Film Review by Nelson Tan

All images taken by Nelson Tan
Copyright (C) 1999

Until recently, most infrared films required processing in specialized chemicals, which meant that using infrared film was a hassle due to the special preparations required. The appearance of the Kodak EIR, a infrared colour E6-process slide film,  is a god-send to many photography enthusiasts wanting to try out infrared photography. This is because the EIR film can be processed in the ordinary E6 chemicals that we process our slide films.  This article will check out this new film from Kodak which might just revolutionalize what infrared photography means to us.

About the film

According to the Kodak literature, the KODAK EKTACHROME Professional Infrared EIR Film is an "infrared-sensitive, "false-color" reversal film produced on an ESTAR Base*". The intended applications include situations "where infrared discriminations may yield useful results, such as: artistic, industrial, scientific, and aerial or technical ground photography".

Rather than being sensitive to white light (a combination of red,  green and blue light), the Kodak EIR is sensitive to the infrared spectrum of light. The amount of infrared reflectance present at any given time will affect the final color rendition. But what exactly is infrared light?
 

Let's get technical - what is infrared?

Light has a wide spectrum, ranging from the visible light to heat waves.  In infrared photography, we are concerned about the IR light being reflected, not being emitted. It is important to get this right. Let me try to explain the difference in simplified terms:

Heated objects such as a flame or the human body gives off infrared radiation. Such IR is in the range of 9000 nm (nanometers) and CANNOT be captured by the IR film.

The actinic range is produced by incandescent (burning) subjects, like the sun, a candle or a tungsten light bulb. This range of IR can be reflected by objects such as foliage (plants and leaves) or the human body. Kodak's IR film captures IR light in the spectrum region of 750nm to 900nm. Thus, it captures this actinic range of IR light, not the earlier hot-object IR range emitted by heated bodies.

As such, do not expect to use the film to capture frolicking creatures in the dark of the night! Night vision devices and photography depend on light-amplification technology, not using IR film to capture hot-object IR.

Note:
You can use the Kodak's IR film to capture photographs at night with some modification. Use a opaque red filter over the flash, and the IR film will capture animals and humans in the night without being noticed.
 

So what happens in IR photography?

As you already know, the IR film captures IR reflected off certain objects. Some objects such as the human body and living foliage reflects IR better than other objects, and thus will record a different colour. The Kodak EIR is a "false-colour" film, so the resulting images are coloured very diffferently from the scene you saw, depending on the amount of IR in the scene.

Some uses of IR include forest surveying. As the plane flies across the forest, the camera loaded with IR film will start snapping aerial images of the forest. Once developed, the images can show the health condition of the trees. Because living trees reflect IR, they will turn out as patches of red in the EIR film. The dead trees, probably as a result of insect attacks or dieases, will turn up as brown patches. Thus, IR film will help scientists determine the extent of forest damage via IR analysis.
 

Plant Diagnostics If you check out the image on the left carefully, you will see that there is a red patch on the ground surrounded by browish patches. This indicates that the red patch of grass is still alive while the surrounding patchs are dead. Only living foliage will reflect IR as red with the EIR film. Infrared films have been used in diagnosing the health of forests for decades.

Because the human body also reflects IR, skin tones will take on a pale yellowish cast when photographed with the EIR film. As a matter of fact, any objects which reflects IR light will show up differently in the EIR images. The important thing to remember when using infrared film is that you're looking for objects which REFLECT infrared light, NOT objects which EMIT infrared light.
 
 

Film speed and exposure

Light meters are calibrated for white light, or the visible spectrum of light. Thus, even if you have the RGB meter of the Nikon F5, do not expect it to give you the correct reading when using IR films. Kodak recommends using EI 200 for E6 processing.

Note:
This film can also be processed in AR-5 chemicals, using a recommended setting of EI 100. But since E6 is much more common, I'll just concentrate on the E6 process in this article.
 

Bracket... bracket... bracket...
It is not possible to determine the amount of IR light in the scene (the amount of IR light present, and the subjects which might reflect the IR light), so Kodak advises all users to bracket their exposures. This is a good advice I must say, because everyone whom I knew tried IR photography before told me exactly the same thing. Because the EIR is a slide film, the exposure latitude is only +/- 1/2 stop. This makes it ever more important to bracket to have a ideal exposure.

