Rollei Infrared exposure with Hoya r72

[Ivo Stunga]

Yup, and I love infrared in overgrown abandoned premises where nature takes over - that looks gorgeous to my eyes. Should've metered it at ~160 though

 

[Sirius Glass]

The trickiest part of working with NIR, is predicting the effects of reflected light. If there is a lot of vegetation around, there is potentially a lot of reflected NIR, and you really cannot see that effect with your eyes. It is also what gives you the sometimes surprising and unexpected results, which is part of the fun of shooting IR film.

One does not need to worry about the results just:

• Shoot on a sunny day with grass and leaves.
• Conifer needles do not throw off the heat so look for diciduous trees with lots leaves.
• Backlit subject generally do not show the IR well, so have the bright sun behind you.
• The sky and water will usually look dark or black depending on the filter, so look to vegetation that will have a bright contrast with the sky and water.
• Leave the mostly shadow compositions for non IR film.
• Buy and use different filters for different effects. I use Red23, Red25, Red29 and 720 [Red 72].

 

[bags27]

One does not need to worry about the results just:

• Shoot on a sunny day with grass and leaves.
• Conifer needles do not throw off the heat so look for diciduous trees with lots leaves.
• Backlit subject generally do not show the IR well, so have the bright sun behind you.
• The sky and water will usually look dark or black depending on the filter, so look to vegetation that will have a bright contrast with the sky and water.
• Leave the mostly shadow compositions for non IR film.
• Buy and use different filters for different effects. I use Red23, Red25, Red29 and 720 [Red 72].

all great advice!!

HB 500c/m 80mm Rollei 400 R72 in pyrocat

 

[Sirius Glass]

all great advice!!

HB 500c/m 80mm Rollei 400 R72 in pyrocat
View attachment 340968

I agree, if I say so myself. Modesty is vastly overrated.

 

[Jimi3]

I just scanned my test negatives, and iso 50/3 stops looks good for the overcast conditions I had. One shot with a lot of sky even looks good at 100. I was guessing a bit on development, but the package insert said 10:50 with d-76 1:1, so I used Sprint developer as an equivalent and adjust my time to 8:30 at 70 degrees.

Is anyone able to upload images here, or do I need a paid memebership? That might give us some more info to discuss.

 

[Jimi3]

ok, so apologies for the crappy photos, but i was just looking for exposure and didnt really bother to correct for focus. the first shot was at iso 50, and the second was actually at 100. tweaked in acr as the raw scans were really flat, as usual i guess. the negatives look good, and as you can see there's plenty of shadow detail.

 

[MattKing]

If you are limiting yourself to sunny days, you are missing out on a lot of the great opportunities that near IR capable films offer, These are all using Ilford SFX. The triptych shows the results of SFX without a filter and exposed and metered at the box speed of 200, SFX with an R72 filter metered at box speed and exposed at the reading plus 6 stops, and SFX with an R72 filter metered at box speed and exposed at the reading plus 9 stops:

 

[Ivo Stunga]

Exactly! One shouldn't be afraid to experiment. IR portrait? Why not? IR macro? Great! IR interior? Works too, especially with tungsten lightning...

 

[Sirius Glass]

If you are limiting yourself to sunny days, you are missing out on a lot of the great opportunities that near IR capable films offer, These are all using Ilford SFX. The triptych shows the results of SFX without a filter and exposed and metered at the box speed of 200, SFX with an R72 filter metered at box speed and exposed at the reading plus 6 stops, and SFX with an R72 filter metered at box speed and exposed at the reading plus 9 stops:
View attachment 341033


View attachment 341034

View attachment 341035

OK, you convinced me to look at shady locations for using IR film. I will try it with more f/stops in the exposure time.

 

[pentaxuser]

I just scanned my test negatives, and iso 50/3 stops looks good for the overcast conditions I had. One shot with a lot of sky even looks good at 100. I was guessing a bit on development, but the package insert said 10:50 with d-76 1:1, so I used Sprint developer as an equivalent and adjust my time to 8:30 at 70 degrees.

Is anyone able to upload images here, or do I need a paid memebership? That might give us some more info to discuss.

If the shot at 50 is the one in your lower post of the boat, grass and foliage then that's a pretty good "Wood Effect" for an overcast day. especially at 50

pentaxuser

 

[bluechromis]

Rollei IR 400 has the box speed of ISO 400. Use that, I have for years and never had a problem. The filter factor in f/stops for the four "Red" filters are

Red23....2 f/stops​

Red25....3 f/stops​

Red29....4 f/stops​

Red72...5 f/stops​

I found that it is better to use the box speed and then adjust for the filter. That is always accurate and avoids problem is you expand to use other Red filters besides Red72 aka 720. Starting with the adjusted ISO can led to problems when switch filters or when adjusting for shadow details or both. Use box speed and keep it simple.

I think that for making IR shots adjusting exposure from E.I. 400 the way you describe will work, but not because 400 is realistically the box speed of the film. In a sense, one could start with any arbitrary E.I. like 800 or 1600 and it could work if one adjusted the exposure proportionally. My understanding is the film is Agfa Aviphot 200, so it cannot attain 400 speed. Hennings Serger says the effective E.I. is less than 100. This would matter if not making IR shots.

 

[Helge]

OK, you convinced me to look at shady locations for using IR film. I will try it with more f/stops in the exposure time.

