Infradig Daddio - Hepcats and Hacked Filters

Well, there I was, time on me hands and wondering what on earth possessed me to buy 20 rolls of expired Ilford SFX (albeit at the equivalent of £4 a roll).
I remembered that 17-odd years back, I'd gone through a phase of shooting it when it was around £3 a roll or given away with boxes of paper, but it's metetoric price rise (currently cresting approximately £12 a roll!) had put paid to me using it . . until now.

Allied to that, could I find my old Ilford gel filter material? 

Could I 'eck.

Well, all I can say is determination and much digging through boxes of stuff paid off. I found it! The only problem was, was that years back, in a thrift frame of mind, I'd decided to make my own IR filter using said Ilford gel, and a nifty Bayonet I Skylight Filter, so what I was left with was a 75mm square gel, with uneven roundals cut out of it . . . . but did I let it phase me? 

Did I 'eck!

After some careful unscrewing, trimming, re-screwing and cleaning - basically undoing the filter glass holding ring thingy, taking out the glass, putting a trimmed round of gel in, adding the glass and screwing up the ring holder again, I was ready to rumble! 

By the way, if you've never used it, I can highly recommend V-Vax Products ROR (Residual Oil Remover) - it does a great job of cleaning all that nasty greasy stuff you deposit all over everything, all day, every day.

By 'eck!!

It was a lovely sunny afternoon and I made my way to a sort of semi-secret spot I know . . . I say secret, but it's been a home to rough-sleepers in recent years, though sadly they always seem to be rumbled and their campsites trashed - I've discovered three trashed sites in recent months. 

Kids? 

Mental problems? 

Who knows, but the desperation of such actions certainly lends an air of melancholy to the places.

Bloomin' 'eck!!!

Camera was the old redoubtable mid-60's Rollei T; tripod my old Gitzo Reporter 224; meter the Lunasix 3S.

Stupidly, I forgot my Ilford reciprocity tables and I don't use a phone these days (too much faff) so the majority of exposures were based on total guesswork.

I was in deep shade all the time - the area is like entering a vast and deep glade with trees towering around you, banked on one side by cliff edge (yes . . in Dundee!). 

It is quite a place. 

Because of the heat of the day, the air was really humid and accumulating in Hot Steams. 

I didn't come up with that phrase - Harper Lee did in 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. 

Basically these hot patches of air (you surely must know exactly what I mean) signify the presence of restless spirits.

Believe what you wish, but they certainly leant an air to the place.

Flippin' 'eck !v

As usual, I'll detail the exposures after the contact.

Film 66/71 Ilford SFX ISO 12

Before I start - when using a Rollei for infrared, because there's no mark for it, always put the focus point (on the focus knob) forward to the f5.6 mark - it works. 

Oh and for all SFX - box ISO is 200, adjust to ISO 12

1. 1 second, f11 - MISTAKE!

2. 55 seconds, f11  - Guessed - bloke started chatting!

3. 1 minute, f11 (40 seconds f8)

4. 1 minute 30 seconds, f11

5. 7 seconds, f8

6. 8 seconds reading - took to 35 seconds, f11

7. 1 second, f5.6

8. 1 second, f 11 MISTAKE!

9. 1 minute reading - took to 3 mins, f11

10. 15 seconds - took to 25 seconds, f5.6

11. 120 seconds, f11

12. 1 minute reading - took to 3 mins, f11

Pyrocat-HD, 5+5+500ml, 21℃; Gentle agitation (with Paterson agitation rod) to 14 minutes, stand to 18 minutes.

Good results considering the reciprocity was all guesswork.

Use ISO 12 all the time.

You're reading the exposures from the bottom left up and then bottom middle up, then bottom right up.

As you can see, the exposures were wildly long in a lot of cases, and this gave me my other worry - the Rollei T is totally prone to internal flare especially with anything less than half a second. Fortunately I'd remembered the hood, but all the same, I thought that with times like these the whole film would be a mess . . . well, I guess the deep glade helped a great deal, and the filter too obviously.

The filter gel by the way is no longer manufactured by Ilford, but you can get similar IR gels from the likes of Lee and if you have a Rollei and don't fancy paying a thousand pounds for a Rollei Rot, then using an old UV the way I have and cutting your own is the way to go - there's no detriment to image quality. The gel is safely held in the filter holder, protected at the front by glass and at the back by the lens cavity . . 

No doubt someone will chime in about using a UV combined with a IR, but the results speak, so without getting super-technical . . .
Oh, and there's a lot of f11 isn't there - optimum setting for a Rollei T's Tessar!

Also, on the advice of Darkroom Dave's website, I changed the box speed of ISO 200 to ISO 12 - the combination of all this and developed in Pyrocat-HD has given me some wonderfully easy to print negatives.
Jammy 'eck!

Dream Sequence 1

Dream Sequence 2

Dream Sequence 3

Dream Sequence 4

Dream Sequence 5

Dream Over

David M, regular commenter and welcome reader of FB, said I take a lot of pictures of gates and windows and things because I am (sort of) channelling my own (self-made) barriers (sort of). 

Here's his quote:

But there's another series embedded and it's about barriers. The expanded metal gates, the fences, even the hanging banners. Even the dark shadow across the path in the distant view of the V&A. All some kind of barrier or obstruction between the camera and the objects or path behind. 

It's hard to say for me really - I think he could be right and it is the sort of philosophical debate I'd welcome over a pint or two in front of a cosy fire (it the pubs ever survive this torpor)

Anyway, at the end of the day the whole exposure guessing worked so well for me, that I've just purchased a proshade for the Hasselblad and a Lee IR filter . . . can't wait to use it on the SWCM (and I'll take my reciprocity tables next time!)

Oh and the prints were a piece of cake to print - no faffin' all Grade 3 with Ilford MGRC. 

I love it when a plan comes together!

Till next time, Sheephouse to Earth . . . over and oot!