IR in 120 film sizes

[Rolland Elliott <rolland_elliott@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here's a way to get Kodak High Speed B&W  Infrared Film in
Medium Format (and Kodak's Color Infrared Film, EIR, in Med. Format.)
, and I 
Thought others might be interested in my solution
It's not perfect, but it works:

I buy bulk rolls of Kodak Infrared film intended for aerial
applications.
HIE comes in rolls 70mm wide by 150feet long and
EIR comes in rolls 70mm wide by 100feet long.
The bulk rolls are 70mm film THAT HAS PERFORATIONS ON BOTH SIDES.  
If you want 70mm wide rolls that have no perforations, you can get
them special order from Kodak, but be prepared to spend several
thousand dollars since the minimum order is around 30 rolls.

Using a homemade film splitter I CAN create film in two sizes:

1.)  60mm film that is slightly narrower than standard 120 film which is
about 61.5 mm wide. This 60mm film has no perforations and works well
in my Fuji 690III.  It probably works well in most other MF cameras
also since the actual image size is usually smaller than 6x4.5, 6x6,
6x7, or 6x9cm.  It all depends on how tolerant your camera is to this
slightly smaller film size.  Those with poor film alignment might have
trouble.  This is the format I typically use.  I load the film in a
darkroom onto 220 spools.  I don't bother with adding backing paper or
paper leaders.  The free end of the film is taped to another spool
which makes it easier to load.  

2.)  The other format I can make is 61.5mm wide film that is the same
width as standard 120 film.  However, when I splice the film to this
width I leave the perforations on one side and cut off
the perforations on the other side to leave a smooth edge. It looks
like this:

- ------------------------




o o o o o o o o o o o o
- -------------------------

The advantage of this method is that the width of the film is exactly
the same as standard 120 film.  Disadvantage is that the film has
perforations on the bottom which eats into the upper 2 to 3 mm of
image area. But 2mm is not that much of the image area when working
with medium format. This is especially true since many Kodak infrared
users process and print their own work; thus cropping out the
perforations is not that big of a deal. The other advantage is that
you can load this on to a standard 120 developing reel without any
unusual problems. With the 60mm wide film, you must either have an
adjustable reel or shorten an existing reel by 1 to 2 mm.  I just use
a jobo reel that I cut to make it slightly shorter.

I have to load the film in the dark which is a real pain,
Usually I just roll it on to old 120 plastic film roll (attached with
tape) with no paper leader or ends.  I have to load and unload in the
dark any ways with HIE so the paper leaders aren't really necessary.
and I
develop it myself, because I don't trust any lab with my IR film(
after a bad
experience a couple of years ago), and more importantly, it gives me
more control.
I even learned how to develop E-6 so I could process my own color
Infrared film.  For those who haven't tried this, it's really not that
hard!  It's boring to sit and develop film for one hour, but you'll
probably spend over an hour trying to find a reliable lab to process
this stuff.

For those of you who aren't familiar with 70mm film here's a brief
explanation.  Take two strips of 35mm film and put them side by side.
Now imagine that the two strips are one piece of film with no holes
down the
middle, but still having perforations on the side....Presto! you have
the
exact dimensions and size of 70mm film.

For those of you that are really interested I would be willing to
Splice down a roll of 70mm film to MF size(either 60mm wide with no
perforations, or 61.5mm wide with perforations on one side), for a
nominal fee plus the cost of the roll of film (nominal fee equals $20
or 30$ US dollars to cover Shipping and Handling and the 15 to 20
minutes or so that it takes me to slice the roll) or tell you how
To make your own film splitter.  

Currently the price for EIR (100 feet)is about $220 US dollars and I'm
not sure about HIE, guessing I think it was around $280 US dollars. 
The price for EIR is actually a very good deal.  If you took the roll
and split it down the middle you can make about 36 rolls of 35mm
36exposure rolls. (Trust me I've done it before) At about $19 per roll
of 35mm 36exp film, the total value turns out to be $684. Therefore
the cost of 70mm EIR is less than 1/3 the cost of 35mm EIR.  Which
brings up the big question:  "Why is Kodak charging so much for this
film?" Sure they have costs associated with converting it and putting
it in 35mm canisters, but tripling the cost seems like overkill to me.
I'm sure George or someone else will point out that Kodak doesn't make
a big profit on IR films, but the cost difference between the same IR
emulsion between 70mm and 35mm  is tremendous.  Furthermore this price
difference does not exist with other emulsions Kodak manufactures.

Here are the details for making your own film splitter:

Take three pieces of wood about 1 foot depth by 4 inches height by 1
inch width, and make them into a "U" shaped trough.  The width of the
trough should be exactly 70mm.  The most precise way to do this is to
take a scrap piece of 70mm film and lay it down on the bottom piece of
wood and then position the other two pieces of wood next to it  and
glue them down.
Side view:
    |       |
    |       |
    |     * |
    ---------
Put felt on the bottom of the trough.  Cotton Felt available at any
craft store will work well.  Take an X-Acto razor blade represented by
the asterisk in the drawing, and stick it
upside down into a point 61.5mm from one side.  The most precise way
to do this is to take a scrap piece of 120 film and lay it down on the
bottom piece of wood and then position the X-Acto razor blade right on
the edge of the film.

Now all you have to do is pull the film through the trough to split
it.  It is a good idea to put a piece of Styrofoam (covered with felt)
on top of the film as you pull it through so the film stays flat. Make
a small hole in the felt covered styrofoam to allow the Xacto blade to
stick through. If you don't do this the film tends to buckle easily. 
IT is intially hard to start the first cut, but after the film has a
cut in it it slits very easily. I also recommend wearing cotton gloves
during the whole operation.

The other method to obtain 60mm wide film with NO Perforations is much
more complicated and involves using two circular razor blades in one
trough.  Two Xacto blades don't work very well; they cause excessive
buckling problems.  Send me your postal address and I'll send you a
video you can borrow that shows the film splitters I've made.


>From: "Lehman John A." <ffjal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: 6x9 HIE experience
>on my right hand (used for holding the film by the edges).  I then
>loaded
>the 6x9 film into a combination of film holders and grafmatics, and
shot
>them in various 2x3 Graphic cameras using lenses from 47mm to 500mm.

If these graphic cameras take 120/220 film I think my method would
give you better results.

Peace Rolland Elliott





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