3000 dollar film

mehguy · Jul 29, 2015

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1135497-REG/kodak_1719137_aerocolor_iv_color_negative.html

I came across this while browsing the B and H website. What is this?

MattKing · Jul 29, 2015

mehguy said:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1135497-REG/kodak_1719137_aerocolor_iv_color_negative.html

I came across this while browsing the B and H website. What is this?

Historically this was used extensively for aerial mapping, aerial forestry and aerial geo image making.

Think large, motor driven cameras mounted in specially modified airplanes - and big negatives!

The folks who shoot the historic panoramic banquet cameras sometimes buy this stuff and cut it to length for their intended use.

A few here on APUG have used or worked with a lot of this stuff - Photo Engineer probably knows a bit about it.

fdonadio · Jul 29, 2015

It's there in the product description: special T-grain color negative film for aerial photography with extended red sensitivity.

The price isn't bad for a 9.5 inches wide, 440 feet long roll... That's 347 square feet of film!

Flavio

Sent with Tapatalk. Please, forgive autocorrect and my fat fingers.

wy2l · Jul 29, 2015

"What is this" you asked...

Perhaps you did not read or comprehend the B&H web site description:

"Designed specifically for aerial photography, Kodak AEROCOLOR IV is a medium-speed, fine-grained color negative film exhibiting a wide exposure latitude and natural color rendition in daylight conditions. A T-Grain emulsion is employed to achieve enhanced sharpness and resolution that make this film ideal for high-resolution scanning, and its design also provides 30nm-longer red sensitivity than previous aerial films for increased haze penetration and foliage reproduction, as well as increased green saturation and lower D-min values for fast printing times. This film is ideal for medium-to high-altitude aerial mapping and reconnaissance applications, such as geological, pollution, archaeological, crop and forestry studies; traffic control; city planning; railway, highway, and hydraulic engineering; oceanography; and remote sensing or other areas where photogrammetry is used."

"Standard development is possible in Process AN-6 or C-41 and due to the film's lack of an integral color mask, direct interpretations can be made to the negative itself. Utilizing an ESTAR base with gel backing, this film is especially durable, as well as moisture- and tear-resistant, and its hardened emulsion benefits high-temperature development in roller-transport processors."

"This item is one 440'-long roll of 9.5"-wide color negative film."

What part of this description you did not understand?

Photo Engineer · Jul 29, 2015

Our aerial cameras took 9x9 and 9x18 inch negatives and positives from USAF aircraft flying at up to 100,000 ft altitude. See some of the photos in my gallery!

PE

MattKing · Jul 29, 2015

I expect that mehguy, being fairly young, has never been exposed (pun intended) to the huge variety of commercial and industrial uses for photographic film that used to be common. It is hard to even imagine the cameras that used this film if all you have ever seen is cameras that will fit in a small backpack.

MattKing · Jul 29, 2015

Photo Engineer said:
Our aerial cameras took 9x9 and 9x18 inch negatives and positives from USAF aircraft flying at up to 100,000 ft altitude. See some of the photos in my gallery!

PE

Ron:

Mehguy is a young Canadian on a budget - he isn't a subscriber and cannot see your gallery photos (which are reason enough to subscribe to APUG).

mehguy · Jul 30, 2015

wow. imagine trying to load this stuff in your camera in a darkroom and accedently exposing the whole sheet of film to light. there goes your money!

gzhuang · Jul 30, 2015

Photo Engineer said:
Our aerial cameras took 9x9 and 9x18 inch negatives and positives from USAF aircraft flying at up to 100,000 ft altitude. See some of the photos in my gallery!

PE

Mr Engineer are you implicitly acknowledging the existence of the U2 spy plane during the Cold War?

MartinP · Jul 30, 2015

Any large building/mapping project would use these cameras - no U2 required. When I worked in a lab, thirty years ago, we would regularly have to make prints from 9 1/2" roll film for a commercial survey company locally. We used a rather large 10x10" Durst enlarger for the prints.

Photo Engineer · Jul 30, 2015

gzhuang said:
Mr Engineer are you implicitly acknowledging the existence of the U2 spy plane during the Cold War?

President Eisenhower did that!

PE

AgX · Jul 30, 2015

MartinP said:
Any large building/mapping project would use these cameras - no U2 required.

Rather "did use"... The times of aerial surveying on film are nearly gone.

EdSawyer · Jul 30, 2015

It's cool that this stuff is still made. Aerial cameras that take it are still fairly widely available, on ebay and elsewhere. They are a bit unwieldy for non-aerial use, e.g. hand-holding or even terrestrial use.

