Comments on: Kodak’s Cold War-Era, Pink-Saturated, Camouflage-Detecting Film

By: konta oszczednosciowe

konta oszczednosciowe — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 11:02:37 +0000

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By: Uncle Al

Uncle Al — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:02:30 +0000

The middle “star” in constellation Orion’s sword is spectacular in the near-IR. 35 mm IR film and an orange or yellow filter to remove film spectral sensitivity overlap. Observation vastly gains by only observing the EM that carries differential information.

The appropriate camouflage then selectively reflects or, better, fluoresces in th near-IR. Lanthanoids coordinatively saturated with an organic antenna ligand plus a Lewis base or outright anion added should do it. Something clever as an inorganic IR-fluor ceramic would be cheaper at production scale.

By: Bill Donnell

Bill Donnell — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:25:34 +0000

I have used camouflage detection film during the Korean War as a photo interpreter. Cut foliage used to camouflage guns and tanks appeared blue compared to living foliage as shown in the picture above. The change was rapid. Sometimes within 24 hours. The change in color is due to the death of chlorophyll in the cut foliage.

By: Jay Fox

Jay Fox — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:26:17 +0000

Where did Mosse get this film processed? As an ex-USN photomate, I processed a lot of that stuff. It is not a “standard” process available to just anyone. Same with the film itself. You can’t just go down to the local camera store and buy some.

That said, the film is designed to provide false colors relative to the heat radiated from the subject. It does produce some dramatic imagery. Today the imagery is used to survey forest environments, as plants and trees of differing vitality will show as slightly different tones of the red. From that, analysts can actually count diseased or distressed trees without ever leaving the office.

It’s just one single example of military technology being transferred to civilian use.