infra red conversion...

sunny2004

There was a company in cork offering permanent conversions on cameras to infra red, but for the life of me I cant remember who it was, or any other options ?

melekalikimaka

diy is pretty sinples, some cameras are alot better suited than others tho, a cheap d50 works a treat by all accounts, its a pretty simple process from my wee research into it

sunny2004

Cheers, but I am not sure I am up to doing it myself... then again, who knows lol

melekalikimaka

http://www.advancedcameraservices.co.uk/Specialist_UV_IR_cameras/IR.htm

uk company prices, ridiculous, maybe get a few people in on it and do it yourselves, I'm half tempted...

sunny2004

I am understandign the process correctly, they are putting a filter into the camera body ?

As in just replacing the use of an external filter ?
or am I getting this wrong ???

melekalikimaka

need filter too

sunny2004

ok, they remove the filter that blocks IR from inside the camera ?
MAking the exposures shorter ?
am I on the right path here ?

melekalikimaka

sunny2004 wrote: »

ok, they remove the filter that blocks IR from inside the camera ?
MAking the exposures shorter ?
am I on the right path here ?

yup in a nut shell, gives you closer to normal exposure times. I think...

CabanSail

They remove the IR filter over the Sensor. They then replace this with either a different filter (allowing more IR but reducing visible light) or a piece of glass which allows the full spectrum to pass.

The shots with the filter come out looking like monochrome. The full spectrum ones have colour data. I think you can then put the IR filter on the lens to get the classic look.

sunny2004

Its the classic black and white I am after..
I like the idea of having shorter exposures..

zerohamster

Just a few things to note with IR conversions.

1. You have to replace the glass filter with another of the same thickness
(some models have a thicker /thinner low pass filter) whether you are replacing it will a full spectrum filter or visible light blocking filter (the latter for IR conversion).
If the filter was simply removed then the light would not be focused on the sensor correctly which is why you must get the same thickness.

2. Shots will not come out black and white, they will be various shades of red with the visible light blocking filter if you have a visible light blocking filter that lets only IR in.
The full spectrum filter will take shots as normal but with an odd magenta tint and other effects to objects giving out a lot of IR light so you would need to use the respective filter on a lens to get either IR or normal visible light shots where AF would not work for IR.
The shot will mainly be in the red channel but also some in blue and green with a visible light blocking filter as the red channel is closest in wavelength to IR.
There is a good amount of processing involved (well some) for IR shots but you can also of course select custom WB or just select the B&W mode in the camera if you don't want to do much on the pp side of things.

3. Shots will have a slightly longer duration than they would with a normal visible light shot but you will be able to take photos handheld for the most part and the camera will meter correctly when the filter is one that replaces the low pass filter.

4. If replacing the low pass filter AF will work but as there is no filter over the AF sensor it will be focusing on the visible light focus point and not the IR one. The AF would not however work if there was a lens filter instead of the sensor based filter.
Some lenses have an IR focus point marked but most don't as this was for the use of IR film.
Some places will not change AF to be accurate to the new focus point and others will.
The focus calibration requires either shimming the sensor/AF sensor or software telling AF to compensate, either way stopping the lens down or finding the lens IR focussing point will remedy this if using manual focus compensation after AF has done it's job.

I can give you more details on the conversion and may be able to help you also.
What model camera do you want to convert?

sunny2004

Cheers man, will drop you a pm..