Anyone tried Ilford SFX 200 film ?

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jeannie

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I have ordered a roll of Ilford SFX 200 film (from 7 day shop) and just wondered if anyone else has used it. I am not sure if it will fog in my Minolta automatic camera, something to do with the frame counter sensor. I do know that conventional infra red film would fog. I know that I will need a very strong dark red filter - one that looks black and opaque to the eye. Googling, a Hoya R72 is recommended but there are some cheaper ones from China on Ebay ?? I would prefer a square filter (Cokin) so that different lenses could be used, but I read that a round screw on one is best so all light is eliminated except which travels through the filter.

7dayshop are offering a free gel filter, but you have to buy three films. I think the gel filter can be fitted inside the camera.

Also, for the processing I have Fotospeed FD10 film developer and Fotospeed FX20 fixer, but don't know if these will work with the SFX film.

Any tips and advice would be most welcome as I must admit that I find the idea of infrared very exciting and would really like to try it!!
 
I`ve shot loads of the stuff, never had a fogging problem, it`s nowhere near as sensitive as the true IR stuff, it`s fantastic stuff for pushing as well, I used most of mine at ISO 800. Lovely grain. :)

I just used a standard red filter with mine.
 
I had fogging with an EOS 3 and Kodak HIE; but it was only a dark line through the sprocket holes on the top of the film- nothing that effected the image.
 
Used to love this stuff - jessops in manchester used to let me use the little blackout cabinet with the arm holes to load/unload it.

From what i remember, its mono film with extended infra red sensitivity so just used a red filter with mine too. Got strong results.
 
Ilford sell a gel filter in a holder which will fit in the Cokin P holder (100mm I think).

You can use a standard red filter but to get the full effect, a proper IR filter is required.


Steve.
 
I shot a roll of SFZ with a red 25a filter and was not particularly impressed. It didn't look too different to shooting a regular b&w film with a 25a filter. It's a nice film to use regardless due to its nice tonality, but for the special effects you really need to use a deep red filter, or proper IR filter (I feel).
 
If I remember rightly it's not true infra red just extended red sensitivity, I used it with an normal red filter, can't say I liked the results much.
 
jeannie said:
7dayshop are offering a free gel filter, but you have to buy three films. I think the gel filter can be fitted inside the camera.
Click to expand...


The gel filter is in a holder and is supposed to be used in a "P" series holder, although you could cut it up and use it in a lens that has a holder behind the rear element. Unfortunately, there's not enough "spare" gel to clip a bit out for rear mounting without messing the rest of the filter up! I think the special Ilford gel filter is specifically "tuned" to the sensitivity of SFX so I wouldn't expect other filters to give as good results.
 
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