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Rollei R80s versus Rollei IR400 for infrared photography

Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 3:34 pm
by Joerg W.
In case you are playing with IR - Photography this may be of interest: The "new" Rollei R80s also has an IR - sensitive coating just as the IR400. I recently tested it against the IR400 using a heliopan RG715 filter on a Leica Rangefinder. The results:

Both films work great. Developed in Rollei RHS the IR400 was somewhat more contrasty, the R80 showed a tiny bit more detail. Both should be working just fine with ID-11 or D-76 in case you can`t get a hold on the RHS.

For practical purposes: I liked the results of the R80 a little bit better. The wood-effect was somewhat stronger and the overall contrast more pleasing to my eye. However it could be that with a different development the IR400 would improve. The IR400 needed a filter correction of 5 f-stops (resulting in a working speed of 25 ASA) while with the R80 only 3-4 f-stops were needed (5-10 ASA). Whenever serious IR - Photography is intended, a tripod is carried and the subject is rather static I can certainly recommend to try the R80. Not that the IR400 was inferior - not at all - but it did not clearly outperform the R80 and it comes at a much higher cost. The IR400 is ideal if cost isn`t an issue and flexibility is important. Doing street photography at 200-400ASA and being able to switch to IR whenever needed is a real benefit. The higher working speed with IR - Filter also enables handheld IR - shots when fast lenses (and preferrably a rangefinder or twin-lens-SLR) are used.

In case you are interested.. I posted some pics in the forum of the german website Aphog.

www.aphog.de -> Forum -> Zubehör & Filme -> Rollei Retro 80s Praxisergebnisse , end of page 4 and beginning of page 5.

Hope this is of use to those of you who fight against the diminishing choices for IR - film.