Originally produced for use in making holograms with helium-neon, or krypton lasers, this film can also be used in traditional still cameras to produce micro-fine grain B&W images and has a very unique spectral sensitivity. It begs for experimentation!

Note: this film is quite blue, but it does not have the speckled surface which shows in this photo - it is merely reflection from the prismatic label. And the blue layer mostly comes off in prewash. This film does not make holograms from pictures with your normal still camera!



Here is what Kodak had to say about it in a data sheet sent out to holographic labs:

KODAK High Speed Holographic Fllm SO-253 (ESTAR Base)

DESCRIPTION & APPLICATION: This new film provides extraordinary speed when exposed with helium-neon (633 nm) or krypton (647 nm) lasers. At the same time, its microfine grain structure and other emulsion characteristics combine to yield high diffraction efficiency and low noise upon reconstruction of holograms recorded at spatial frequencies as high as 1500 cycles/mm. It is recommended primarily for holographic interferometry and micrography, and it is particularly useful for general holographic procedures with low-power HeNe lasers.

The film can else be exposed efficiently with helium-cadmium (442 nm), argon (515 nm). and frequency-doubled Nd:YAG (532 nm) lasers. At these wavelengths, film speed is at a level to be expected from materials having the grain size and resolving power of SO-253 Film.  

The emulsion is coated on a clear 4-mil ESTAR polyester support. A dyed gelatin pelloid on the base side provides antihalation protection and permits convenient handling in both roll or short strip formats.

 

IMAGE STRUCTURE DATA

The following data are based on exposure to tungsten illumination with a Kodak Wratten Filter, No. 29 (Deep Red) and processing in KODAK Developer D-19 for 5 minutes at 68F (20C) with continuous agitation.

RMS Granularity:     5 with 48 µm aperture diameter

                                 14 with 6 µm aperture diameter

                        read at a net diffuse visual density of 1.0

Resolving Power:  T.O.C. 1000:1  1250 lines/mm

                                            1.6:1    800 lines/mm

This is an extremely odd film. It may be the highest contrast negative film I've ever seen. There is definitely a small range of exposure around ISO 6 and when you manage to hit that sweet spot there's a bit of magic that happens as you can see by these results.  I've only used our Labeauratoire's Caffenol Concoction to develop this film. This results in an interesting combination of brown staining and blue sheen from the film base. I'll be really excited to see others experimenting with different filters on this film.


I was lucky enough to get a large quantity of this film from a surplus sale and it is obvious that it has been stored very well because it is still giving wonderfully usable images. 

You can see more pictures shot with this, and other unique films in the: LABEAURATOIRE FLICKR GROUP

Here's your chance to try out this exciting film. I'm making some bulk, and 35mm rolls available for your experimenting pleasure.

    I'm keeping these rolls inexpensive by re-using old film cassettes and sticking on an artsy label I've made just so you know what's inside. Using a bulk loader I made rolls of approximately 20 exposures each, sometimes a bit more or less and as with most bulk loaded film the very last picture of each roll will not be exposed as that is where it is taped. 100ft Bulk Rolls of film will be wrapped in black plastic and then covered in aluminum foil before being packed for shipping. This is NOT a stock product from Kodak and I am not proporting to represent that fine company in any manner.

My examples were all developed in Labeauratoire's Caffenol Concoction for about 15 minutes at 20°c (or 68°f.)