Does anyone have any tips on exposing and developing Kodak High Speed Infrared B&W film. I have seen conflicting advice and would be grateful for any opinions. Many thanks in advance Andrew

-- Andrew Buckley (da_buckley@yahoo.com), December 11, 2000

Answers

For development, D-76 or Rodinol 1:50 for 12 minutes at 20C. Kodak recently changed their recommendations for D-76, and suggests 9-11 minutes.

Exposure depends on how you meter, the response of your meter to IR, etc. Select an EI which gives you 1/50 at f/16 around noon on a sunny summer day (1/50 at f/11 for a sunny winter day if you are north of about 30 degrees) and bracket from there.

FWIW, my EI on a Nikon with a #25 filter is 200; on a handheld meter 50. Your mileage will probably vary.

-- John Lehman (al7jj@yahoo.com), December 11, 2000.

Thanks for the advice. Will processing times be the same with Ilford ID-11, as for Kodak D-76. How does water record on Infrared emulsion? If it ever stops raining (its the Uk , and its been raining for what feels like 2 months) I'll get out and give it a go. Again many thanks for the response! Andrew

-- Andrew Buckley (da_buckley@yahoo.com), December 12, 2000.

Andrew, be sure you bracket a LOT. I have used infrared sporadically for the least twelve years, and now find that for me an EI of 1000 just works fine. I know, I know, nobody else talks about that high of an EI. I live in Florida, so the sun/light there might have something to do with it.

I develop the film in Sprint 2:8. I used to give my film an EI of 400, but the negatives just came out too dense.

There are a couple of good books out on using infrared film, can't remember their title. If you go to amazon you can probably find them.

Cheers,

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), December 12, 2000.

ID-11 should work the same as D-76. Water usually comes out black except for reflections. If I remember correctly, Kodak's recommendation for taking pictures in the rain is 1/50 at f/4; I've never tried it. Distant landscapes (and aerial photography for which I use it alot) come out better if you double the EI and increase development by 20%. For your first roll, it would be better to bracket +/- 2 stops and keep notes of the conditions to find an exposure that you like (tastes vary about negative density, and exposure meters do not respond uniformly).

-- John Lehman (al7jj@yahoo.com), December 12, 2000.