Kodak HIE & Nikon F/N80: Possible?

I have been using Ilford SFX in my F80 for a couple months now, and

like the results. I would like to move into more defined infrared

film such as Kodak's HIE, but have heard that this might not be

possible in some modern cameras (I've mostly been told that modern

Canon's will not accept the film, as they have some sort of laser

that counts the negative).

If I was to block out the back film window with black electrical

tape, is there anything else stopping me from trying this film? I'm

intrigued by this new form (for me) of photography and would like to

delve deeper into it.

Thanks for all your help...

It's not the film window, it's the LED perforation counter that's the problem. It uses infrared rays to count holes to advance the film correctly. It's the only Nikon that uses this, as far as I know. Any other Nikon would do better.

 

You could get a beater Nikkormat or EM for well under a hundred bucks. Unless you have G lenses, that would work fine. Autofocus is useless for infrared since you have to compensate the focus anyway.

That's partially true. Focus compensation becomes especially critical if you are using a filter that blocks out most or all of the visible light. IR film is sensitive not only to infra-red, but also to visible wavelengths of light. So if you don't block out the visible spectrum then most of the exposure is made by visible light which behaves pretty much as you'd expect it to. With a filter that transmits only IR wavelenths, then focus compensation becomes more important. Best bet is to use rather small apertures and take advantage of DOF. Blocking the little window on the camera is probably unnecessary insurance, but it won't do any harm.

I've shot many rolls of HIE in my F80 - quite happily in fact. The only 'problem' you'll see is that on the top edge of the film at the sprocket holes (not the image!) the IR-emitting film counter will fog the sprockets.

 

Other that that - no problem. I did not tape over the film window, it wasn't necessary. The handling of HIE is where the problems come in, I almost put my fingers through the shutter trying to load the camera in a changing bag on my lap in a park :)

Ditto what the last poster has said. I've used an F80 and the import version N80 (or is it the other way around) and HIE a number of times with no real problem. The best thing to do is get a roll and shoot it in your own camera and see how it behaves. I'd suggest you read widely on the EI and bracketing strategy as there is a large variation in suggested approaches with rather amazing discrepancies in the EI. Cheers, Richard

The best way to find out is to just do it. The amount of fogging from my EOS 3 is next to

nil. Before buying a new camera just try a roll.