Aargh! Why did I not buy more of this when it was available?

AJShepherd

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Hi guys,
Back in 2006, I bought myself two rolls of Kodak HIE, which I never got around to using that summer. So I moved them from the fridge to the freezer. Then I kind of forgot about them. Then I planned to use them but never quite got around to it. This summer was no exception.

But as we had a sudden flush of sunny weather round here, I decided to take one out of the freezer and give it a try...


hie-031 by Antony J Shepherd, on Flickr


hie-024 by Antony J Shepherd, on Flickr


hie-017 by Antony J Shepherd, on Flickr


hie-018 by Antony J Shepherd, on Flickr

So I have one more roll of this stuff, and now I'm just kicking myself for not having had bought more while it was still in production.

I gather Efke 820 AURA also lacks the anti-halation layer, but does anyone know it if produces grainy dreamy images anything close to HIE?
 
Yeah, HIE is magical stuff. I bought about 25 rolls when I heard it was discontinued and stuck it all in my freezer. I still have about 12 rolls left.

I took this shot about a month ago. Canon 7 with Canon 35/2.8. 89C filter (totally opaque to visible light). In Xtol.

ReeseIR29crop.jpg


Jim B.
 
The photos shown illustrate why so many love ( and miss ) the great HIE.

I cry whenever I think about HIE. I've got one roll of the 135 left, but I never had a medium format camera until a few years ago, so I never got to try it in 120.

And no - there's nothing around like HIE. I doubt that there ever will be again ( but one can always hope... ).
 
RolleiRetro 400S is mildly susceptible to IR light. A red filter enhances it somewhat.

I have shot some of it in a Mamiya C330, the shots are in a thread in the TLR forum.

RR400S is still available with maco-direct.de in Berlin, they ship worldwide.
 
I gave my last rolls away to an art student.

Infrared is something that digital does well- commonly used Silicon sensors used are sensitive into the IR much farther than film, goes out to 1.1uM. Spencer's (corrected) Camera will modify a DSLR or mirrorless camera for a few hundred. Once in the Infrared, the Bayer Mosaic filter "gets out of the way". The Dyes used are equally sensitive to IR when you get out far enough, giving you Monochrome IR.
 
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HIE

I love the effect, I never knew that u could such dreamy looking pictures. These are really nice.

Gary
 
I gave my last rolls away to an art student.

Infrared is something that digital does well- commonly used Silicon sensors used are sensitive into the IR much farther than film, goes out to 1.1uM. Steve's Camera will modify a DSLR or mirrorless camera for a few hundred. Once in the Infrared, the Bayer Mosaic filter "gets out of the way". The Dyes used are equally sensitive to IR when you get out far enough, giving you Monochrome IR.

Brian

Do u have any digital ir samples to post?

Thanks
Gary
 
Efke makes an Infrared film that is supposed to be very good and it doesn't cost $70 a roll, and is 'in date'. I've not tried it, I got over shooting IR by the time i graduated from art school, but you might try the Efke stuff. I've seen some nice work on it!
 
I've had some good results from the Rollei IR400 film.

Willows weep for me by Antony J Shepherd, on Flickr
It's pretty good stuff, and as it has an anti-halation layer you can load it under normal conditions, a lot easier than loading film by touch in your 'changing bag'!
Although because of the anti-halation layer it doesn't have that lovely glow.

I've got a roll of the Efke, heard good things about it but not got around to trying it yet.
 
$70.00 each! Yow! If the price holds, I have over $800.00 of HIE in my freezer.

Jim B.


I doubt they will get $70 a roll - but at $40 it would probably sell. I have found that frozen HIE does not keep as well as a lot of B&W film, and the newest is now well over 2 years out of date.

It is too bad, since nothing else comes close to the look. Digital and film like Efke (I haven't used their "Aura") give you very clean (low noise) files when compared to HIE. Also HIE is very fast when used with a red filter - efke will require a tripod and opaque filter.
 
Do u have any digital ir samples to post?

I bet Brian has better samples, but here's one of mine anyway:


Untitled by Elektrojänis, on Flickr

It was taken with an old Olympus C-2000Z that I modified for infrared with a very low tech approach...

As you can see, there is no dreamy halos. So, as with most things in photography, what is better is highly subjective.
 
^ I could easily photoshop a glow onto that image and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. However if there was one to begin with I definitely couldn't remove the glow. So I think having a sharp image with naturally good tones is better in the first place.
 
This is with the first commercial Infrared Digital camera made by Kodak.

picture.php


picture.php


A DCS200ir, made ~1994. I had them use clear cover glass on the CCD rather than the annealed "Hot Mirror" cover glass used on the standard cameras. They called back and decided to make 50, sold me one.

Technical photography was a big user of Infrared film, and adopted Digital early. I started using Digital IR in 1981.

This is with an old Nikon coolpix 950, converted to IR using a $5 clear cover glass from Anchor Optics. You can buy a Coolpix 995 for under $100 these days.

picture.php


I used a Magenta filter to cut Green out of the Spectrum. Use a Wratten 87c or 88 and you will get Monochrome IR.
 
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I doubt they will get $70 a roll - but at $40 it would probably sell. I have found that frozen HIE does not keep as well as a lot of B&W film, and the newest is now well over 2 years out of date......

A few years ago I found an old roll of HIE in our freezer that had an expiration date of 1988. I shot and developed it as normal and was pleasantly surprised by the results. A bit more base fog, but actually a very decent IR image.

The HIE I bought a few years back looks like it was made yesterday. Just fantastic IR results. I imagine I'll shoot my remaining rolls in the next few years.

And even at $40.00/roll, I'm still not selling.

Jim B.
 
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A few years ago I found an old roll of HIE in our freezer that had an expiration date of 1988. I shot and developed it as normal and was pleasantly surprised by the results. A bit more base fog, but actually a very decent IR image.

The HIE I bought a few years back looks like it was made yesterday. Just fantastic IR results. I imagine I'll shoot my remaining rolls in the next few years.

And even at $40.00/roll, I'm still not selling.

Jim B.

I shot a couple of rolls that were about 4 years out of date and the difference was noticeable. I did not want to take a chance, so I sold all mine this year; maybe I should have tried a roll or two before getting rid of it. But then again, it was not worth $40 a roll to ME and it was to someone else!
 
Thanks Elektrojanis and Brian

I really like the look. I have a D100, I do not use anymore. Would this be a good candidate for an ir conversion? Plus who would u recommend for conversion?

Thanks again
Gary

Opps. I just notice the Steve's camera reference. Www.stevecamera.com?
 
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