Re: Polycarbonate bodies

[Colin McKie <colinmckie@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard Lovell wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have just shot my first roll of IR film (HIE) and have produced some
> really great images. So much so I can't wait to find new material to do it
> again- soon. However, I used a plastic camera body (Pentax MZ5/ZX5) which
> allowed a little IR leakage onto some of the frames which prompts the
> following questions:
> 
> 1. Can I wrap the camera body in aluminium foil to make it impermeable to IR
> wavelengths? If the sun comes out this week I will try to measure the
> permeability of aluminium foil to IR wavelengths using a hand held
> radiometer, but until then any feedback would be great.
> 
> 2. My other option is to pick up a K1000 body and use my lenses. Recently
> various people alluded to the problems with the K1000's dimpled pressure
> plate. Can anybody confirm that this problem CAN be surmounted by using
> black tape over the dimples?
> 

Richard,

I can't comment on the aluminium foil trick, but for another body the
Cosina CT-1 series is happy with all modern Pentax lenses and has both a
metal bladed shutter and a metal back. The pressure plate is slightly
dimpled but I have never seen any trace of this on the negs.

We use a CT-1A exclusively for HIE to back up a Z-1/MX system and you
should be able to find one a lot cheaper than a K1000. The only drawback
is that it's not the easiest camera to load by feel!

Regards from the Mainland,

Colin McKie


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