Digital IR

iluvphotography · Oct 18, 2006

Is it true that if I wanna take IR photos with a digital camera, I have to get my camera converted to IR camera and I can only take IR photos with it... and nothing else?..

I only have one digital camera and at the moment I can't afford another one...

Peanuts · Oct 18, 2006

I will just quickly reply as a bump. I do believe you can use a filter and then in photoshop switch channel mixers or something along those lines.

Chiller and others will know

darich · Oct 18, 2006

I'm at work at the moment but i might have a photoshop action that converts images to IR at home. I say might, because i lost a lot of info on a recent crash.
If you PM me or email me it'll remind me to have a look.
Failing that, try using google - i think that's how i found it in the first place.
It's not as good as using a true IR camera or film but it's pretty good.
If i remember right, i sent a copy of the action to Ironflatline - you could try him aswell...if i can't find it i'll be back onto him!!

Arch · Oct 18, 2006

iluvphotography said:
Is it true that if I wanna take IR photos with a digital camera, I have to get my camera converted to IR camera and I can only take IR photos with it... and nothing else?..
I only have one digital camera and at the moment I can't afford another one...

It depends what camera your using.... but basically if you have a 350d or a D70 or summin, you can use the Hoya R72 filter without making any alterations to your camera.

You dont have to colour swap the channels.... you can just use the IR images from the custom wb setting or in b+w conversion.

However you can also get your sensor replaced with an IR one.... someone i know who bought a 30D decided to keep his 350d instead of selling it, and get it converted to an IR camera. This has benefits over using a filter, but you sure wouldn't want to do it if its your only cam!

rmh159 · Oct 18, 2006

What kind of camera are you using? I don't think an IR filter will work with ALL cameras but I could be wrong.

iluvphotography · Oct 18, 2006

My camera is Canon Digital Rebel.. I think it's one model before Rebel XT. So being kinda old maybe I won't be able to use it for IR...

newrmdmike · Oct 18, 2006

its not a sensor replace, its a high pass filter replace, its a piece of glass sitting on top of your sensor(dust gets here). you can see through the viewfinder fine since its not on the lens. also you can have it replace with just a piece of glass, which gives you a full spectrum camera, lots of csi's have cameras like that.

Digital Matt · Oct 18, 2006

You can use the digital rebel with a Hoya RM-72 filter and get excellent results. The only caveat is that the exposures will be much longer normal.

iluvphotography · Oct 18, 2006

Good Thanks...

Two questions: Where do I get the Hoya 72 filter from? I have checked all my local camera shop and they don't have it. Some of them didn't even know what it is :er:

How do I determine how long the exposure should be?? I have never tried but I think what I see on the screen is different than the processed finished product. Right?

JBLoudG20 · Oct 18, 2006

If you want Photoshop "IR" I found this action:
http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/TLRFauxInfrared.htm

Digital Matt · Oct 18, 2006

Check Adorama or B&H for the filter. Don't use it with the kit lens for your rebel. You'll get a large hotspot. Get a 50mm f/1.8, if you don't already have it, and use that. You'll need a 52mm filter then.

Exposures are trial and error. It's all going to depend on subject matter, and light. A good starting point is f/8 and 10 seconds. See what you get. Adjust from there. I like to shoot at f/8 or beyond to allow enough depth of field to cover the possible focus error. Infrared light focuses slightly different than visible light.

rmh159 · Oct 18, 2006

Digital Matt said:
... I like to shoot at f/8 or beyond to allow enough depth of field to cover the possible focus error. Infrared light focuses slightly different than visible light....

Yeah you'll definitely want to stick with a small aperture just because of the technique involved. The IR light focuses differently than normal light and you'll most likely be putting the filter on the lens after composing and focusing so there's a chance you might throw off the focus just a bit. So the smaller aperture will give you a bigger depth of field and be a bit more forgiving on the focusing if you're twitchy like the rest of us.

As for exposing the shots it's really trial an error. When I first started taking shots I thought I'd need part of the image to come back near white so ensure a wide tonal range but once I got the pic into the RAW converter software I realized I blew out the highlights. It's a guess but after doing it a few times you should be able to guess better. You can then bracket the shots from there once you have a good guess.

Adorama.com has a 52mm Hoya R72 for $30 a believe.

What's funny about the IR shots is that AFTER all of this effort to get a decent shot, I finally got a few that I was proud of, showed them to my wife to hear the response "It just looks like snow.". :er: