Digital Infrared photography

I have a Coolpix 995 I no longer use much and thinking of having it converted

for infrared photography. Has anyone else had any success doing this?

Mike,

This past week I purchased a "filter kit" for a Canon G2 from Life Pixel which also has instructions to convert a number of cameras including the Coolpix 995:

http://www.lifepixel.com/ir-tutorials/nikon-coolpix-995-digital-infrared-conversion-instructions.htm

 

When I purchased the kit, despite the way it was presented on their website, it does not include Small philips type screwdriver

- Tweezers

- Canned air

- Lens cleaning solution & tissue

- Grounding strap /w current limit resistor

 

all of which you need (and they are probably readily available.)

 

I had my brother in law, Steve, who has magnifying lens glasses, do the conversion, as he is also much more skilled and organized in working with small mechancial and electronic items. He did the conversion yesterday and I am very pleased. Previously I was shooting IR with with Hoya 72 filter with a higher resolution camera and IR required a tripod and it was difficult to see what my results would be. Now I can handhold the camera and see what I am going to get. I figured the G2 camera was pretty much worthless (given there were many subsequent generations of my camera -- a G3, G5, and G6), so I invested about $100 on the filter and now I have a camera that shoots IR. The things that I liked about the G2 is that it has a very good, fast f2 lens and the G2 shoots raw and I will have more flexibility in post processing than jpg (at least once I figure out what to do in PP).

 

I am NOT expert as I have only been shooting IR for only a short time with inconsistent and mixed results. I have not figured out what to do in post processing to get satisfying results. However with less than 24 hours since my conversion, I am excited about my initial photo's from my converted G2.

 

Good luck.

 

Howard

 

ps If you are not skilled in converting things, maybe you are lucky and have a brother-in-law Steve who can help you.

Here is what I do in post-processing IR images:

1) Desaturate

2) apply "pop"

3) use Levels to set the black and white point

4) use Curves to adjust tonality and apply S-curve for contrast

5) sharpen

6) if wanted, use Hue/Saturation in colorize mode for sepia etc. For sepia I use Hue 30, Saturation 17.

Frans,

 

Thanks for the PP tips. 2) What do you mean when you refer to "apply pop"?

 

Howard

"Pop" will give your image an extra boost in contrast in certain areas. It's hard to explain; you have to try it yourself. Here is how you apply it: unsharp mask, amount 30%, radius 60 pixels, threshold 10 levels.

No Desaturate. Use Channel Mixer. Then levels, etc, to taste.

Howard - there are no instructions for a G2 DIY conversion on that site. Did you just follow the G3 instructions? Also did you buy the G3 filter since there is also not a listing for a G2 DIY filter? I'm thinking about doing this, but wanted some clarification on exactly what you did and how you did it. Thanks a lot...

Using the channel mixer for infrared images doesn't work too well as most of the information is in the red channel. If you use the channel mixer and emphasize the red channel you increase the fuzzy infrared effect, but loose sharpness contributed by the green and blue channel; if you emphasize the blue channel, you get more sharpness, but loose much of the fuzzy infrared effect. Using Desaturate seems to work the best for me, hence my recommendation.

I just converted a Coolpix 5400 with a filter I bought from lifepixel...I did the conversion

myself and had no problems. It has been about a month and I am happy with the results.

Have fun.

Here is an example of a pic from the converted coolpix