Converting a DSLR to Full Specturm (Infrared)

corsair2014

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After recently acquiring an old Nikon D70s, I decided to delve into the world of infra-red photography.

Last year i experimented with putting an IR pass filter on my Sony a6000 kit lens and doing 30s shutters to see what IR only light looked like. As you can expect, the results were underwhelming and grain/sensor noise was pretty bad. The results were unusable.

On my D70s however, I removed the IR cut filter from in front of the sensor. Now the sensor sees the regular (visible) light spectrum as well as the infra-red spectrum. This gives a very unique look to landscape photos etc as the regular colors are mixed with the infrared light information. If you want pure IR photography, you can simply put an IR pass filter (cuts out visible light and lets through IR) and you will have pure IR light passing to the sensor.

Here is my short video tutorial on how to convert your Nikon D70s and possibly other cameras to IR sensitive. In the coming weeks i will be posting sample photos as well as videos about post processing of IR photos and my other adventures/findings in this new (for me) area of the hobby. Please leave feedback and discussion below

 
Nicely done, though ideally you should replace the IR cut filter with a similarly sized piece of glass or quartz (quartz if you want to maximize UV sensitivity). This will help to maintain focus.
I was too chicken to attempt my own conversion, so brought a pre-converted mirrorless camera, the EVF being very useful when a IR filter is fitted to the lens...

My full spectrum shots tend to look less radically different than your example. though many colours change noticeably from the influence of the IR. I suppose he difference may just be down to less IR being present in the UK!

View from Carnasserie castle_stitch small by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

Full Spectrum grid by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

This second one was on an overcast day but the teams clothing was black not brown.
 
Petrochemist, you're right the glass filter would help. However, I haven't noticed a focus shift all the time... sometimes my focus indeed seems to be slightly off, and other times it seems to work fine... not sure what all factors in here, alot of it could be to do with the fact that the D70s had been known to have focus issues from the start haha.

Check out this sunset shot (full spectrum) I captured last night. First is the original color, and below is the edited. Trying to learn how to edit my full spectrum photos, as there really aren't tutorials for 'full spectrum', just pure 'IR'. Maybe i'll pick up an IR pass filter soon and try it out... I have an old (tiny) one for my sony a6000 kit lens i could hold in front of the camera haha

Original: Infrared Sunset ORIGINAL by Colton Campbell, on Flickr


Edited: Infrared Sunset EDITED by Colton Campbell, on Flickr



edit: figured out the bbcode URL posting for photos :D
 
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How are you dealing with the focus shift? I had a D200 with the cut filter removed and focus was very tough without having live view. Here are a few samples of what I got.. Never really got into it.. https://flic.kr/s/aHsjxVxxFT
 
How are you dealing with the focus shift? I had a D200 with the cut filter removed and focus was very tough without having live view. Here are a few samples of what I got.. Never really got into it.. https://flic.kr/s/aHsjxVxxFT

Haven't done much to fix focus shift yet... as i haven't seen a big problem. The only problem i have is that it focuses on the closest object and i can't set the middle focus point, even though i've changed focus modes.

Your pics look great!! What filter were you using? I just discovered a 750nm IR filter in my camera bag and tried it out today. It yields results only usable in black and what it seems, as EVERYTHING is red and it allows 0 regular light to enter. Here is an example of before and after.

Pure IR Before by Colton Campbell, on Flickr

Pure IR After-B&W conversion by Colton Campbell, on Flickr
 
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Your pics look great!! What filter were you using? I just discovered a 750nm IR filter in my camera bag and tried it out today. It yields results only usable in black and what it seems, as EVERYTHING is red and it allows 0 regular light to enter.

That looks fairly typical for a 7xx nm filter. With the right CWB traces of colour can often be found but probably not in landscapes.

You might find it interesting to play with normal filters. Most standard photography filters transmit IR quite well. So a variable ND can be used to adjust the balance of IR & visible, blue filters will give a blue sky while increasing the IR look, red & orange filters are used for high colour IR conversions...
 
Your pics look great!! What filter were you using? I just discovered a 750nm IR filter in my camera bag and tried it out today. It yields results only usable in black and what it seems, as EVERYTHING is red and it allows 0 regular light to enter.

That looks fairly typical for a 7xx nm filter. With the right CWB traces of colour can often be found but probably not in landscapes.

You might find it interesting to play with normal filters. Most standard photography filters transmit IR quite well. So a variable ND can be used to adjust the balance of IR & visible, blue filters will give a blue sky while increasing the IR look, red & orange filters are used for high colour IR conversions...


This is great information, thankyou! I will have to look into some different filters.
 
This is great information, thankyou! I will have to look into some different filters.

I don't know if it will help but I've measure the transmission spectra of a load of my filters & put a crude version of the results on line at an infra-red forum (Taking advantage of hardware at work). The results can be found at Transmission spectra of various filters | Global Infrared Photography Village

Some are standard photo filters, some astro filters, some IR filters & some technical glasses. There are also a few added from web based data where I've yet to buy an example to play with myself (or wish to mimic at a more affordable cost).
 

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