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First IR Film Experiments
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 7:03 am    Post subject: First IR Film Experiments Reply with quote

I finally got around to testing out the Rollei IR film. I tried each shot at 400 ISO without an IR filter and then bracketed 6, 10, and 12 ISO with a 720 cut filter. The following samples are ordered 400, 6, 10, and 12 ISO followed by a Photoshop-generated merge of all four photos.







The IR shots all look about the same, honestly, to my eye in bright sun. In different lighting, they do change a bit. For this latter shot, I wanted to try a long-field shot.







This shot was taken from Mount Diablo, in Walnut Creek, California. THe peak about 25% of the way from the image's left edge is Mt. Tamilpas -- 35.36 miles from the photo spot.

So, clearly I need a higher vantage point. Back in the 1930s, IR plates were capable of capturing images with depths greater than 300 miles. I see no reason to attempt such distances, but I'd like to get an image where 50 miles is clearly visible.

Overall, this film impressed the heck out of me. Acceptable tonality, good contrast, and the finest level of detail I've ever seen on a 400 ISO film. I've read that some people shoot it at 200 ISO with good results and others up to 820 ISO. I think that 400 seems to work quite well and delivers very fast shutter speeds. Also, the optimum ISO for IR photography seems to be anything less than 25. Some of the ISO 6 results were modestly washed out, but so were some of the ISO 12 shots. For my second roll, I'll try ISO 15.'

The IR film does a great job of cutting through haze and UV diffraction, resulting in lighters shadows and more even tonality. This is highly evident in the latter image's valley area.

Developer was D-76 at room temperature (probably around 70 degrees Fahrenheit) for 6 minutes 30 seconds.


PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 10:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fascinating! I'd never have thought of sandwiching the frames in photoshop.