Does anyone use Iford SFX without a filter?

[Steve Smith]

Yesterday the majority of the UK was covered with snow. Perfect! I couldn't get to work so I put on my walking boots and set off with a camera but the only film I had was some expired Ilford SFX infra red.

I processed it with Prescysol later that day and although I have not printed anything yet, the negatives look really good and appear to have handle the high contrast very well.

Has anyone else had good results with SFX as a straight ISO 200 black and white film?

And anyone who thinks that using SFX like this is sacrilegious will not want to hear what I did with a 120 roll of Technical Pan last weekend!



Steve.

 

[MaximusM3]

Yesterday the majority of the UK was covered with snow. Perfect! I couldn't get to work so I put on my walking boots and set off with a camera but the only film I had was some expired Ilford SFX infra red.

I processed it with Prescysol later that day and although I have not printed anything yet, the negatives look really good and appear to have handle the high contrast very well.

Has anyone else had good results with SFX as a straight ISO 200 black and white film?

And anyone who thinks that using SFX like this is sacrilegious will not want to hear what I did with a 120 roll of Technical Pan last weekend!



Steve.

Hey Steve,

you'll love it. I posted this last week. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Used a regular red filter and exposed/processed normally (XTOL). Great for snowscapes! You'll get a little less pronounced effect without a filter but SFX is not a true IR anyway.

Best,

Max

 

[MattKing]

Ilford SFX is a slightly grainy film with interesting colour sensitivity. If your light source is rich in reds, it may be perfect for you.

It is also more expensive than other emulsions.

My "Dead Tulips" entry for the Ilford APUG competition last year was shot on unfiltered SFX:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/photocommunity/featurearticle.asp?n=23

 

[pentaxuser]

Yes Steve I have used the same film with red and filterless on some dull days when the near IR wouldn't have added anything. It's OK as a stopgap "ordinary" film but as others have said quite grainy for 200. It would never be my film of choice for "normal shots". There is much better out there and at twice the speed at least.

pentaxuser

 

[bdial]

I've used it without the filter probably for more shots than with. I like it, and if it were a little cheaper, I'd probably shoot it a lot more often.

It's a great choice if you want a grainy look. Though the grain borders on excessive in 35mm IMO. I mostly use it in 120.

 

[Aurum]

I've used it filterless between IR type shots. In bright sunlight, white surfaces will glow quite vividly, so probably shooting snowscapes on a bright day will make the snow stand out more, so if you want to have a quite high contrast shot, thats what you'll probably get. Quite soft for medium tones, so one of those films to shoot with a little thought to the composition