Rollei IR400 exposure guidance

TheVDM

TheVDM

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Ok, I have been searching the internet high and low today for a good starting point on Rollei IR400 as I have a roll in the post for tomorrow and if the weather is anything like the last couple of days it would be perfect timing.

I know there are many pages and threads about IR film and many specifically for Rollei IR400 but they have all left me in some confusion.

I understand that using an IR filter the film will need to be shot between ISO3-25 with ISO6-12 being popular choices. My question is, do I work out the exposure at ISO6-12 with or without the IR filter on the camera as they will give dramatically different shutter speeds.

I may be missing something really simple but it's got me a bit confused today.

Regards
Jim
 
with the filter on, you must calculate exposure @ iso 12
with the filter off, its normal iso 400 b/w film.
 
if you set your meter for iso 50, iso 12 is 2 stops slower...or near enough..:)

so if 50 = 1/2 sec

12 = 2 sec
 
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Many thanks for your reply, I have checked the met office website and we are due fairly high UV rating and a good ammount of sunshine so hopefully a good ammount of IR will come bundled in with that.

Once the postie arrives I will load up the camera and have a test run!

Cheers
Jim
 
With an R72 filter, 4 stops of light are absorbed which equals ISO 25 but that gives a more subtle IR image, for Kodak HIE style blown whites meter it at 12.

Meter with the filter off at your selected ISO, focus normally and then re-focus to the IR focus mark on the lens. Put the filter on and take the picture.

You might find this (somewhat long!) post on IR film photography that I made a while ago interesting/useful:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=2954752&postcount=3

Please note that there is a slight mistake, it should say 900nm for the Kodak HIE filter not 950nm and you can non longer get Ilford SFX from 7dayshop as they no longer stock Ilford.
 
s162216 said:
With an R72 filter, 4 stops of light are absorbed which equals ISO 25 but that gives a more subtle IR image, for Kodak HIE style blown whites meter it at 12.

Meter with the filter off at your selected ISO, focus normally and then re-focus to the IR focus mark on the lens. Put the filter on and take the picture.

You might find this (somewhat long!) post on IR film photography that I made a while ago interesting/useful:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=2954752&postcount=3

Please note that there is a slight mistake, it should say 900nm for the Kodak HIE filter not 950nm and you can non longer get Ilford SFX from 7dayshop as they no longer stock Ilford.
Click to expand...

Many Thanks for the reply, there is some usefull information in your other post.

I am surprised that 7dayshop.com have stopped their ilford ranges as I used to buy quite a bit from them although its been a while since my last order, as for the SFX200 I still have a few in the fridge but I was never that happy with the IR results from them as they become very grainey with the longer exposures.

Strangly enough I only discovered AG Photographic the other day when searching for some 3.5x5 paper for a pinhole camera that I built and figured as they charge a flat rate shipping fee I would make the order worth while and add some Rollei IR400 and a few 120 roll films as I still havent tested my old Kodak Junior 1 or Kodak 66 yet.

I assume using the SFX filter I would need to expose nearer the ISO 25 mark as its more of a deep red filter and my true IR filter only fits my 75-300mm lens (not ideal for landscape) unless I use one of my older cameras like the Praktika MTL3.

Perhaps on my next AG order I will add some Efke IR820 in for a test, as for the developing it wont be Tesco despite working in one of their labs but at home with the help of the massive dev chart.

Thanks for your help

Jim
 
Hi,

I'm glad for finding that post useful. The reason that 7dayshop no longer stock Ilford is because they claimed to be unable to negotiate a good enough bulk price with Ilford for their films who they said would not give them a big enough discount, so they sold all the Ilford stock off at and recommended to use Kodak films instead!

On AG Photographic they actually had a whole list of reasons in response to this as to why Ilford was better than Kodak such as PlusX being more expensive than FP4+ and no longer in 120, being able to pick up the phone and talk to one of Ilford's directors whilst its impossible to talk to Kodak etc

The SFX filter is exactly the same as an R72/89B filter BTW.
 
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Ahh, so the SFX filter is around 720nm, thats good as I will be able to use an image stabalised lens for the longer exposure shots which will help a little with keeping the images sharp.

Ilford films are always my first port of call, mainly as they're what I'm used to!
 
Ilford films are great, SFX for IR is poop, its ok for something a little different with extended red sensitivity you can play around with filters and get some interesting effects, but it doesn't come close to Rollei IR for proper IR photography.
 
The film still hasn't turned up yet, should be here tomorrow then! Also noticed that my EOS 300 has an IR sensor for reading the holes on the film so have searched ebay and found a nice boxed EOS 10 which uses the mechanical method for frame counting.

So looks like I will be doing my tests next Tuesday or Wednesday now.

I found the SFX 200 to be quite good for portrait if used with a red 25 filter.
 
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