Infrared with Rollei Superpan

 A couple of weeks ago I shot a roll of Adox HR-50 in my Minolta X-700 with an IR filter and I had planned to do a follow up using the same camera and film, but using manual control. However, I soon got to thinking about the manual cameras I own, specifically my Goodman Zone Z1. There was two things stopping me using my Z1 for infrared film photography.

1: I had no IR sensitive film in 120 medium format.
2: didn't have an IR720nm filter big enough to fit that gorgeous Shneider-Kreuznach 90mm f/8.

I went shopping.

I bought another Kood IR720nm filter. I had a good experience the first time with the 52mm filter so I ordered a 72mm filter which would fit on my Schneider with the aid of a step ring. It wasn't cheap, but it is good value for money. I also ordered a few rolls of Rollei Superpan 200 from Analogue Wonderland. When I asked for advice from the #Believeinfilm community on Twitter this film was mentioned by several people who also provided examples of their work. Thanks guys for inspiring me.

A few days later my filter and film arrived and I had to wait for a suitable day to give it a try. That day arrived recently with another heatwave here in the UK that lasted a few days. I went out on the Saturday afternoon with my Goodman Zone loaded with Rollei Superpan and my IR720nm filter to see how my usual haunts looked in infrared on medium format.

The very first thing I had to contend with was the lack of the helpful red indicator mark that most 35mm lenses have. My 3D printed helical mount has no markings whatsoever and I had to guess where the focus should be. Thankfully I have a focus screen and a dark cloth to help, especially on a bright summer afternoon. I also metered by covering the sensor on my Vivitar 45 meter with the IR720nm filter to give me a clue where my settings should be. Mostly they were 1 or 2 seconds at f/45 which hopefully would also give me a decent depth of field at infinity.

I took my time with my compositions, most of which I have shot before. I am familiar with them and my comfort zone wasn't over extended. I had no idea if this would work or not so that familiarity helped me out. I still made a pigs ear of one shot, I had slipped into auto pilot and forgot to fit the filter. I really need to stop doing that. I do have the measure of that bloody dark slide though, progress at last!

I took the path across the pasture where the horses are usually enjoying some freedom to roam and munch away on the grass. I couldn't see them from the gate and figured they were at the bottom of the hill. I got half way and a lovely view opened up that had big trees and nice wispy clouds. I began setting up and had just got my focus dialled in when a familiar noise made me turn around.

One of the horses had come to investigate what the human was doing and hope to get some food. For some bizarre reason known only to the dark recesses of my noggin, I talked through what I was doing to the horse. This particular horse and I have known each other for a while as I always stop to say hello when I am out and about. I have no idea if she thought I was mad or not, but she didn't mind a chat and a tickle behind the ears after I had taken my photo.

With my socialising done I headed for my final composition, my favourite tree. Sadly I made a bit of a mess of this one too, but at least I got a photo that I can try to work with and practice my editing skills. With that last frame done I headed home to develop my film.

Developing film in a heatwave isn't the easiest thing to do, especially when the water from the cold tap is over 20 degrees celcius. I took some ice from my freezer and put it in my sink to help bring my chems as close to 20 degrees as I could whilst I got my film loaded into my developing tank. This time I used Kodak HC-110 dilution B for 6 minutes as per the Massive Dev Chart and soon had it develped and hanging to dry in my bathroom.

That didn't take long in the heat of the afternoon and I soon had my film digitised using my Nokia 5.3 and processed using Affinity Photo. Here are a few of my photographs from this attempt at infrared film photography, they haven't turned out too bad to be fair. I still have a lot of learning to do to get my infrared film photography dialled in properly, but this was a decent effort with the only electronic help being my Vivitar 45 light meter. I have put them in an album on Flickr, with the latest photos showing first, that you can visit using the link below.

Also, please consider buying my e-zine, "In The Zone" from my Ko-Fi shop. It contains photographs shot using my Goodman Zone Z1 as I got to know this wonderful camera. It costs £3 and you can find my e-zine using the link below. As always I hope you enjoy my photographs.

Infrared Film Photography
Buy "In The Zone"