According to Kodak, the EIR is particularly sensitive to green, red, and infrared radiation. Thus, in situation where the subject is predominantly green or red, or highly reflective of IR radiation, be careful of overexposure. In practice, I found that it is pretty safe to bracket around +/- 1 stop in half-stops.
 

Handle with care

Infrared film is different from regular films, and they require handling with exceptional care.

Check your Canon EOS camera and lab
First of all, infrared film are sensitive to infrared light. Pretty obvious right? Many people don't realize that some of the equipment use infrared counting devices to determine film advance and rewind. Most of the Canon EOS cameras (with the exception of EOS-1/1n and the older EOS series) use a IR light counter, so you CANNOT use EIR film in those EOS cameras. In addition, make sure that the lab you are using do not use IR devices in the processing machines. If they do, ask that they switch it off or go to another lab. There is no way around this issue.

Load and unload in TOTAL darkness
Do not open/expose canister to light; load/unload in TOTAL darkness. This warning is splashed across the entire packaging, so it is obvious that this warning is important.
 
 

You can't miss this... Kodak is pretty explicit in warning you about handling the film in the corerct manner, as you can see from the warning messages splashed over the film box in no less than 4 languages.

Why is it important to load and unload in total darkness? According to some sources, the EIR Film "does not contain a light piping dye, so visible light may pipe into the roll via the leader (or even through the velvet light trap). Limited amounts of exposure may result in only slight fog in the sprocket hole area of the first frame or two. Longer times will result in fogged images." Don't believe it? The image on the left was the first picture in a totally rewound roll of EIR, which was exposed to daylight only briefly. See the fogged marks at the top and bottom...

After exposure, be sure to rewind the film leader back into the magazine and unload in total darkness. Load finished film into the original black plastic canister it came with and seal it so that it is not opened accidentally. The cap has a printed notice to open/handle the canister only in total darkness. Make very sure that the lab reads the label.

Tips:
Because loading is to be done in total darkness, automatic cameras which loads the film automatically via motor winding are easier to load than manual-load models (like Nikon FM2). Cover the transparent film identification window just to be on the safe side.
 
 

Focusing

Not only is IR light difficult to expose using conventional lightmeters, it is also difficult to focus for. Because IR light do not fall neatly into the spectrum of visible light, they focus on a different plane from conventional light. Even though the image may seem in focus in the viewfinder, the fact is that only the white light image is focused. The IR image is not really focused when using the traditional method of focusing.
 

IR marking on the lens Some of the lenses have special markings for IR light, and they allow the user to gauge the amount of adjustment to make so that the IR spectrum can be focused. To use the marks, simply focus using the viewfinder. Once the image seem sharp in the viewfinder, check the distance scale on the lens. Then align the distance scale to the IR mark. The IR image will now be in focus. On the left, the image was originally focused at 1.5m. After focusing the image via the viewfinder, I manually shifted the focus mark of 1.5m to align it with the infrared mark (the dot beside the focus mark).

Special Tip:
Although the IR scale will help you attain focus close to the IR region, you can ensure higher accuracy of focusing by using wide angle lenses and smaller apertures to attain greater depth of field, thus ensuring higher probablity of being in focus.
 
 
 

Filters for different effects
 
 

The triple layers of the Kodak EIR are all sensitive to the blue spectrum, and thus require at least a yellow filter to filter it out. Other filters such as orange and green can be used to different effects, so experiment with a variety of filters for best results. Incidentally, I found that red filters do not work well with the EIR, giving it a terrible yellow cast as seen in the image on the left.

Reciprocity Characteristics
According to Kodak, no filter correction or exposure adjustment is required for exposure times from 1/1,000 second to 1/100 second. At 1/10 second, increase the lens aperture by 1 stop and add a CC20B filter for scientific or technical measurements.
 
