KodakAerochrome III 1443

Kodak Aerochrome III Infrared Film 1443 is an infrared-sensitive, false-color reversal film that Kodak made for aerial photography, where infrared differences can show things ordinary color film misses [1]. Healthy foliage comes out magenta or red, and sky and water go deep blue to almost black [1] [4]. It has been discontinued since about 2009 [3] [4].

Look and color

The datasheet gives the mechanism. The film has three layers sensitive to green, red and infrared, and all three also respond to blue, so a yellow Wratten 12 filter is “always used” over the lens [1]. Infrared prints as red, green as blue and red as green. Blue is blocked by the filter and prints black [1].

• Foliage. Kodak says healthy deciduous trees photograph magenta or red and healthy evergreens brownish red. Dead or dying leaves range from dark red to green or even yellow [1]. Reviewers describe “pink, purple, or deep red” foliage [2] and “magenta to scarlet” [4].
• Sky. Emulsive lists azure skies and black skies [2]. Artistic Hive says skies run from deep cobalt to nearly black, and that a redder filter increases the effect [4] [2].
• Water. Water reflects very little infrared and looks dark [1]. Reviewers call it black [2] or nearly black [4].
• Skin. The sources do not agree. Nick Orloff writes that it “doesn’t overly impact on skin tones” but “does turn lips green” [3]. That sits oddly with the datasheet rule that red prints green; Kodak does not describe skin.
• Saturation. Emulsive calls it “eye-popping” [2].
• The filter changes the look. Kodak specifies the Wratten 12. Emulsive says orange and deep red filters intensify the effect, at the price of riskier exposure [2]. Artistic Hive says that without the yellow filter blue floods all three layers and the color separation collapses [4].
• Storage matters. The infrared layer is the most affected by heat and age, which shifts the balance toward cyan [1].

Tonality

• Steep curves. The characteristic curves in the datasheet are very steep: density falls from about 3.3 to about 0.1 over about 1.5 log exposure, read from the graph. Kodak publishes no gamma value [1].
• Narrow latitude. Emulsive gives –½ to +2 stops [2]; Artistic Hive cites roughly three stops of usable range, and one source as low as half a stop [4]. Emulsive adds that shadows are lost fast in contrasty scenes and that overcast skies render as a white-out [2].
• Speed is not an ISO. Kodak rates it EAFS or ISO A 40 with a Wratten 12 and Process AR-5, and warns that aerial speeds should not be confused with pictorial film speeds [1]. Photographers using the respooled film report EI 400 [2] [5]. The two figures are not directly comparable.
• Reciprocity. Kodak says no adjustment is needed from 1/1000 s to 1/100 s [1].

Grain and sharpness

Kodak gives an rms granularity of 23, read at density 1.0 with a 48 µm aperture, and calls the grain fine [1]. We make no comparison with the granularity figures of negative films.

Resolving power is 63 lp/mm at a 1.6:1 test-object contrast and 100 lp/mm at 1000:1, described as medium [1]. Emulsive also calls the grain fine [2]. Artistic Hive describes “dye cloud grain” specific to this emulsion [4]. Emulsive reports that grain is more visible after C-41 development [2].

Spectral sensitivity

In the datasheet graph the green-sensitive layer drops out by about 610 nm and the red-sensitive layer by about 695 nm, while the infrared layer is much weaker but extends to about 900 nm [1]. That is why the film records infrared as red and why a yellow filter is needed.

Names, status and history

• Made for aerial use. The datasheet lists applications such as forest and crop surveys, archaeology, pollution monitoring, ice reconnaissance and camouflage detection [1].
• Discontinued. Nick Orloff gives the manufacturing span as ending in 2009 [3]; Artistic Hive says the film was discontinued in October 2009 [4]. Emulsive dates it around 2010 and says all stock expired by late 2011 [2]. We use 2009 and flag the disagreement. Artistic Hive separates it from Kodak Ektachrome Professional Infrared EIR, a different product that ended in 2007 [4].
• Formats. The datasheet’s processing tables list 70 mm, 5-inch and 9½-inch widths [1]. Artistic Hive says it was never sold as 120 rolls: every 120, 127, 4x5 and 16 mm Aerochrome that reached photographers was hand-cut and respooled from master rolls [4]. Emulsive names 35 mm, 120 and 4x5 [2].
• Processing. Kodak’s main process is AR-5 with EA-5 chemicals; AN-6 and C-41 produce a negative and cost about a third of a stop in speed [1]. Emulsive says E-6 or AR-5, and warns that lab machines with infrared sensors can fog the film [2].
• Availability today. Orloff quotes US$40 a roll in 2019 and A$485 to 575 on eBay in 2025 [3]. Artistic Hive expects over $300 for a roll of 120 in July 2026 [4].
• Names. The datasheet’s curve labels mention “SO-734” next to 1443; it does not explain the code, and we did not verify it.
• Successors. Emulsive named Lomography’s LomoChrome Purple as the closest current look [2]. It is a C-41 color negative with no infrared sensitivity. The Grain Archive style for this film is described on its style page [6].