ilford infrared film and eos cameras

[john_wintheiser]

I understand that the infrared framecounting system on eos cameras

will sometimes fog infrared film. Is this also true when using the

Ilford film, as I understand this is not a "true" infrared film. If

so, do the Rebel cameras also use this system? The users manual for

my Elan 7 says not to use infrared films but the manual for mY Rebel

doesn't mention any problem.

[maureen_m]

According to <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000ZqY">an older photo.net post (click here and scroll down to April 29, 2001),</a> Ilford SFX is not true infrared film, but B/W with increased red sensitivity. Use with red filter, get "infrared effect"; without filter get regular B/W shots.<p>For great EOS/infrared info, see <a href="http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-ir/#which">PhotoNotes.org's <i>"Notes on infrared (IR) photography and Canon EOS film cameras."</i></a>

[pierre_bize]

I have bought a cheap second hand EOS 600 body for IR shooting. All EOS bodie from the 600 serie included the RT are IR compatible. The other will slightly fog the border of the frame.

[edgreene]

The EOS A2/A2E/EOS 5 cannot use IR film in that the frame counter fogs the film.

[gaius1]

I've searched photo.net as I am also interested in this and the answer is, no-one who knows *from experience* about Ilford SFX 200 in EOS cameras seems to have posted. Lots of people say "your EOS will fog IR film" (or post links to documents that say so) and lots of people say "SFX is not a proper IR film" (ditto) but specific interactions between the two aren't mentioned nearly as often.

 

So, I suggest you do what I'm going to do sometime next week: shoot a roll through my EOS 3 and see for myself!

[robert_gantt]

To answer from experience, I tested the film against Kodak HighSpeed IR using an EOS camera system. Long story short, the Ilford was fine and density readings were good at 125iso with 7 minutes of D76. The Kodak was fogged all to hell....actually both rolls of Kodak were fogged...loaded and unloaded in a darkroom...so the barcode/film counter probably played a part in it. but it's true you have to use a filter for it even to approach the IR effect. i hope this helps...robbie

[maureen_m]

The original question about Rebels in general is too vague, as some Rebel models have mechanical counters and others IR counters. Obviously the Rebels with mechanical counters can use <i>any</i> type of IR film. (See the photonotes.org link above for a list of which EOS cameras use which system.)<p>Guy Hammond makes a good point - just go out, shoot a roll, and personally prove it one way or another. Too many people want everything spelled out for them, and miss out on the value of personal experience.<p>A Google search of the internet shows that SFX can be used in all EOS cameras, whether or not they use IR frame counters. This is attributed to the fact that it is not an IR film, and the "extended red sensitivity" is not sensitive to the IR diode in the camera.<p>An interesting point was made in one of the posts I read on the internet (and I won't post a link - that makes it too easy). It seems that when using the neccessary dark filter, metering is inaccurate and exposure compensation of up to 7 stops must be made for IR-type photography with SFX.<p>Now go out and shoot a roll.

[fusionrx]

The only EOS camera that will reliably shoot real IR film is the EOS 10s. This body has a metal back and it is designed specifically to handle the IR films. You can find a cheap one on evilBay for 150 US$.