Arched Roof - IR

[jerrykr]

Kimball Art Museum - Ft Worth, Tx.



Canon D30 - IR Modified by Roger Salmon
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[QRasco]

Great pic. I love the IR look. I need to get one of those filters and give it a try.

[jerrykr]

There's more to it than just buying a filter. If I can help, let me know. There are a couple of other IR shooters here who can help too.

-=- Jerry -=-
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[xseption]

Originally Posted by jerrykr

There's more to it than just buying a filter. If I can help, let me know. There are a couple of other IR shooters here who can help too.

-=- Jerry -=-
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I am curious as to what you mean when you say "There's more to it than just buying a filter."

Thanks!

edd

[adam7731]

what did it cost to have your d30 converted. I would love to get a 10d done. I have a coolpix that i did the mod on and it works very well. I would like to make bigger prints and have a different lens.

[jerrykr]

edd,

private message sent.

[jerrykr]

adam,

Roger generally charges around $400 US which is in line with Maxmax. Last I heard he is booked up with conversions thru Nov., and I think he may stop doing them from what I have heard from him. He retired, started doing a few conversions, and got lots of interest in his work. Roger is in the UK. He has done 10Ds.

It's pretty cool to be able to shoot at 1/1000 sec if you need to, vs 2-6 seconds or longer with an un-modded DSLR.

-=- Jerry -=-
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[evil4blue]

Originally Posted by xseption

I am curious as to what you mean when you say "There's more to it than just buying a filter."

Thanks!

edd

I think Jerry meant that some camera's aren't IR sensitive enough to take good IR with out modification. I know that most Canon's have a real good IR cutoff filter over the sensor and thus make bad IR camera unless that filter is removed.

Some cameras are very IR sensitive, see the sony 707, 717 line. I have an old 707 and you can take IR photo's handheld with no modification.

My D70 is pretty good with out a mod, but you have to tripod mount your camera because exposure times are in the 2 sec range.

If you want to try, I suggest looking at the Cokin p-007 IR gel filter. It can be had inexpensively and you can play around with it.

The best filter for false color IR is a wratten 89a equivalent like the Hoay R72, it lets in just enought visable light to make beautiful false color IR. If you rather go full B&W and cut out all visible light, get and Wratten 87c equivalent like the Hoya RM90, this is a very expensive filter.

Hope this info helps.

[jerrykr]

totally agree with e4b,

one thing to expand on just a bit, that seems to hang people up is that they believe certain camera's sensors are not sensitive to IR.

actually, I think that all of the digital sensors are sensitive to IR. all digital cameras must employ an IR blocker filter in front of the sensor to prevent the IR spectrum light from corrupting your colors. so they all filter IR light internally in the camera.

Some of the newer cameras, and especially it seems, the Canons, use a very efficent internal IR blocker filter. You can get IR exposures thru it, but the exposure times are quite long due to the filter's efficency. Some of the older digitals prior to DSLRs had less efficent blockers and are known to produce decent IR images at shorter exposure times.

I have seen some stunning IRs from the Nikon D70 like e4b's. the IR blocker in that camera doesn't seem to be blocking IR from the sensor as much as the Canons.

So why pay $400 to get a DSLR modified, and what is the mod anyway? Well 2 to 6 seconds exposures is a very long time in the real world. trees always move in "static" scenes. You are limited to scenes where long exposures are not a problem. Bronze statues are a good subject.

When they "mod" the DSLR, they remove the internal IR blocker filter and replace it with IR pass filter material such as the Hoya R72 or any of the other filter materials e4b mentioned. So the sensor now sees only the the IR light and, depending on the filter, very little visible light. No more color shots from that camera! But, importantly, you now are not limited by that blocker, and you may use all of the shutter speeds available on the camera, which can be a huge advantage, obviously.

I don't need to go into the generic advantages of the DSLRs and lens systems because you already know that. Some interchangeable lenses are not suited to IR, but that is a whole other subject, and I don't have links to the good/bad lists. suffice to say that in the lens world all elements, internal lengths, and coatings are not the same. Look it up.

Now, as e4b mentioned some of the Sony's are kind of different, and are known to have very fine IR capabilities right out of the box. Some models, the 7x7, V1, V3, 828, have a feature called "nightshot". without going into all of the details of what nightshot was originally intended for, and how to use it, just be aware that it makes these cameras very IR capable. In a nutshell, the nightshot mode, lifts the IR blocker from in front of the sensor. If you screw on an IR pass filter, you get the equivilent of a modded DSLR, .. almost. Nightshot was not intended to be used in daytime, and is limited to 1/60 sec and 2.0-2.3 aperture on my 717 and 1/30 sec on the Vs and 828. But usually the shutter speed is fast enough for handheld IR.

there are other issues to know about, but you can find it all on the web with google and in forums.

LulaLake moderates an IR forum on Yahoo. Check it out.

Hopefully this gives you a few of the basics.

If I can help further, please let me know. IR is kind of my passion.

-=- Jerry -=-
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[xseption]

Originally Posted by jerrykr

edd,

private message sent.

received ... thanks!

edd