FPP Infrapan: What is this stuff, actually?

Snowfire · Jun 1, 2022

I recently purchased a roll, out of curiosity, but the accompanying documentation is poor. Handling instructions are reminiscent of older full-IR films, but I thought those no longer existed. Response out to 830 nm is hinted at. IS0 is given as 200, but it is unclear if that is working or metering ISO. Use of a #25 deep red filter is recommended, but I would frankly prefer to use R72 for a first try. Is this repackaged SFX 200? Some Svema product? Some discontinued emulsion? It would really help to know.

Andrew O'Neill · Jun 1, 2022

If it's sensitised or to 830nm, I would say it's not SFX. More likely Rollei IR.

AgX · Jun 1, 2022

Agfa Aviphot Pan 400

Agfa cancelled this film a few years ago.

Snowfire · Jun 2, 2022

AgX said:
Agfa Aviphot Pan 400

Agfa cancelled this film a few years ago.

Aviphot Pan 400S looks like a good match--so this is just a higher-contrast version of the Rollei IR film? Should I process it the same? Is there a speed difference, or not?

AgX · Jun 2, 2022

No. There were two higher speeds Agfa aerial B&W films: the 400 and the 200. And there was long time rumout that Maco (user of the Rollei brand) offered the 200 version as a 400 one. And then there were strange Rollei data sheets coming up.

But as both films benefit from contrast lowering at processing, EI figures vary anyway.

Snowfire · Jun 2, 2022

AgX said:
No. There were two higher speeds Agfa aerial B&W films: the 400 and the 200. And there was long time rumout that Maco (user of the Rollei brand) offered the 200 version as a 400 one. And then there were strange Rollei data sheets coming up.

But as both films benefit from contrast lowering at processing, EI figures vary anyway.

So the FPP is the 200, then?

It was my understanding that Maco initially sold the Efke product and then switched to the Rollei. Some people claim that these latter are the same product, but I can testify that this is not so. The Efke had deeper IR reach and could be used (with difficulty) through a #093 filter. Any attempt to use the Rollei product through this filter resulted in blank frames.

AgX · Jun 2, 2022

Snowfire said:
So the FPP is the 200, then?

Not necessarily. The data you gave clearly hint at the 400 film. A film that even as 35mm DP longtime was sold by Agfa in 30m rolls. So nobody needed Maco to get it.

AgX · Jun 2, 2022

Snowfire said:
It was my understanding that Maco initially sold the Efke product and then switched to the Rollei. Some people claim that these latter are the same product, but I can testify that this is not so. The Efke had deeper IR reach and could be used (with difficulty) through a #093 filter. Any attempt to use the Rollei product through this filter resulted in blank frames.

The Efke film indeed was special. It kind revoked times when even the big manufactures produced films which reached much more far into the IR than films today.

With those films, and their primary market, having vanished it was to small Efke to get into the niche of such IR-films for amateur pictorial use and make such film.

But time showed that such niche is not really profitable, that is why we still have no successor to the late Efke film.

Snowfire · Jun 2, 2022

AgX said:
Not necessarily. The data you gave clearly hint at the 400 film. A film that even as 35mm DP longtime was sold by Agfa in 30m rolls. So nobody needed Maco to get it.

I guess what I really want to know is, could this film be developed alongside an existing run of IR400, or would it be wiser to soup it separately? Should one use similar exposure numbers, or something different? Aerial films seem to have been rated differently from ordinary films.

Snowfire · Aug 15, 2022

Shot a roll, through a Hoya R72 filter, estimating working ISO around 6 for starters. Processed said roll alongside two rolls of Rollei IR400 (Microphen, stock, 7.5 minutes, 22C.) Expected the film to be a tad slower than the Rollei but actually the negatives came out a bit overexposed, more so than the Rollei (Both these films are contrasty, though! Shadows are quite deep.) Perhaps a working ISO of 12 or 25 would have given better results. I did not expect the film to be more sensitive than the Rollei but there you are. Yellow dye came off the film during the development step.

FPP Infrapan: What is this stuff, actually?

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