IR filter on DSLRs?

[AUZambo]

I've been interested in infrared photography for a little over a year and was thinking about putting an IR filter for my Sony A100 (67mm fliter) on my x-mas list. As I looked around B&H's site it appears that you not only need the filter, but also a special infrared film.

After doing a quick search, I see that DSLRs have a special filter between the lens & the sensor to block infrared light...and I definitely don't want to do away with this until I have butt-loads of money to afford buying a second DSLR and turning the old DSLR into strictly an IR-DSLR. What affect will the screw on IR filter have if I don't remove the IR filter in the camera body?

Thanks!

 

[andrew99]

My understanding is that the IR filter that's built over the sensor does not block 100% of IR, so it is possible to do IR photography with an un-modified DSLR. You will need a filter to screw on your lens which blocks the visible light but allows IR, and then use very long exposure times to get a proper IR exposure. Of course, with long exposure times comes the problems of digital noise and subject motion blur. To get the best quality, and for normal shutter speeds, you need to have your camera modified to remove the internal IR filter.

 

[chrisburke]

i dont know much about IR photography.. I find it quite neat though.. I know that with photoshop you can have your pictures looking like IR in about 5 minutes.. and they look great... you do have you shoot in RAW for it though... heres a video I found recently

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKoFFKJ14ZE[/ame]

 

[FlyingFly]

It does create IR effection even if you were not going to modify your camera body. However it would take quite a long time for exposure (maybe several minutes or even longer under sunlight), because most of the IR light will be filtered out by the IR-off filter upon CCD/CMOS sensor. Thus you have to set your camera on a tripod and you can only shoot stationary subjects.

If you remove the IR-off filter, the exposure time will greatly shorten. This helps reduce thermal noises on picture.

In both way, you have to use a tripod, because the screw-in IR-pass filter on lens blocks most of the visible light and you could see almost nothing but black from the viewfinder. Thus you have to firstly remove the screw-in IR-pass filter from lens, decide the composition, apply auto (or manual) focus and manually calibrate focus point for IR compensation. After that, screw in the IR-pass filter on you lens and start exposure.

Instead, if you could remove the IR-off filter upon CCD/CMOS sensor and replace it with an IR-pass filter (it's a little easier for Sigma SD series DSLR than other brand of DSLRs), you could shoot IR photos without an IR-pass filter on lens. In this way, viewfinder is in normal brightness and you can use it in the same way you using a normal camera. However you shall not apply that on your only DSLR.

 

[rubbertree]

I have not done it myself but have read you can use a filter, Hoya R72 is recommened, to take the images and then they need to be PP in photoshop or similar.

 

[ann]

depending on which camera you are using will depend on the length of exposure.
for example i have a d100 and use a wratten 89 IR filter. the times run about 10 seconds on a bright sunny day with an iso of 200. However, once the filter is in place one can no longer see the image .
the file is a magenta and needs to be converted with an editing program.
this conversion can be in black and white, or color depends on what you want.


on the other hand i have a fuji that has been converted for IR use. Even with the conversion it uses a filter; however, the times are short and so the camera can not only be handheld but one can see what your shooting. ALso, if you want to take "normal" images you just change the lens filter.

there are plug ins that are suppose to give the IR look but i have found for me they leave a lot to be desired.

digital IR and film IR certainly have a different look and i find it interesting that people talk about the noise with digtial when in fact, with film, it is the grain as well as the shifts in tones that series workers love.

different strokes for different folks.

 

[Michaelintraining]

I stumbled upon this. Now i want to get into it :L
Thanks dude (Y)

 

[ann]

it is very cool stuff and can be addicting as if photography isn't anyway LOL

 

[Josh66]

I've been interested in infrared photography for a little over a year and was thinking about putting an IR filter for my Sony A100 (67mm fliter) on my x-mas list. As I looked around B&H's site it appears that you not only need the filter, but also a special infrared film.

You don't have to worry about this for your a100...



Some cameras are better at IR than others (un-modified). The differences are because of the differences in the effectiveness of the IR blocking filter on top of the sensor (some are better at blocking IR).

Not sure on other cameras, but on the 350D (what I have) using a B+W 093 (87C) IR filter exposure times are (typically, for me) between 10 and 30 seconds in bright sunlight.