Topic: Ilford SFX

[Brian Scott Peterson]

Hey all again,

I ran out of the black and white film that I typically shoot and swore that I wouldn't buy any more until I used up what has been sitting in my fridge for years. I have a dozen or so rolls of this SFX stuff and haven't a clue how to shoot it. I'm not really interested in the infra-red look with its white foliage and what not, but I think it produces some nice contrast with a red filter. Anybody have any thoughts on what speed to shoot it at or any techniques to get some interesting flavor out of it that is not necessarily the infra-red look. Also any tips on development and so on would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Brian

[LT]

I did a brief review of sfx for b&w mag when ilford reintroduced it a few years back. If you're using TTL, just slap your filter on, rate at around 200 & shoot away. Otherwise, just dial in the filter factor based upon the 200 speed. The film works fine as a general pan film. It's similar in appearance to Hp58

[LT]

Dev wise, it all depends on what you want. I'm sure you could get some good grain with rodinal, or nice smooth tones with some perceptol.

[Brian Scott Peterson]

Actually, when you mentioned that, I remember reading that review in B&W. Far out...

Well, I am using TTL so the metering is not an issue. Never used Hp58 so no reference point for me there. So how about another questions: where do you find infra-red light besides trees? Where do you find it at night...

[gothamtomato]

I did a brief review of sfx for b&w mag when ilford reintroduced it a few years back. If you're using TTL, just slap your filter on, rate at around 200 & shoot away.

Do you use a regular red filter, or an infrared R72 filter? Also, does Ilford still make SFX?

[Brian Scott Peterson]

I am just using a red R1 filter and I do not intend to use an infra-red filter. If this means the film will pick up no infra-red light then I will reconsider getting one but I would like to avoid getting that infra-red white tree effect but would like to find see if its possible to pick up some other interesting effect/light with the film...Does that make sense?

[gothamtomato]

I like the light (or white) foliage effect because I do hand coloring, and it works MUCH better to hand color landscapes when the foliage is light toned.

[LT]

Never used Hp58 so no reference point for me there.

HP58 is cell-phone-ese for HP5+  (sorry, my fingers are too big for the small buttons) the SFX film is based on HP5+ emulsion, but with extended red sensitivity.  you can get some virtually IR effects using a simple red filter though, so maybe this isnt the choice for you.  here are three taken using no filter, a red filter and ilfords SFX opaque filter.  the last 2 are without filter on a dull day (nice statue work I'm sure you'll agree):


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[LT]

if you're looking for no IR then a blue filter would probably do the trick - no idea what this would do to the film though - probably give it an ortho-esque look.

[gothamtomato]

I  LOVE the tones in those last two. It looks like that would be a great film to use in a Holga.

[Brian Scott Peterson]

Leon,

Ah...my cellphonese is a bit rusty since...really a shame though that there is nothing called Hp58. I was really looking forward to trying it out.


So thanks...I recognize those top three from the B&W issue...those photos must have really left an impression on me. The bottom two are interesting as well. They definitely give me more of a reference. Thanks for sharing. @Gothomtomato: It is indeed a great film to use with Holga. Fro some examples check out David Teter's flickr tags http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidteter/tags/holga

I was thinking about using SFX for nighttime street photography but was wondering what exactly reflects or puts off IR light at night. Don't know if you can find this stuff at night...After going back through 20 or more pages of google images in a search, I could not find a single example of this. Its all these foliage shots that while are interesting, aren't exactly what I am after (by the way, interesting idea on the hand coloring. Would love to see some examles). So anyway, I starting thinking that maybe if there was something like a flash that put off Ir light, maybe that would create an interesting effect. That search came up with this:





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[LT]

Brian - The film was created for use in road traffic speed cameras, using a flash with the SFX filter on it so the film picks up the near IR reflection off the cars so you can put a red gel on the front of a powerful flash gun - that will certainly get the red end of the film working for you ... I've also done it using the sfx opaque gel filter, but it does reduce the output somewhat - about 5 stops or something iirc, so you'll need a nuclear strength flash gun to get some hand-holding speed with resonable DOF I reckon - definitely worth experimenting with though.  You may be able to push the film a bit - I know HP5+ pushes reasonably well a few stops with the correct developer, so as far as I know, you can treat the SFX the same (although it is 1 stop slower of course)  but maybe 800 is achievable with a high speed developer.

If you've going for (faux)ir on people shots, expect porcelain-like pale skins and dark eyes etc. 

[Heather]

I've seen the weird freaky "light" things at the tube station nearest the tracks which allegedly are IR lamps for their nightvision cameras. They have a silvery coating at the front if I'm remembering correctly. So I assume some places with high tech cameras at night would be happily flooding areas with IR but it's a bit difficult to find out who and where unless you're looking closely during the daytime for the unusual looking lamps or try to stumble around in the dark looking through the SFX filter 

I do believe I looked up developing SFX and you can get it up to 800 in microphen(stock/straight) apparently.  I was having wiggling brownie camera problems with my first roll so was looking at how I could get the normal shutter speed to work with the film.

[Francois]

Buildings with lighting will emit infrared out their windows. I remember seeing a few years ago (though it was shot on Kodak HIE) some building shots of modern buildings with an eerie glow coming out their windows. Was pretty amazing, especially since it was shot without any filter whatsoever.

[Artsyken]

remember Skorji telling me about a Japanese photographer who used infared film with an infared flash. He would go to Yoyogi park at night and take pictures of couples and their peeping toms. This was done in the sixties. There is even a book out by him.

[Skorj]

He would go to Yoyogi park at night and take pictures of couples and their peeping toms.

Errr... Mr Tsukebe here. Honestly, I live nowhere near Yoyogi Koen, nor do I ride past it on the way to work. I certainly do not hang out there on warm summer nights with a camera, and have never heard of Kohei Yoshiyuki.



Or his supposedly interesting book 'Park': nytimes arts.