Try using remote triggered powerful (needs to overcome the IR filter) flashes placed at points of interest with high sync speed and slight underexposure of the ambient.
That can give some amazing effects.

 

[bluechromis]

I think that Adox HR-50 (Scala) may be the best IR film for 35 mm. To my eye, its IR sensitivity is almost as good as IR 400. Since the effective speed of IR 400 is likely less than 100, the difference in speed may not really be that much. One usually shoots IR on a tripod anyway, so slight differences in speed are less important. But HR-50 has vastly finer grain than IR 400; it's one of the finest grain films available. HR-50 also benefits from Adox's Speed Boost treatment which mitigates the extreme "S" shaped curve that plagues the aero films.

 

[Helge]

I think that Adox HR-50 (Scala) may be the best IR film for 35 mm. To my eye, its IR sensitivity is almost as good as IR 400. Since the effective speed of IR 400 is likely less than 100, the difference in speed may not really be that much. One usually shoots IR on a tripod anyway, so slight differences in speed are less important. But HR-50 has vastly finer grain than IR 400; it's one of the finest grain films available. HR-50 also benefits from Adox's Speed Boost treatment which mitigates the extreme "S" shaped curve that plagues the aero films.

This is Aviphot 200 vs. 80.
Not that much of a difference in speed above 700 nm. In fact the dip in sensitivity before 650 nm might be helpful for no perfect filters (basically all) and using red to get a smidgen of Woods effect.

The contrast and dynamics are different though.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Try using remote powerful flashes placed at points of interest with high sync speed and slight underexposure of the ambient.
That can give some amazing effects.

Except after having perfect the use of flash years ago and used it for a long time, I only use available light photography and my expensive strobe sits at home without its batteries. Also I have never had an IR strobe.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I think that for making IR shots adjusting exposure from E.I. 400 the way you describe will work, but not because 400 is realistically the box speed of the film. In a sense, one could start with any arbitrary E.I. like 800 or 1600 and it could work if one adjusted the exposure proportionally. My understanding is the film is Agfa Aviphot 200, so it cannot attain 400 speed. Hennings Serger says the effective E.I. is less than 100. This would matter if not making IR shots.

The point is using a light meter at ISO 400 with Rollei IR 400 film, translate well using the published filter factors. Why screw around with what works. I have better things to do with my life that go through hundreds of rolls of film, testing and testing and testing. If you want to spend all you life testing, welcome to that, but I rather enjoy life and use what has worked well for me for years.

 

[bluechromis]

Adox HR-50 can give a Wood effect with R-72 filter. E.I. 40 with HR-50 developer.

 

[Helge]

Except after having perfect the use of flash years ago and used it for a long time, I only use available light photography and my expensive strobe sits at home without its batteries. Also I have never had an IR strobe.

You don’t need an IR strobe.

 

[Jimi3]

If the shot at 50 is the one in your lower post of the boat, grass and foliage then that's a pretty good "Wood Effect" for an overcast day. especially at 50

pentaxuser

yea, that was at 50. It took some tweaking in camera raw, but the negative has good information.

My darkroom isn’t set up for printing, though I do still have an enlarger and a safe light, so I may just get some trays and at least do some contact prints.

 

[Jimi3]

As far as where to rate the film, my exposure times may be a little off - the only working 35mm camera I could find was an old Konica tc-x, which is not the greatest. The shutter speeds actually only go down to 1/8th, then to bulb, so I ended up counting 1 and 2 second exposures at various apertures. So they may have been a little off. I think my next step is to shoot some medium format and bracket at maybe 50 and 25.

 

[bluechromis]

Yup, and I love infrared in overgrown abandoned premises where nature takes over - that looks gorgeous to my eyes. Should've metered it at ~160 though

Good one. I would not have thought to use it in such a setting. The IR adds to the otherworldly atmosphere.

 

[Ivo Stunga]

I would not have thought to use it in such a setting.

Thanks! Knowing that there's always IR light out there, I approach it as any other film and just experiment around with decent results and boatload of learning in the process.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I use IR film in various lighting conditions, in various times of the day, all year round, cloudy, sunny...
I almost always use a 720IR, but sometimes a #29 is appropriate. I sometimes work at EI 6, or 3 with the 720 filter. I use a 1° spot metre and base exposure on a shadow, placing it usually on Zone 3. I can then check where highlights fall to assess scene brightness range, and develop accordingly. Foliage is left to fall wherever on the zonal scale. Focus correction is not necessary with current IR films. I sure do miss 4x5 HIE. The strongest filter I used on that film was a #25. Even with a yellow #12, one could get Wood Effect.

 

[Helge]

I use IR film in various lighting conditions, in various times of the day, all year round, cloudy, sunny...
I almost always use a 720IR, but sometimes a #29 is appropriate. I sometimes work at EI 6, or 3 with the 720 filter. I use a 1° spot metre and base exposure on a shadow, placing it usually on Zone 3. I can then check where highlights fall to assess scene brightness range, and develop accordingly. Foliage is left to fall wherever on the zonal scale. Focus correction is not necessary with current IR films. I sure do miss 4x5 HIE. The strongest filter I used on that film was a #25. Even with a yellow #12, one could get Wood Effect.

All we need is an ortho film with IR dyes and no AH layer.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

All we need is an ortho film with IR dyes and no AH layer.

Maybe I should purchase some IR dyes, and soak some XRAY film in it