Prise de vue · 2026-09-11

Infrared Film Photography: Rollei Infrared 400, Ilford SFX 200, and Filters — Getting Started with Invisible Light

Infrared film photography isn't reserved for specialists or experimenters chasing novelty effects. It's an accessible practice, with two film stocks still in production as of 2024, filters that are easy to source, and a development process that requires nothing out of the ordinary. What takes time is mostly understanding what you're actually doing, and why the leaves turn white.

The Wood Effect: Understand It Before You Shoot

Robert Wood described the phenomenon photographers are still chasing today: in infrared light, vegetation goes nearly white, open skies turn deep black, and clouds stand out with an almost sculptural clarity.

Chlorophyll in leaves is largely transparent to near-infrared wavelengths. The cell structure of the leaf reflects those wavelengths strongly, making foliage appear very bright on film, something like snow under direct sun. An open sky, by contrast, scatters very little infrared, so it records dark or outright black depending on how dense your filtration is. Shadows, lit by ambient skylight rather than a direct source, go the same way.

That unusual tonal separation is what gives infrared images their character. Not a filter effect exactly, more like a genuinely different way of seeing light.

Qualitative reflectance curves only — relative shapes, not measured values. Foliage reflectance rises steeply past 700 nm; sky reflectance falls.

Two Films, Two Levels of Effect

Ilford SFX 200: Extended-Red Sensitivity, Easy to Work With

The Ilford SFX 200 is an extended-red sensitivity film, rated at ISO 200, with spectral sensitivity reaching up to around 740 nm when used with a deep red filter to produce infrared-style results. It's not a true infrared film in the strict sense: it mostly sees visible light, with some sensitivity into the near-infrared.

What that means in practice is that the Wood Effect is present, but moderate. Foliage brightens, skies darken, but the result stays subtler than what you'd get from a true IR emulsion. With a deep red filter you can push skies close to black and foliage close to white. With an R72, the effect steps up noticeably, but exposure times stretch considerably, often enough that a tripod becomes necessary even in bright sun.

Rollei Infrared 400: The Real Thing, Still Available

The Rollei Infrared 400 is a hyperpanchromatic emulsion with spectral sensitivity extending to 820 nm, suited to experimental and creative work as well as scientific applications. It's the only genuinely true infrared film still produced in common formats (35mm and 120), since Kodak discontinued the HIE High Speed Infrared. The Wood Effect is considerably more pronounced: darker skies, brighter foliage, and if you overexpose slightly, visible halation around intense light sources.

Two things here that shouldn't be underestimated.

Second, exposure index. Without filtration you can shoot it at ISO 400. With an R72, some sources recommend rating it no higher than ISO 25. In practice, the best approach is to run a full test roll at ISO 25 through an R72, note your conditions carefully, and adjust from there. The infrared content of ambient light varies quite a bit depending on time of day, season, and weather.

Choosing a Filter

This is where it all hinges. The filter determines what the film sees, and therefore how strong the effect will be.

Orange filter (e.g., Wratten 21): passes a good portion of red and orange light. On the SFX 200, this gives a fairly gentle result, closer to pushed contrast than true infrared. Filter factor is moderate, around 2 to 3 stops.

Deep red filter (e.g., Wratten 25A, Hoya 25A): blocks blue and green light, passes red and some near-infrared. A solid compromise on the SFX 200 for a visible effect without destroying your shutter speeds. The Hoya 25A gives good results on the SFX. On the Rollei Infrared 400, this filter already produces a pronounced effect.

R72 filter (Hoya R72 or equivalent): blocks everything below roughly 720 nm. The denser the filter, the more dramatic the results. This is the reference filter for infrared work. On the Rollei, the effect is at its maximum. On the SFX 200, exposure times get long. The filter is essentially opaque to the eye in normal light, which complicates composition if you leave it on before focusing.

Approximate cutoff wavelengths and relative exposure penalties. Values are qualitative; consult filter manufacturer data for precise transmission curves.

One habit worth building with very dense filters: focus and compose without the filter, then place it just before tripping the shutter. On a 35mm SLR this is straightforward. With an optical viewfinder, focusing happens normally but framing becomes an approximation once the filter is in place.

