Re: Ilford SFX 200

[Bobbie Doyle <doyleb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 8 Sep 1996, Jeffrey D. Rogers wrote:

> The unpredictability of Kodak IR drives me nuts.

Me too! I was just about ready to "throw in the towel" on Saturday. I
arrived at my selected location with two rolls of Kodak. One that I had
just bought, and one that I had in the freezer that was expired. (The
film, not the freezer) I sat down under a tree with the film, camera, and
changing bag. I must have pulled the film leader out just a little to far
on the fresh roll of Kodak, and I could not push it back into the
spool. I am using a Canon T90 and it just won't load if the end of the
film leader is past this orange mark. I suppose that the film got a crease
in it with all the tugging and pulling that I was doing.

So, here I am, with both hands in a black changing bag, sweating profusely
in the 90 degree weather, with several species of insects swarming my
head. I just said a few choice words, pulled the camera out of the bag
into broad daylight, proceeded to try and load the film and never got the
darn stuff to load even in full view. So, I got the second roll (the
expired one) threw the changing bag in the back of the car and proceeded
to load the expired roll in daylight for God and all to see.

I developed the film that evening in D19 @72 degrees for five minutes. I
lost the first 13 frames due to the fogging but I got some really good
negatives from the remaining ones.

I was really ready to "kiss" Kodak HIE goodbye, but I rally like the
look and have not been able to get that look through any other means. I
have only shot one roll of Konica, and it has a certain "special" look but
is definitely less grainy. Which of course is what several of you have
said. 

Which brings me to a question. Has anyone got any advice on printing from
these negatives? The way that Kodak behaves with foilage and sunlight by
going almost white in parts of the leaves, it is really hard to print from
the negs. Burning in is desired, but there a so many little "really light"
places that need attention. If you get the exposure right for the medium
to dark areas then you have got white areas that are a problem.

I wish that I could just walk away from this film, but I get just enough
good off of a roll, even a roll that minus the first 13 shots that I keep
coming back for more!

Bobbi




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Topic No. 3