 1/2 they would end up looking thin. Grain is 
VERY small, I was impressed with it. Don't expect Kodak elephant-size 
grain on this film. 

Overall I think it's a good film. You get some IR effects here and there 
and, very small grain, and can change it in dimmed lights. Be careful 
with handling, the last frame on my film was a little bit fogged.

Regards

Eduardo

-- 
_________________________________________________________________________
' - , - ' - , - ' - , - ' - , - ' - , - ' - , - ' - , - ' - , - ' - , - 
,
 Eduardo Ayrosa
 PhD Programme - Marketing
 London Business School
 eayrosa@lbs.lon.ac.uk
 http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~ayrosa

 Depto. de Ciencias Administrativas e Contabeis
 Instituto de Ciencias Humanas e Sociais
 Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro

FROM: aubin@halcyon.com
SUBJECT: Re: New Ilford Film - Extended Red Sensitivity REPOST
DATE: 9 May 1996 05:05:11 GMT
ORGANIZATION: Northwest Nexus Inc.

>   mohenly@amtsgi.bc.ca (Michael O'Henly) writes:
>  Robert Pohl  wrote:
>  
>  > Recently there was a posting regarding the availability of a new
>  > film from Ilford.  It was apparently similar to Konica Infrared
>  > Black and White 750nm.  Unfortunately I missed the posting, and
>  > would like some information on this product.  Can anyone provide
>  > the information again?  I understand it was sensitive to approx.
>  > 740nm, and had a speed of 200ISO?  
>  
>  I'm interested in this too. Please post a followup if you hear more
>  about this. (Does anyone know whether this film is available in 4x5?) 
>  
>  
>        Michael O'Henly
>

Once more - because we can!!

The film is called Ilford SFX 200 and its available in 35mm only, right now its
in stock at Rainier labs here in Seattle, call them at  1-800-all-film.

From Ilfords fact sheet:

Medium white light speed, ISO 200, can be used without filtration.

Pushes well to ISO 800, no filter.

compatible with all normal developers.

.....extended red sensitivity (up to 740nm) and is especialy suited for use with 
a filter for special effects.

.... also has full panchromatic sensitivity to ensure a good pictorial contrast with or
without the use of a filter.

....has peak sensitivity at 720nm...

...recommended filters include:  B+W 665, Hoya Red 25A, Kodak Wratten 25/s5A 
and Lee HT027.


Some suggested developers:

DEV 		MIX	Time (minutes:seconds)
ID-11		stock	10
Perceptol	stock	14:30
D-76		stock	10
T-max		1+4	8:30
Atomal		stock	9
Ultrafin	1+10	10

Advise us how it turns out, this could get interesting.

As a medium format shooter I haven't much hope of getting to use it
soon, but you never can tell.


Take care - 

Norm 

FROM: eml@gate.net (Edward M. Lukacs)
SUBJECT: Re: New Ilford Film - Extended Red Sensitivity
DATE: 8 May 1996 10:58:48 -0400
ORGANIZATION: CyberGate, Inc.

Robert Pohl (rpohl@skylite.datanet.ab.ca) wrote:
: Hello!
: Recently there was a posting regarding the availability of a new
: film from Ilford.  It was apparently similar to Konica Infrared
: Black and White 750nm.  Unfortunately I missed the posting, and
: would like some information on this product.  Can anyone provide
: the information again?  I understand it was sensitive to approx.
: 740nm, and had a speed of 200ISO?  
: 
: Thanks,
: 
: ROB
: 
The new film, to be released in  the US with the designation SFX-200,
is apparently a clone of HP-5 whichj was originally used for law
enforcement and other purposes in the UK. communication with Ilford a
few days ago confirmed that it would be generally available in
the US this month, and that photo stores could order it for you
(or themselves) in ten roll units.  The film is only available in 
35mm size, and other sizes are not contemplated. 

An artilce in Photon Magazine earlier this year described it as an "extended"
red film and that is how Ilford describes it now.  In correspondence,
Les Mc Lean, the author, described the sensitization as being more
like Konica's IR-750 than Kodak HIE.  In other words, the IR
sensitivity peaks at about 750nm, not going much beyond 800,
insteado fo peaking at around 900 or so for the Kodak.  

This has a number of advantages, especially with complex lenses 
like extreme-aperture lenses and zooms.  The IR sensitization still
allows the film to capture the infrared fluorescence of Cholorophyll,
the effect that turns the leaves white.  But, because it is not
sensitive much beyond the visible red, it does not "see" the 
wavelengths which are so far out of the designed operating range
of the taking lens that the antireflection coatings cannot
control them.  Hence, all things being equal, the Ilford film,
as does the Konica, will produce better, less flary results than
materials like the Kodak HIE.

Grain characteristics and sensitivity were described as being 
similar to HP-5, which is to say very good.  I am waiting
to getsome of the film as soon as I can find it.  I have been using the
Konica, which is extremely slow, because I just couldn't stand
the ridiculos grain and appalling lack of an antihalation coating,
after almost 40 years in production, of HIE!

That's all I know about the subject, and I suspect it's mostly
fairly accurate.  The part about availability is directly from
Ilford, so it should be available within weeks.

Should be intetesting....

very substantial internal reflections that the Kodak film can see.

FROM: Mel Proudfoot 
SUBJECT: New Ilford Film - extended Red/IR
DATE: Thu, 09 May 1996 11:05:38 +0100
ORGANIZATION: EUnet Belgium, Leuven, Belgium

Hi,

I made a posting about Ilford SP815T - the stuff that Les did the article 
on in Photon. Don't have much technical data on this material - the T 
stands for traffic, its a very thin base to allow them to cram lots in a 
traffic camera. I was given a few rolls to play with by my supplier, he 
had a box for market testing.

So far I have only used it with a 4x red filter, did not have a stronger 
IR filter, but got some very interesting results. The speed is 400iso, I 
rated it at EI200 and developed it in pyro (11.5 mins at 21C in a small 
tank with normal pyro agitation). Which works fine.

Still waiting for a sunny day (fat chance in Belgium) to shoot the rest 
with my brand new IR filter.

brgds

Mel

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