Flipping a Canon 350D to A Fulltime Infrared Camera

<p>After four years of happy shooting, and many, many shutter clicks I decided that its time for my good old 350D to retire. Well, maybe not. The only part that is retiring is the hot mirror.</p>

<p>I’ve been trying to shoot infrared for a while now, without much success. I tied some filters and it was difficult to get anything close to an IR Photo. It is my understanding that by removing the hot mirror in front of the sensor and installing an IR filter, my old dream of seeing the world in a new way may be achieved. And at lifepixel.com I can get it done for about 450 USD+TAX.</p>

<p>I have got some questions for those who have experience with IR photography.</p>

<p>1- Is lifepixel.com really the best deal out there? Anyone tried their services and have some feedback for me? Anyone tried something else?</p>

<p>2- They have some different types of IR filters for different effects (Standard, Enhanced, Super Color, and Deep IR filters). I am interested in the Super Color IR filter for its super surreal results, yet, sometimes I would love to have that authentic B&W IR look, Is that achievable and manageable when using the Super IR filter? Do you think it’s safer to go for the Enhanced Color IR filter that stand in-between these two and have bits of both worlds? It would be great if you have some photos to share with us.</p>

<p>3- It’s my understanding that there will be focusing issues here because each lens diffracts infrared light differently. That’s why lifepixel.com calibrates to the 50mm f1.8 lens, or for an extra 125 USD I can send any of my lenses and have it calibrated to that desired lens. Can I get away without this calibration? I have a 24-70 f2.8 lens with IR scale, can I use that instead?</p>

<p>4- I am interested in astronomical photography. Anybody tried shooting night skies with one of these filters, can you share your results.</p>

<p>5- Anyone tried nighttime architectural photography with an IR filter; I would love to see your results.</p>

<p>I appreciate your all thoughts and ideas in advance. Don’t forget to hare you photos with me.<br>

Wish me luck.<br>

Cheers. </p>

 

<p>1-There are a couple of other companies that offer the IR modification: precision camera:<br /><a href="http://www.precisioncamera.com/infrared-conversion-services.html">http://www.precisioncamera.com/infrared-conversion-services.html</a><br />and maxmax:<br /><a href="http://www.maxmax.com/">http://www.maxmax.com/</a><br />So far as I'm aware, they are better reputed than lifepixel in terms of their conversion work.</p>

<p>2-Super Color IR filter is actually not a genuine IR-cut filter. It is more like a red filter. If you want to shoot in deeper IR range using the camera with Super Color IR filter, you can simply put another IR filter onto the lens. It is as simple as that.</p>

<p>3-The amount of focusing compensation depends on the wavelength. The deeper the IR, the more the amount of compensation. For example, when you shoot with IR filter that cuts 900nm and above, you will have to compensate about twice as much as the amount indicated by the "IR marks" on many old manual focus lenses. The amount of compensation also depends on the focal length and the optical design.</p>

<p>Another big issue you should be aware of is the "hot spot", the translucent (or, in the worst case, completely white) circular disc with diffused edge that appears in the center of the frame in different size, depending on the lens. There is no way to tell whether a particular sample will cause the hot spot or not. You need to shoot images with the sample.</p>

<p>Here is a sample of my most successful IR images. Nikon D40 (unmodified), Nikkor 28/3.5, 900nm filter (totally opaque to human eyes).</p><div></div>

<p>I'm not much help since I'm not in the past tense, yet, but I'm sending my old 5D in to maxmax for deep (830 nm and longer) IR conversion next week. I don't know which is the better deal or which does the better job. Looking at Lifepixel's site, it seems that it's not rocket science, but that I'd still rather pay someone to do it. Lifepixel's idea of calibrating to a specific lens sounds good: maxmax readjusts AF to do the right thing for IR, but there may be lens to lens differences. Note that some lenses have "hot spots" with IR: the center is much brighter than the edges. If you can find discussions on the net of which APS-C lenses work best for IR, I'd think getting one of those and sending it in would be worth it. I'd prefer a generic APS-C standard zoom to the 24-70, but that's because I like wide (I'll probably just leave my 17-40 on the IR 5D all the time).</p>

<p>FWIW, I tried putting an IR filter on the 5D, but between no viewfinder, increadibly long exposures, and the blue and green channels being horrifically ugly (noisy), it just wasn't worth it. So I'm quite enthused about deep IR conversion, since it should solve all three isses.</p>

 

<p>David & Akira, thank you both for your insightful replies. <br>

Akira, 3 quick questions please: </p>

<p>1- Do you think I can obtain decent results if I use #87C Kodak Wratten IR without modifying my 350D? <br>

<a href="http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productid=1493">http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productid=1493</a><br>

how about the IR Pass 850nm from link delight at<br>

<a href="http://www.linkdelight.com/Infrared/77mm-Infrared-IR-Pass-850nm-Glass-Filter-for-Camera-Lens/Detailed-product-flyer.html?keyword=ir+77mm">http://www.linkdelight.com/Infrared/77mm-Infrared-IR-Pass-850nm-Glass-Filter-for-Camera-Lens/Detailed-product-flyer.html?keyword=ir+77mm</a><br>

2- If you have to chose between LifePixel, Precision Camera, or Maxmax for IR convesion, which one would it be?<br>

3- Do you think I should trade my 350D with the 20D since the latter suffered from IR contamination? maybe one of these filters would work with the 20D. </p>

<p>You see that I am really serious about IR photography this time and I have about 600 USD for this project, I just want to do it right and get the best results possible. <br>

