Infra red photography

Auraomega · 30 Sep 2012 at 17:16

Infra red photography is something that's interested me for quite some time so I've decided to go ahead and ir-up a camera

Here's the victim, a D50!

A customer brought it into the shop to get it fixed, the repair not economical it was just left to rot, so like so many cameras before it I took it home to have a play (yes... this is my third attempt).

And here are the tools:

Fortunately it didn't take long to get to the sensor, the only annoying part was trying to remove the solder on the shield, my solder sucker wasn't quite thin enough!

Sensor!

Rather than replace the IR filter with a visible light (R72) filter, I just removed it and will attach a filter to the lens, it makes my life a lot easier and it's a hell of a lot cheaper to boot!

Here's a quick example out of the window to confirm everything is working:

Yay!

Hopefully I'm not too late in the season to get some good shots, I'll try my luck at sunset/sunrise if the weather holds up and post results.

englishpremier · 30 Sep 2012 at 17:31

What's the advantage of modding the camera as oppose to just using an IR filter?

Auraomega · 30 Sep 2012 at 17:43

With a R72 on the front of a non-modded camera you're blocking out visible light and infra red, so you're shutter speeds are up in the 20-30 second range (on a weak filtered body) to get any light through at all, removing the infra red filter and putting an R72 in it's place allows you to use normal shutter speeds to get the same effect. I can hand hold the camera, but more importantly, use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze trees in the wind, something you can't hope to achieve without a modded body.

(Also night time photography, but that's another matter).

Phate · 30 Sep 2012 at 18:00

Johnny did this (lucid_composure) a few years back on a 350D. The results were good. Although he sold it after a while!

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 30 Sep 2012 at 22:14

Yeah I sold it because quite frankly the 350D is a bloody poor camera to use. I'll do this again to my 40D down the line.

englishpremier · 30 Sep 2012 at 22:37

Was planning a filter for my D50, as it's my only camera I can't mod it.

I guess if you mod your camera then you get regular shutter speeds, so you're out of luck if you want to take any images where you'd ordinarily need a ND filter. I guess it goes both ways.

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 30 Sep 2012 at 23:01

You get the same exposure times as shooting typical UV subjects. The problem is you can't get that typical motion in the bushes and skies... But the pros out weight the cons because you can always do traditional IR with your main camera.

Auraomega · 30 Sep 2012 at 23:20

You could just pop an ND on to an ir converted camera to get the slow shutter speeds, although considering that that's usually for water and skyscapes I struggle to see the reason for using it for an ir photo that said I'm sure given the right situation it could come in handy.

The D50 has a dodgy shutter so it won't last forever (although strangely it hasn't once jammed since removing the sensor). I also have a G1 converted (faulty memory card slot, still works though), I have to admit that using a M4/3 system is much easier as you get ir focusing and you can see exactly what you'll get at the end even down to white balance... I just don't have a lens and the F-M4/3 adaptors I've found won't focus to infinity with anything under 100mm :rolleyes: