UK photo retailer Silverprint reports in their newsletter that Kodak are discontinuing both of their infrared emulsions, the black and white HIE and the false-colour Ektachrome Infrared. Kodak will stop accepting orders from stockists for the films in May 2007, so start hoarding now. (Kodak’s web site doesn’t note the discontinuation, but that isn’t unusual, and I count Silverprint as a reliable source.)
There are other options for black and white infrared, such as Rollei IR820c (formerly Maco IR820c [corrected by Jon below]), Fomapan 400 NIR 730, and Ilford SFX 200 [corrected by George and Jon below], but there are no alternatives to Ektachrome Infrared that I’m aware of.
SFX 200 is not an infrared film, but is an extended red film. Unfortunately, although there are other infrared films available, none go nearly as far into the infrared spectrum as HIE.
This seems to be reliable information – it was given to my company Silverprint from Photologic, who are the strongest Kodak wholesaler in the UK. However this is difficult to verify as Kodak don’t have much time for common or garden dealers these days. However we should be able to shed more light on it in the coming week.
My company, Digitaltruth Photo, has also been informed that HIE is discontinued, but I’m not aware of an offical announcement from Kodak yet. This is sad because HIE had much greater IR sensitivity than any other product.
Of the other options, it is true that SFX 200 is only an extended red film, but both Rollei IR400 and Efke IR820 are full infrared films with sensitivity to 820nm. Each film has different characteristics, but both will produce true infrared images. The Rollei IR400 film is NOT the same as the old Maco IR820c, but is actually a much finer-grained product.
I really wish Kodak would keep everyone better informed, it seems frustrating for everyone involved. (I also wish Rollei would make an “aura” (no anti-halation backing) version as Maco did.)