Exposure Times for Infrared Film Photography

[Hawaii Five-O]

I'm new at infrared film photography, and was wondering what settings and exposure times that have worked well for ya'll.

So far I haven't been successful with film IR I'm using a Hoya r72 filter with an 8 f-stop and exposure between 5 and 30 seconds on a bright sunny day

 

[Helen B]

Sounds like far too much exposure. Which film are you using?

Best,
Helen

 

[Garbz]

Indeed I was using Kodak HIE film last time and was shooting handheld at f/5.6

I suggest reading the film datasheet. Kodak and Ilford both provide filter and exposure compensation recommendations in their datasheets for various filters, available on their websites. I imagine any other company does too.

Bear in mind filters are often mentioned by their wratten numbers and a 720nm filter like the Hoya R72 is a Wratten 89B

 

[Boz Mon]

I recently shot my first roll of HIE with a Pentax ME-Super. I used the red filter and bracketed off the in camera meter. My shots came out a bit overexposed but not terrible, for my first roll anyway.

 

[Hawaii Five-O]

I was using Kodak's B&W 400cn professional film. Thank you for the information, I'll have to check out those data sheets. Also is there any specific B&W films that look better than others with infrared pictures?

I thought of using Kodak's TX film also.

 

[Helen B]

Neither BW400CN nor Tri-X is sensitive to infrared. Try some Efke 820c or some Ilford SFX 200. These have some infrared sensitivity.

Kodak HIE is no longer manufactured, and is quite expensive when it crops up on eBay.

Best,
Helen

 

[Hawaii Five-O]

Thanks, I'll have to try those two films! Hopefully I'll have better luck this time!

 

[Garbz]

Also remember not to metre through the filter.

Look at the camera metre and adjust the settings without the filter according to what is hopefully mentioned in the datasheet, set to manual and then put the filter on. (Don't forget to refocus the lens if it has an infra-red mark which most lenses do).

I accomplished this on my Nikon FE by setting the camera to ISO20 metering the scene and locking the settings. It was within 1 stop of where it had to be every time.