January 22, 2015 - a sunny afternoon prompted me to take the Minolta Autocord out for a stroll, loaded with Rollei IR and an R72 (opaque) filter. This is one of my favorite images from the roll, and my first negs processed in Xtol. I find the Xtol controls the values much better than D76 and the highlights don't soar out of control!
Thank you Andrew This is tricky to answer, since the time of year plays a role in how much IR is available. I did a lot of tests with this filter based on recommendations given to me two years ago by Zeb Andrews: it was suggested I start with a rating of 12 ASA with that filter, which is about 5 stops below its box rating of 400 ASA! I have rarely obtained a usable exposure at that ASA and now default to starting at 6 ASA and I will likely bracket 1/2 stop under, 1/2 over and 1 full stop over. As I say, the time of year, atmospheric conditions and cloud/haze conditions seem to play a role in how "correct" my exposures are going to be. Bracketing often makes the difference between an excellent negative, and not getting a useable neg at all. This image came from the neg that was overexposed 1/2 stop over the metered setting for 5 ASA. I could have gone as much as one more stop over that and still had a perfectly usable neg. I definitely get the impression the tonal range is much more subtle than I usually get from this film, which may be because I used Xtol (for the first time) and highlight areas didn't sail off into "lith contrast" territory, which I tend to see if I use Rodinal. To be fair, I think atmospheric conditions (hazy light, intermittent cloudy patches partially blocking the sun) played a role in rendering a nicer range of mid-tones. See? The answer isn't especially straightforward!