end of Kodak HIE infrared film

A recent announcement from Kodak:

November 2, 2007

KODAK is preannouncing the discontinuance of several smaller running families of Professional film - EPR, EPN and High Speed Infrared (HIE) effective end of December 2007. Demand for these products has been declining significantly in recent years, and it is no longer practical to continue to manufacture given the low volume, the age of the product formulations and the complexity of the processes involved.

Well, I'll miss it.

At the time of this notice, HIE Infrared 135-36 was available at a street price of around $12.00 a roll at US mail order outlets.

Other infrared-sensitive emulsions are still available - some in 35mm as well as 120 and larger formats.

Ilford SFX 200 currently runs about $8.99 for a 36 exposure roll of 35mm black-and-white print film.

The key to using infrared film is the filter used over the lens - without a filter, it acts much like any other black-and-white film.

Any yellow, orange or red filter can be used, but the effect will depend on its transmission characteristics. The redder the filter, the more dramatic the effect. Ilford especially recommends the Ilford SFX filter which is optimized to their film's spectral sensitivity.

Suggested filters include

1. Light red: B+W 090, Cokin 003, Heliopan 25, Hitech 25, Hoya 25A, Kodak Wratten 25 and Lee 25.

2. Dark red: B+W 091, Heliopan 29 and Kodak Wratten 29

3. Very dark red: ILFORD SFX, B+W 092, Heliopan RG695, Hoya R72 and Kodak Wratten 89B