July and August 2012, we did a new infrared project, trying a series of shots at a local historical site, the Peter Wentz Farmstead, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

We used the Rollei IR 400 film, using an incident reading at ISO 400, increased by 6 to 7 stops (set to EV rdg -6 or -7) using an 89B filter. Remembering the annoyance of taking the relatively opaque IR filter off to compose and focus, then putting it back on to take each shot with the Bronica SLR, we took advantage of a recently acquired Yashica TLR. The twin lens reflex separates the composition and focus optical path from the film exposure path. Since the likelihood of finding a Bay 1 infrared filter was not good, Ye Olde Photographer acquired a Bay 1 to Series 6 adapter and a Series 6 to 7 step-up ring. This allowed use of a Series 7 89B filter YOP has owned since the mid-1960s.

Roll Y006 was taken in July with a lens hood that turned out to be too narrow in spite of being a Series 7. A wide angle would block the viewing lens, not to mention Series lens fittings are getting rather rare. So we found a Kodak Series 7 hood with a slight flare buried in the "collection" and cut down the length a bit in a lathe. This awesome looking rig was used to shoot roll Y007 in August.

In general, the percentage of usable shots was better than the past efforts. Some of this may be attributed to the 89B filter being slightly closer to the visible spectrum than the previous IR72 (695 nm vs 720 nm). YOP believes the infrared effects were somewhat weaker than previous projects, that too could be a consequence of the filter difference.

More shots of the Farmstead may be seen in another gallery.