I'm depressed. HIE, I hardly knew you.

[Tim Gray]

Just yesterday, I was happily planning the future acquisition (as in months or a year away) of an M7. I've lusted over M8's and 5D's, but finally realized that I'm very happy with my 1V and M6. Well, the finder flare on the M6 annoys me, and I think I'd be happier with an M7 till the end of my days (and I'm only 28, so thats a long time). The 1V is great for concert photography, and the recent addition of a 35mm lens for the M6 made my RF photography (the bulk of my photography) all click into place. I'm very happy with a 28 and a 50 for the 1V and a 35 and 50 for the M. Though I think a portrait lens for one of the two systems would make things ideal.

Maybe some day, I'll move back to digital, but I finally decided it would happen when it happens, once they actually make a camera that I *want* that does what I *want* and feels like I *want*.

That was yesterday. This is today:
HIE RIP

I was finally getting the hang of HIE. And now it goes. After Tri-X and TMZ, its my favorite film. I haven't experimented with it *that* much because it is a bit pricey, and a couple of the rolls I completely ruined with overexposure (damn R72...). But I did just develop a roll of it this last week and I had a couple pics that I really liked. I was looking forward to ordering 10 rolls or so.

This really makes me sad. And makes me very worried. I hate to be full of doom and gloom. And I'll continue to shoot film until you have to pry it out of my dead (or it's dead) hands. But its starting to get a little claustrophobic in here. Makes me wonder if selling my M6 and sinking another $1k into a film camera is a little nuts.

Then again, I might be a little nuts. I spent 5 hours Saturday crouching on my bathroom floor in the dark, printing postcards in my bathtub. It surely would have been a lot easier to order 4x6's from fill-in-the-blank printing service...

There's no point to this - I'm just rambling. Make me feel better. Or worse.

 

[photophorous]

HIE was a special purpose film, and as you mentioned, it wasn't cheap. It's sad to hear that it's being discontinued, but don't let this get you down about film in general. Kodak did just release TMY-2. That's great news, right.

I'm also a member over at PhotographyReview.com and we just talked our way into getting a "Film" forum added in the midst of a digitally dominated website. Film is making a comeback. Maybe HIE will be resurected one day.

Paul

 

[Tim Gray]

I doubt HIE will ever come back. It was expensive and a pain to use at times. But I loved 3 things about it:
1 - the grain
2 - the lack of an antihalation layer
3 - the sensitivity/speed - really easy to get the 'IR' effect with a 25 filter

Possibly our best hope is to encourage a replacement from a smaller manufacturer.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I doubt HIE will ever come back. It was expensive and a pain to use at times. But I loved 3 things about it:
1 - the grain
2 - the lack of an antihalation layer
3 - the sensitivity/speed - really easy to get the 'IR' effect with a 25 filter

Possibly our best hope is to encourage a replacement from a smaller manufacturer.

There are a couple of possible replacement already available from German manufacturers. Quite close to the HIE is efke IR 820, which goes to 820 nm, so it's a "real" IR film just as HIE. ISO 100 without filters, so it is considerably slower than HIE. The new Rollei IR 400 only goes to 795 nm, but it is ISO 400 without filters. It has very different and finer grain from HIE, however, and in general perhaps closer to the Ilford SFX 200. Here's a comparison between the two:

http://www.digitaltruth.com/store/rollei_infrared2.html

Some comparison of MACO IR 820c (nearly the same film as efke IR 820) and HIE (in German, but it has pictures😀):

http://www.laborpartner.info/alt/html/colorfoto_22.htm