Exposure: What Actually Matters

A light meter, whether built-in or handheld, is calibrated for visible light. It doesn't measure infrared. What you read on the display or in the viewfinder doesn't correspond to what the film will see through an R72.

The most common starting point for Rollei Infrared 400 with an R72 in summer sun: ISO 25, then evaluate. Some photographers go down to ISO 6 for maximum effect and a deliberately slight overexposure that accentuates halation.

For SFX 200 with a 25A filter, you can often stay around ISO 50 to 100 in full sun, which still allows handheld work. With an R72 on the SFX, pinhole photographers have reported exposures of 8 to 15 minutes in bright sunlight. With a normal lens things move faster, but a tripod is still often useful.

Film	Filter	Suggested ISO starting point	Handheld feasible?
SFX 200	25A (deep red)	ISO 50–100	Yes, in full sun
SFX 200	R72	ISO 25 or lower	Often no — tripod advised
Rollei IR 400	No filter	ISO 400	Yes
Rollei IR 400	25A (deep red)	ISO 100–200	Usually yes
Rollei IR 400	R72	ISO 25 (some use ISO 6)	Tripod recommended

Overexposure is generally more forgiving than underexposure in infrared. An extra stop often gives a more dramatic result, with more pronounced halation. A stop short and the shadows block up quickly.

Development: Nothing Special Required

Good news: neither the Rollei Infrared 400 nor the SFX 200 needs special processing. The SFX 200 is compatible with any standard black-and-white developer. ID-11, D-76, HC-110, Ilfosol 3, diluted Rodinal, all of them work. Most labs that do hand-processed black and white will take these films without issue.

What's worth paying attention to: let the lab know (or note in your own development log) the actual exposure index you used and which filter you shot through. A roll exposed at ISO 25 through an R72 has a different characteristic curve than one shot at ISO 400 without filtration, even if it's the same emulsion.

With the Rollei specifically, some developers note a slightly denser base fog than you'd see with an ordinary panchromatic film. That's normal for a hyperpanchromatic emulsion. It doesn't really cause problems in printing or scanning, but it can be surprising when you first look at the negatives.

Shooting in Quebec: Summer and Fall

Summer: The Strong Season

The Wood Effect is at its best under a high sun with a clear blue sky and dense green foliage. That's the configuration that maximizes the contrast between foliage (very high IR reflectance) and sky (very low IR scattering). A clear July day in rural Quebec, a wheat field, a birch forest, a lake edged with spruce, is about ideal.

Midday light, which you'd often avoid in standard black and white because of the harshness, actually works better for infrared. Shadows go dark regardless, and sunlit vegetation hits its peak infrared reflectance. Skies are blacker than they'd be in early morning or late afternoon. It's one of the rare situations where "shoot at noon" is genuinely good advice.

Fall: Worth Trying, with Realistic Expectations

Quebec's fall foliage is spectacular, but its value for infrared is less obvious than you'd expect. Leaves that have lost their chlorophyll, the oranges, reds, and yellows, no longer reflect infrared the same way healthy green leaves do. Once the chlorophyll breaks down, the Wood Effect weakens or disappears entirely. You can end up with flat midtones where you expected dramatic contrast.

What stays interesting in fall: conifers (spruce, fir, pine) retain their chlorophyll and keep reflecting infrared. A mix of conifers and deciduous trees in fall color can produce unexpected contrasts, white conifers against orange leaves that render as gray. Less predictable, but worth experimenting with.

Early fall, when leaves are just beginning to turn, is often more interesting for infrared than peak color. You still have active chlorophyll in some trees, and the early contrasts between already-reddened trees and still-green ones create compositions that are harder to get at any other time of year.

Going Further

Ilford SFX 200 is available from most film retailers in Canada. It's the recommended entry point if you want to experiment without the strict loading constraints. Start with a Hoya 25A, then move to an R72 when you want to push the effect further.

Rollei Infrared 400 in 120 format: if you have access to a medium format body, that's where this film really shows what it can do. The larger negative handles the slightly heavier grain of infrared emulsions better, and the tonal depth is noticeably richer than in 35mm.

The Massive Dev Chart (digitaltruth.com) is the reference database for development times, with entries for Rollei Infrared 400 and SFX 200 across most common developers. Check it before any first development, especially if you're changing developer or dilution.