Ilford SFX B & W Film

For those of you who still own a film camera, why not give Ilford SFX 200 a try - it's a black and white film from the well known and respected Ilford Photo.

Ilford SFX 200 film has an extended red sensitivity range and makes for unusual and creative photography.

Before moving over to Canon EOS DSLR's and a more recent purchase, a Phase One P20 digital back for use on my Bronica SQ-Ai, I used Ilford SFX 200 in my 35mm film back on the said Bronica - plus the use of the standard red filter from Cokin and a tripod for support ... the latter not being because of the long exposures but more from the fact that I find the Bronica SQ-Ai quite heavy.

The results were pretty impressive - some people who viewed my shots using this medium couldn't tell the difference between true IR film and the offering by Ilford.

Just thought the above would be a quick way of establishing whether you have a true liking for invisible light images (if you still have a film camera of course).

Using Ilford SFX film in conjunction with a deep red filter will render skies near black and the majority of grass and other greenery, virtually white - end results are interesting and sometimes ghostly.

Whether you are shooting digital infrared, true infrared film or Ilford SFX, you'll obtain best results in most circumstanes, in bright sunshine - now is the time to get out there in the midday sun along with all those mad dogs and Englishmen.

WORD OF WARNING ... take care if trying out this film in the likes of film cameras which have an in-built film winder mechanism (an auto wind), as opposed to manual bodies where you have to physically wind the film on - the more modern of the late 35mm SLR's have an infrared transport beam which can fog high speed infrared film, in particular, Kodak HIE IR film which I know from experience.

Happy Reading
Jane Newman.co.uk