 

Exposed Film (Kodak instructions) Keep exposed film cool and dry. Process the film as soon as possible after exposure to avoid undesirable changes in the latent image. If it is necessary to hold exposed but unprocessed film for several days (such as over a weekend), it should be resealed and refrigerated at 55°F (13°C) or lower. Keep room temperature storage to a minimum - preferably no more than two days. Before unsealing and processing exposed film that has been held in cold storage, follow the warm-up procedures described above for unexposed film.

Processing

According to the Kodak website, the KODAK EKTACHROME Professional Infrared EIR Film "can be processed in Process AR-5 using KODAK EA-5 Chemicals or Process E-6 using KODAK EKTACHROME Chemicals. However, images run through Process E-6 will be higher in contrast and appear more saturated in color. In scientific and/or technical applications, Process AR-5 is recommended where comparisons to historical data are desired. While Process E-6 will provide meaningful results, the higher contrast and color saturation may affect interpretation as compared to this film's predecessor."

You must rate the film at EI 200 if you want proper exposure using the E6 process. I found the recommended setting of EI 200 by the Kodak instructions to be fairly accurate, so you should use that as a starting point. Of course, don't forget the conventional wisom of bracketing!

Tip:
Most labs do not handle the Kodak EIR film, so be prepared to be rejected when you ask them to process the film. I went to a professional lab in Singapore, and not surprisingly they have not heard of a IR film which can be processed in E6 chemicals. They refused to touch the film, not matter how much I insisted it was a E6 film. I requested that they call their technicians or Kodak to check it out. Finally, one of the technicians told the counter that it is indeed a E6 film. To avoid such a situation, bring the film box and the accompanying data sheet down to the counter. And remember to tell them to switch off any IR sensors in their processing machines!

Did I mention that the lab opened the black plastic canister in daylight to check the metal canister? They saw that the markings only indicated AR-5 and not E6, which was why they refused to process it the first time round. When I told them that the film canister should NOT be exposed to daylight, they told me that it was alright, because the film was already wound inside. Being a professional lab, I would have thought that they understand simple English instructions. I was really pissed... the fogged exposure that you saw near the beginning was the result of their incompetence.
 
 

Automated Slide Mounting

The Kodak EIR has a special ESTAR Base which might cause problems to automated slide mounting. You should request for the film to be processed unmounted, and proceed to mount them yourself by hand. I found that the EIR has a thin base, and a tendency to curl along the length. Mounting is more difficult than with normal films, so do excercise some patience.
 

Storage and Handling

This is what Kodak suggests about storing the EIR film:
"Color infrared film, such as KODAK EKTACHROME Professional Infrared EIR Film, is usually more seriously affected by adverse storage conditions than natural color or black-and-white films. Color infrared film is extremely sensitive to variations in temperature and relative humidity. Storage conditions affect the three image-forming layers in different degrees, causing a change in color balance as well as a change in overall film speed and contrast. In the case of EIR Film, the infrared-sensitive layer is most affected, causing a loss in infrared sensitivity and a resultant color balance drift toward cyan."

"For best keeping, store slides in a dark, dust-free area at 50 to 70°F (10 to 21°C) and 30 to 50 percent relative humidity. High relative humidity promotes the growth of mold and causes ferrotyping. Very low relative humidity causes excessive curl and brittleness. Avoid storage temperatures over 80°F (27°C)."
 
 

Scanning Transparencies

Kodak states that the EIR belongs to the Kodak Ektachrome film family, which is "characterized by sets of image dyes which perform similarly when scanned". Thus, once the basic tone scale and color-correction channel is configured, all EKTACHROME films can be scanned with optimal results with little adjustments. Personally, I found that there was little trouble scanning the EIR slides even though the reflectivity of the slides looked slightly different from conventional slides.
 
 

Last Word The Kodak EIR is not available in Singapore at the time of writing. It is available in the United States and other countries, at around US$30 per roll of 135mm-36 exposures.   At the end of the day, using infrared films may seem like a lot of trouble, but it is definitely a fun experience. The results are almost unpredictable, not to mention wacky. If you have not tried IR photography before, be sure to try out at least a roll. You might just like it enough to continue experimenting with IR photography!

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