Nearly Infrared

On Wednesday evening, after work, I took the girls to their horseback riding lesson.  It was cut a little short by a thunderstorm and once we got back home I found myself with enough time to hit the darkroom for an hour.  I processed another batch of medium format film.

This time around it was four rolls of Ilford SFX film.  This is not a true infrared film and is advertised as having extended red sensitivity.  Though maybe this sensitivity is not to the true infrared wavelengths it is definitely sensitive to wavelengths beyond the visible spectrum.  I expose this film through a #89B Infrared filter.  This is a nearly opaque filter that you can barely see through... almost like a dark welding glass.  So the wavelengths that make it through this filter and expose the film are mostly beyond what can be seen by the human eye.

I have always really liked the strong infrared effect of Kodak High Speed Infrared Film.  It was discontinued in sheet format over a dozen years ago, and in 35mm format a couple of years back.  Kodak never made it in medium format, and the only alternative was a Konica product.  I quite liked the Konica emulsion and though different than Kodak it had a nice look and fine grain.  It was also discontinued some time ago, and I have been struggling to find an alternative ever since.  This Ilford product is OK, but is not anything like my old favorites.  

This time around the batch included two rolls, taken in late 2011, with my 6x17 panoramic camera.  These were both exposed during fall trips to the mountains.

There was also a roll, taken with my Hasselblad.  This included some images from the 2012 family weekend in Jasper, as well as some images from last summer's hike in Kananaskis.  Here are scans of a couple of the better ones...   Miette River in Jasper and Spurling Creek in Kananaskis...

The fourth roll was one that I shot this spring, also with my Hasselbald, when Margarit and I were out on Vancouver Island.  For some reason this one is significantly underexposed.  I checked my field notes and everything seems OK.  Compared to similar exposures taken on standard film, these should have yielded printable images.  I'm at a loss to explain what happened.  In my mind there are only three possibilities...  The first is that I goofed up and set the camera incorrectly, despite recording the exposures correctly in my notes.  This is somewhat unlikely as it was an entire roll of film, shot over a period of several hours, with numerous camera set-ups.  The second is that the coastal conditions... wet sandy beaches... were not very reflective of the wavelengths that this film is sensitive to.  And the last possibility is that the airport X-rays that the film was subjected to ruined the emulsion...  The more I think about this, the more likely the third option seems the reason.  I seem to recall that most of the Infrared film that I shot in Europe a couple of years ago, and which was also X-rayed at airports, was also underexposed.  Perhaps I have to not bother taking these films with me when I travel by air...