Christian Photographers Community

Friends,

I've been doing some IR photography lately, taking advantage of the bright greens of spring which register white in the infrared spectrum. Just developed a couple of rolls last night and did the quick scan of the film of the flatbed (thus the images have newton rings when viewed full size, yuck). But I'm really loving the beauty of a slightly alternate view of what the lens sees but the eye doesn't.

All photos shot with a 1958 Yashica D twin lens reflex on Efke IR820 film (rated around ISO 1.5 to 3 or so) and home processed in Rodinal 1:50

My Husband Bonesy will enjoy looking at these, and learning as i have how this is done. 

Thank you

WoW-those are gorgeous, even with the newton rings...
I've been seeing alot of film and wish I could shoot and develope  but I think thats a process to learn that will take a while-as much as learning digital...Maybe when I have time at some point in my life. Or is it fairly easy? Actually I looked at some of those kinda cameras and was just as confused when I decided to buy the digital.

Anyways-those are really gorgeous-TFS!

Juanita

Juanita,

Developing BW film is easy, really hard to mess up once you have the basics down.

You can get set up to develop film for less than $100 and much less if you shop around for the tank, which is the most expensive item. I have a Patterson tank and like their reels that go in them, they are easier to load the film onto the plastic reels.

All you need is a tank, a closet or bathroom where you can turn out the lights to load the film onto the reel (This is the only part done in the dark), a couple of dark painted, airtight gallon jugs to store chemicals, a thermometer, and some chemicals (developer, fixer, wetting agent). You can re-use most developers and fixers many times. Wetting agent is fancy soap, keeps the film from spotting when drying.

I go by a cheap process that has worked for me for years. My process looks something like this:

Get your tank and film, go into a dark room. Lay out your tank lid, baffle and reel where you can reach them by feel. Turn out light.

Check for light leaks, put a towel under the door or turn off lights outside your dark room. I do mine at night and put a towle rolled up at the bottom of my bathroom door.

In the dark, pick up your reel and feel that it is oriented right. Then unroll film and take leading edge and feed onto the reel. Takes practice, this is the hardest part for most beginners. Once you get it, you can be in and out of the dark in a minute or three.

Put reel with film into tank, put light baffle on, and put lid on.

You can now turn on the lights.

Now its a matter of checking the recommended developing times for your film, there is a great chart here:
http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

Most films can be developed in 7-12 minutes, and then fixed for 5-10 minutes. Washing takes 10-30 minutes depending on how much you think you can stand. I wash for 5 minutes with frequent water changes, have been doing so for 20 years with no side effects to the film.

Developer chemicals are usually powdered or liquid, you mix the powder according to the directions in one of you jugs, and use it either straight out of the jug or you can dilute it, but diluted developers mean longer developing times. If money is an issue, diluting saves chemical cost. Developer and fixer are cheap though for certain brands. I use a liquid developer, I mix it each time, but it is a very concentrated developer so I only use a very little at a time. Its called Rodinal and is one of the classic developers.

So you pour your developer into the tank (you can take the lid off in the light, there is a light proof baffel in the tank) and agitate every thirty seconds (turnb the tank upside down once per second for 5 seconds).

When the developing time is up, pour out the developer. If you are using a developer that can be re-used, you can pour it into a jug for future use (used developer should be kept separate from your fresh developer).

Then stop the developing process. I use running fresh water, some use a stop bath chemical but this is unnecessary except when developing prints on paper, which I don't do.

Now you have to fix the film (make the film base turn from opaque to clear). Pour in fixer that has been mixed according to instructions in one of you jugs and put the lid back on the tank. I use a powdered fixer made by Arista, its cheap. Agitate every 30 seconds like you did with the developer, for 5 to 10 minutes. Pour out or keep for next time in a separate container, apart from your fresh stock.

Now you can open your tank and see the film. This is the rewarding moment and I am always surprised to see images!

Now run water into your tank from the sink faucet for a while to wash the film. There are lots of dyes in some films and washing usually removes them. I fill my tank 5 or 6 times and pour out, then let it sit in the running water while I clean up the rest of the stuff. 5 more minutes I guess.

Then add a few drops of wetting agent (Photo Flo by Kodak). and let it sit for a minute.

Take film off reel, clip one end and hang up to dry in a dust-free place (or as dust free as possible). I hang mine over my kitchen oven where I do the developing and turn the oven to its lowest setting and crack the door, warm air helps dry the film.

Your film is now ready to cut into manageable strips, and scan on your flatbed scanner.

I store my film in mylar film sheets in a 3 ring binder, so I cut my film to fit standard mylar film pages.


Sounds like a lot but its pretty simple really. And its rewarding and fun.

Wow a really good tutorial.  I expected it to be much harder.

I have printed this out for further study.  Thank you.

Wow, I really appreciate the how-to. Quite inspiring!!! Thank you

My scanner only does 35mm.    Is there a scanner that can do 120 at a reasonable price?

Quote from: Barbarian on May 04, 2009, 06:58:48 PM
My scanner only does 35mm.    Is there a scanner that can do 120 at a reasonable price?

Actually there is, its an Epson model, I think its 4490 but that's going from memory. If you search for "Epson 120 film scanner" you should turn one up. I have an older Epson 2400 that will scan 120 but it crops is about 85%. I have to do two scans and stitch together if I want a full fram, otherwise I just scan the middle and cheat a bit.

What filters do you use for your infrared work?

Quote from: Barbarian on May 12, 2009, 10:35:44 PM
What filters do you use for your infrared work?

I never mentioned the filter, did I? 

I use a Hoya R72. I use it with a step up ring, Bay-1 to 49mm. With a TLR its nice because I can keep the filter on the taking lens and see through the view lens as usual. On an SLR, you have to focus with the filer off and then put it on before shooting, since an R72 filter is opaque to all visible light. Its like a black piece of glass.

I have a Ricoh Diacord someone gave me with a "broken shutter."   I tried the traditional method of squirting lighter fluid into the shutter, and it started to work again.   It's very clean and even has a shutter synched for electronic flash.

Now, I just have to find a bay-to-step up ring, and a decent scanner, and I'm all set. 

Quote from: Barbarian on May 13, 2009, 12:30:01 AMNow, I just have to find a bay-to-step up ring, and a decent scanner, and I'm all set. 

There are a lot of various sizes of step up rings for Bay-to-whatever you might need on ebay. There is a company that sells the R72 filters too for the best price I've found online. I forgot the company name but if you search Hoya R72 you can't miss them.