RobC · Jul 30, 2015

It's dirt cheap considering the cost of the aeroplane and camera you would need to use it in.

Photo Engineer · Jul 30, 2015

We used them on the ground with a 36 inch lens and a hefty tripod, on the back of trucks for mobile telephoto.

PE

DREW WILEY · Jul 30, 2015

Now if a burglar or peeping Tom wants to case your backyard, they just use a toy drone. Ain't progress wonderful!

pbromaghin · Jul 30, 2015

Photo Engineer said:
We used them on the ground with a 36 inch lens and a hefty tripod, on the back of trucks for mobile telephoto.

PE

Of what?

Photo Engineer · Jul 30, 2015

pbromaghin said:
Of what?

Well, during a missile launch at CCMTA, you stayed pretty far away! You could singe your hair otherwise.

And in combat, you did not usually walk up close to carpet bombing!

PE

DREW WILEY · Jul 30, 2015

Bradford Washburn sure did wonderful work with a 9" aerial camera mounted on a tripod. Today he might like one of those nice little cellphones cameras along - as a shim below a tripod spike!

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Jul 30, 2015

I researched remote sensing a lot and found that , only you can do in visible spectrum range remote sensing is the find the bugs or unhealthy crops in the field. Thats all , whatever filter you use.

If you want to do geological survey , finding uranium or iron ore you have to go to far infrared. Today thats digital.

For aerial photography of soviet silos , these huge anal lenses made for recording the building size objects three dimensional volume change.

If you try to make a portrait or landscape photography , these lenses are good as ps camera. May be worse.

They are calibrated to truck size objects and their best picture in 2d.

Not mountains , rivers , humans etc.

Buy a Leica for that.

fdonadio · Jul 30, 2015

If only that roll was 10" wide! One could cut 660 8x10" sheets from it, with no waste at all, at a cost of $4.24 per sheet. For comparison, Freestyle sells a 10-sheet box of Portra 160 for $172.79 ($17.28 per sheet).

Sent with Tapatalk. Please, forgive autocorrect and my fat fingers.

pentaxuser · Jul 30, 2015

Photo Engineer said:
Our aerial cameras took 9x9 and 9x18 inch negatives and positives from USAF aircraft flying at up to 100,000 ft altitude.
PE

I thought you were going to tell us that this was the reel that got Gary into trouble on that fateful May holiday a few years back

pentaxuser

Theo Sulphate · Jul 30, 2015

U2's and SR-71's? [*]

Child's play.

At least those were platforms that could land with the film on board. Consider the early U.S. reconnaissance ('spy') satellites which contained about 16000 feet of 70mm film. The film would be jettisoned from orbit in a drop bucket, to be captured in mid air or in the sea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)

Despite about a year and a half to two years of various failures, I consider these missions to be an overall success.

[*] originally RS-71, but LBJ swapped the letters while talking about it when he shouldn't've been.

pentaxuser · Jul 30, 2015

Theo Sulphate said:
U2's and SR-71's? [*]

Child's play.

At least those were platforms that could land with the film on board. Consider the early U.S. reconnaissance ('spy') satellites which contained about 16000 feet of 70mm film. The film would be jettisoned from orbit in a drop bucket, to be captured in mid air or in the sea.

.

Isn't this "Ice Station Zebra" I love the part where Rock Hudson explains his peaceful mission while bristling with guns to recover the data that the Soviet spy satellite has filmed and the Soviet Colonel has the equally peaceful mission(the phrase being spat out beautifully) to ensure he doesn't. His men have the odd gun between them as well

Peace is their mutual mantra in the same way that peace was paramount in the Union Station scene in the "Untouchables"

A long way from the thread's purpose I concede but we dealt with that many posts ago, didn't we?

pentaxuser

benveniste · Jul 30, 2015

I've got about 180 feet left of Agfa X400 in 70mm, which is quite nice for terrestrial use. Unfortunately, I don't know of any labs still developing 15' lengths of either that film or TechPan.

3000 dollar film

mehguy

MattKing

Moderator

fdonadio

wy2l

Photo Engineer

MattKing

Moderator

MattKing

Moderator

mehguy

gzhuang

MartinP

Photo Engineer

AgX

EdSawyer

RobC

Photo Engineer

DREW WILEY

pbromaghin

Photo Engineer

DREW WILEY

Mustafa Umut Sarac

fdonadio

pentaxuser

Theo Sulphate

pentaxuser

benveniste

3000 dollar film

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency