Infrared on a digital P&S

[[JR]]

I've read a few guides on IR photography... and I would really like to get into it, but apparently I need something like a Hoya R72 IR filter. Now, is there anything such for, say, an Olympus SP510UZ? Or am I going to have to improvise with mounting the filter on the lens?

 

[Big Mike]

Does your camera/lens have female thread on the front? If not, some cameras have an adapter which allows for screw mount filters to be attached.

 

[[JR]]

Nah. But they sell polarizing filters for that camera, I think they simply slide on or something.

 

[Tasmaster]

Holding my R72 on my SE k810i with my hand works fine :mrgreen:. You could make a custom filter if there isn't one compatible with your camera, but the cheapest way i think would be to get a regular threaded filter of a suitable size and just improvise with mounting. Do have a look around before doing that.

 

[ann]

there are companies that have converted point and shoot IR cameras.

check out maxmax for one

 

[[JR]]

Holding my R72 on my SE k810i with my hand works fine :mrgreen:. You could make a custom filter if there isn't one compatible with your camera, but the cheapest way i think would be to get a regular threaded filter of a suitable size and just improvise with mounting. Do have a look around before doing that.

This is probably what I'm going to do. :thumbup:

 

[Garbz]

Improvise. Dad's P&S camera takes better IR pics than my D200.

 

[MichaelT]

CCD's are very sensitive to IR light, so most digital cameras have a IR elimination filter layered over the CCD so IR light won't mess up the image. You either need to have it removed, or find a camera that doesn't have it to begin with. (very rare)

I found one company that replaces the IR elimination filter with a standard IR filter.

http://maxmax.com/

IR also focuses at a different point than visible light, so you need to know the focus point offset.

 

[[JR]]

Actually if you can live with the long exposure time it doesn't really matter. I'm patient.

 

[Tasmaster]

Improvise. Dad's P&S camera takes better IR pics than my D200.

That's probably because the D200's IR cut-off filter is a lot better .

You can take fine handheld shots with an R72 on a D40, a D70, and i'd guess (remember, this is just a guess) most DSLRs below the D200's range, also all P&S cameras.

 

[Garbz]

Actually price had nothing to do with IR quality the low pass filter is matched to the sensor no more. The D200 has a very VERY strong low-pass filter, whereas the Nikon D2x and Canon 40D do not.

MichaelT the point I was trying to make is that in a P&S camera the low-pass filter is crap making it much more suitable to IR photography than the D200 (which still takes good IR pictures with a tripod even without the expensive and damaging conversion)