Re: ATM amateur infrared imaging?

[Frank Henriquez <frank@ucla.edu>]

 >OK, everybody seems to be forgetting that
 >there are IR sensitive films out there.
 >you can be taking happy snaps for a lot less
 >(multi $K less).

The IR sensitive films work in the very near IR  (roughly in the I band, or 
about the same range as CCDs).
I really doubt that there is IR sensitive film out to 2u. Unless cooled 
while in storage, it would probably arrive exposed. You would also need 
special glass to focus the light in your camera.
One of the show and tell tricks in our lab was to focus both a CCD and our 
K band camera at a large silicon wafer. We then placed a hot soldering iron 
behind the wafer. The CCD camera would only show a shiny black wafer, but 
the K camera would see right through the silicon and show the hot soldering 
iron. In fact, silicon is often used as a lens material in some IR cameras; 
it's cheap, effectively blocks all shorter wavelengths and it has a very 
high index of refraction.

Fran