40D + Liveview + IR = woohoo

bovril

I was messing around yesterday and remembered something Seb said about how he could see through his IR Filter with Liveview on an Olympus model. I decided to try it out myself on the 40D and low and behold you can see with the filter attached. If it's bright enough you can also focus better using the Liveview screen (before I would have either focused on infinity or sometimes even bracketed focus).

Now I need to work out how to put the leaves back on the trees.

elven

Hah, it's not just a gimmick

You'll be waiting patiently for spring then...?

helios

Lets see a few pics

bovril

I would have been none the wiser still had Al not switched it on for me in Charleville.

Hoping to catch some leaves on trees in OZ and NZ early next year before the Irish spring

bovril

helios wrote: »

Lets see a few pics

They're on my flickr, no amount of messing with channels could give me the lovely blues as in my other IR shots. Instead I went for a kinda grey blue mix. I think this must be to do with the strength of the sun (or maybe my exposure, I will need to play more with that). I could do with more leaves on the trees etc, autumn/winter is not the best time for IR shots in this country!

Fenster

So I gather that live view makes life easier. Fear not! I shall exstablish a splinter group of orthodox infrared photographers who, you know, do it the hard way.

I had a look at your pictures; the composition in them is excellent - particularly in this one.

I agree with you on the colours though.

I usually take a custom white balance reading from some grass in direct sunshine and work from there. If you're shooting raw, you can also get the same effect if you dial the WB down to 2850 in your conversion tool, although the base WB of the picture and also the brightness will affect how it comes out.

EDIT: Broody days make for really dramatic skies. If you have good light and dial down your aperture and get some really dramatic cloud movement in your photo.

bovril

Cheers for the tips Fenster. I shall experiment more.

Rojo

oh that could make things nice and handy!!

Rob_T

Just took delivery of my 40D yesterday and already love the Live view. Still only playing with it to discover its hidden features but wow. Love the IR pics too btw.

narrowfeather

I am considering buying a modified 40D. It would have the rear IR filter replaced with a clear glass filter to pass UV/visible/IR wavelengths so I can just use screw-in lens filters to change from UV/visible/IR. But I want to be SURE that Live View will work with a visible light blocking filter on the end of the lens. So I can compose/focus & meter with Live View while a visible light blocking, IR PASS filter is on the lens? This would be awesome.

narrowfeather

Bovril, did you take those GORGEOUS IR shots through your IR filter? Or is your camera modified for IR? Love the shots, especially Killarney. That place is so beautiful, haven't been there in years.

(Yes, I'm American. No, I actually feel the same way you do about our President. Yes, I am embarrassed and ashamed and we are all counting the days until he is gone and we can try to become a civilized nation again.)

floydmoon1

how do you get this effect with these pics.is it just sticking an ir filter on my lens.what is liveview.

Fenster

narrowfeather wrote: »

(Yes, I'm American. No, I actually feel the same way you do about our President. Yes, I am embarrassed and ashamed and we are all counting the days until he is gone and we can try to become a civilized nation again.)

That's random...

bovril

narrowfeather wrote: »

Bovril, did you take those GORGEOUS IR shots through your IR filter? Or is your camera modified for IR? Love the shots, especially Killarney. That place is so beautiful, haven't been there in years.

All the IR shots are taken either with my 350D or my 40D (not modified in anyway) with a 50mm 1.8 and Hoya R72 filter and a tripod is a must too.


floydmoon1 : - liveview is a way to see what the camera sees on the view screen on the back without having to look through the view finder. If your camera does not have liveview and you screw in the IR filter you cannot see anything through the viewfinder so you must compose your shot before you put the filter on. You usually have to manually focus on infinity and try a combination of exposures to get a shot that works. With liveview you have the ability to see the shot in the back screen of the camera when the filter is on the camera therefore helping with composition and also with focus.

Hope this helps

floydmoon1

i have a canon eos 350d.dont think it has liveview.must buy an ir filter,any good online retailers u would recommend

bovril

350D doesn't have live view.

I bought off ebay. I can't remember who I got my 50mm lens IR filter from but I recently ordered one from Chinaarts (address in main sticky for photo resources) for my 17-85. It has yet to arrive.

narrowfeather

Awesome work! I have to get an IR pass filter and try some with my 30D. I am amazed that the built-in IR filter still allows enough through to make exposures. Now it makes sense.

Just to clarify, with your unmodified 40D, you can focus compose & meter through Live View? Is that correct? Or, I guess compose & kinda focus. I'm not sure how Live View gets around the IR filter or if Its just that it can see the IR that gets through.

Thanks again.

bovril

narrowfeather wrote: »

Just to clarify, with your unmodified 40D, you can focus compose & meter through Live View? Is that correct? Or, I guess compose & kinda focus. I'm not sure how Live View gets around the IR filter or if Its just that it can see the IR that gets through.

Compose & kinda focus is what you can do. The focus is manually adjusted so without liveview you'd have to focus on infinity and hope that works or else bracket focus. With liveview I you can make a better attempt at focusing.

It is worth noting that you should check the lens you wish to use against a list on the net for ones that produce hotspots. Here is one I found first on google this morning but there are lots out there

http://www.lensplay.com/lenses/lens_infra_red_IR.html

narrowfeather

You are the best!

narrowfeather

I just checked the list and ALL 5 of my lenses are on the no good list excepting one, which is on neither! Grrr.

bovril

The cheapest lens you can pick up that will work with IR is the 50mm 1.8 and it's a super lens for low light and portraits aswell. There are very few Canon users on here without one of these. Well worth the money. It has a small filter size too so the IR filter will be cheaper. IR filters tend to get very expensive the larger the filter size.