Acquired some 50-year-old Kodak High Speed Infrared film... now what?

Thanks to the generosity of the fellow Photrio-er who is cleaning out his hoarder relative's darkroom, I have semi-accidentally acquired a box of 25 sheets of Kodak High Speed Infrared expired in 1971. Never thought my bid would win given how rare this stuff is now, but here we are!

It arrived today and now I haven't the foggiest (no pun intended) idea what to do with it. I do have an 89B filter I'll use to expose, but how do I rate the speed of 50-year-old film that didn't even have a published ASA rating at the time? The most recent datasheet I could find c. 2000 (http://mauglee.kitox.com/files/kodak-HIE-infrared.pdf) recommended exposing at ASA/ISO 50 for daylight. But does the normal add-one-stop-per-decade rule apply to infrared film?

I normally expose SFX200 through the 89B at ISO 6-12 so maybe that's a reasonable starting point? I know, I know, there's no way to be sure and I just need to bite the bullet and bracket over a 6-stop range, but I only have 25 sheets of the stuff so I'd just prefer to waste as little of it as possible. I'm already planning to shoot with a half-frame darkslide to get 2 wide shots per sheet... speaking of which, there's no such thing as a quarter-frame darkslide, is there?

To develop I was thinking of semi-stand in dilute Pyrocat-HD... any reason that might be a bad idea? I also have some Rodinal lying around or could mix up some D-23 if those would be better options.

Any advice would be appreciated!

I'll be watching this, I got the other box.

I would develop a 1/4 blank sheet in a standard developer, no exposure. I would be amazed if it's still good. But if it is you have a rare bird. If the base fog is acceptable use small pieces tray development to determine exposures. That's what EK used to take a picture of books on a shelf, using two household laundry electric irons to illuminate the subject. In zero visible light. I always wanted to try that. I think I tried as a kid with lack luster results.

I remember the warning label on the 35mm version to load the camera in total darkness. It was coated on an Estar base that would allow light piping through the film. The felt in the cassette was not enough.

One other point make sure you don't have a hot radiator or heat source in your darkroom, that’s a source of fogging.

I use R25, R29 and 720 filters for infrared film. I use ISO 400 [box speed] for HIE and then adjusted for the filter factor. I cannot give advice on the ISO for old infrared film nor how to change development for film age. Be careful about advice here on this subject. When it was announced that HIE was about to be discontinued I bought two 36 exposure rolls of fresh HIE. Here at APUG I was told that I needed to learn everything about the film by choosing one subject and then I needed to set the IE at 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and bracket from -6 f/stops to +6 f/stops with and without the infrared filter. Now even dumb cluck could figure out that would use 84 exposures out of 72 exposures. That have would taught everything about nothing. So if anyone recommend endless useless extensive testing tell them to take a hike and what to do with themselves when they get there. Do not trust the testing nuts at Photrio! Listen to the people you think you can believe and trust.

The more a film is sensitized to the infrared, the faster it looses that part of the spectral sensitisation on storage.

I have 4x5 HIE expired in 1967. I've had it for a few years. Works great at EI 12 with a #25 red filter. That is all I ever used when this stuff could still be bought fresh. With an 89B, I'd give it a couple more stops exposure. A #25 is all you really need, though.

This was expired two summers ago. Developed in Pyrocat-HD. There is base fog of about .30. Easily printed through.

Oh that's wonderful, Andrew !

Amazing pic for that age of HIE. It is even more amazing that you are Eastern Orthodox that far West

pentaxuser

Yes, I am surpised too about the resting IR sensitivity.

Andrew O'Neill said:

This was expired two summers ago. Developed in Pyrocat-HD. There is base fog of about .30. Easily printed through.

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Gorgeous work