Thank you for your help and advise.<br>

P.S if you can send me the RAW file for the image above then that would be very generous of you. my e-mail is heideralward@gmail.com </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Heider, I peeked at your portfolio and you have some really great shots there. I think you would really benefit from having your Rebel converted....I tried shooting IR with an unmodified D80 for a while...and it was frustrating. I had to really crank up the ISO - and deal with the resulting noise - and was still getting really long exposures. Any foliage would blur unless there was absolutely no wind... and of course I had to compose before putting the filter on. I got much better (and easier) results after having the D80 converted.</p>

<p>I had that first conversion done by <a href="http://jimchenphoto.com/">Jim Chen</a> in California. He was less expensive than some of the other options and did a good job, but didn't adjust the autofocus on the D80. I got by shooting at f/8 or f/11 most of the time without making any focus adjustments.</p>

<p>I recently switched to a full-frame Canon and got an old 5d converted by <a href="http://spencerscamera.com/default.aspx">Spencers Camera</a>. They calibrated my autofocus to work with my 17-40 f/4 and seemed to do a good job of it...though I haven't used that lens much since the conversion. I would definitely check out their site as they have some info on conversions done specifically for astrophotography. The downside with Spencer's was that they originally returned my camera with a very dusty sensor despite the fact that they advertise doing their conversions in a very clean environment. I sent the camera back to them and they cleaned it up for me at no charge, but it took a while to get the camera back. It's fine now.</p>

<p>I hope that helps.</p>

<p>Jonathan, Thank you so much for your input and kind words. Your portfolio looks great too with some outstanding IR shots. I added you to my list and I will revisit your pages every once in a while. Thank you for your feedback, helpful indeed. I will definitely check out these two options and I may have some questions for you.<br>

If you have choose between Jim Chen & Spencers Camera which one would it be?<br>

Cheers</p>

 

<p>Thank you too, Heider. I'm sure you're come up with some great stuff with your 'new' camera.<br>

If I had to choose between the two I would go with Spencers over Jim Chen...apparently Spencers runs a real camera repair business where as Jim is just one guy doing conversions on the side. That's why I chose to pay a bit more with Spencers when I had the 5d done. It was frustrating, however, when they returned the camera with a really dirty sensor....I don't want to badmouth them because they did make things right, but it took quite a while. I was without my camera for at least a month and a half.</p>

<p>I'm not sure what Spencers will charge to convert a Rebel...I think it may be less than the $400 I paid for my 5d. If the prices were equal, however, and I had to do another conversion, I would seriously consider Lifepixel or Maxmax as well. I haven't researched those guys much, but given the trouble I had with Spencers I would consider them.</p>

<p>Oh, and check out the astrophotography section on the Spencers website. I don't know if other conversion services offer something similar.</p>

<p>Heider,<br />1-One of the major and relatively popular problems of the digicams had been IR contamination that caused brownish hue, for example, on the black or green fabrics. Canon solved this problem earlier than Nikon. Nikon D40 still suffered from the IR contamination to some extent and that's why it could be used for IR, although it required long shutter speeds like 10s (at f8) )for my image posted above, which was enough for casual experiments. Unfortunately (yes, for this purpose), Canon 350D doesn't suffer from the IR contamination and thus it would not be practical to try to shoot in IR without modification, especially with the dense IR filter like Wratten 87C. Same thing with IR850 which is even a little denser than Wratten 87C whose cut-off is around 840nm.<br />2-I'm afraid I cannot answer this question from my own experience, but a friend of mine had his Nikon D200 modified by maxmax and is very satisfied with their job. The reason I looked at Precision Camera is that this is the only company I know who offers the conversion of Panasonic G1 that I currently use.<br />3-Again, I'm afraid I cannot give you any definite answer. I'm more familiar with Nikon. D20 is much earlier model than 350D, so maybe, but I'm pretty sure that 350D is much less noisier, which is a big benefit when processing the raw files.<br />Hope this helps.<br />P.S.<br />The original raw file of the image above is about 8.7MB. I'm not sure if both of our system would allow to transfer the attachment of this size. I'll try.</p>

<p>Jonathan & Akira, Thank you so much for your time. That was really helpful. I will spend this week doing more research and hopefully I will make up my mind by the end of this month. Very thankful to you guys. <br>

Take care. <br>

P.S. Akira, is this you website? www.akiraimages.com </p>

 

<p>Heider, you are welcome. The website is not mine although the owner's name is the same as mine! Wow!</p>

<p>Akira,<br>

Your advice and thoughts helped me to come along way since I started my search last week. You've been really very helpful and I am so grateful to you. <br>

So, it looks like a decision has been made... <br>

I think I am going to send it to LDP maxmax.com for either the 590nm or 665nm because I like faux colors. For deeper more authentic B&W look I am planing to use a 720nm or 860nm filter on the lens.(or maybe fake it in Photoshop). What do you Think?<br>

One more thing, Is there an opaque 720 or 860 filter?<br>

Again Thank you for your ideas. The RAW file was great and helped me a lot. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>David Littleboy, Please let me know your impression once you receive your camera, I hope all will go well for you.Wish you happy creative shooting. </p>

 

<p>Jonathan, Thanks for your advice regarding Spencers and Jim Chen. Your ideas helped me making up my mind.</p>

 

<p>Heider, my 830 nm fixed 5D arrived today, and I took it out for a spin.<br>

<a href="http://www.pbase.com/davidjl/image/127605666/large">http://www.pbase.com/davidjl/image/127605666/large</a><br>

The skies today are a yucky pale cyan, so this is actually quite nice. And the detail and textures in the Portland pagoda are tasty (click original to see a big image).<br>

<a href="http://www.pbase.com/davidjl/image/127605673/large">http://www.pbase.com/davidjl/image/127605673/large</a><br>

This one is a two-image panorama. It doesn't look very IR, though. Sigh. (This was Automerged in CS5 with the auto setting. CS5 choked trying to do a perspective merge, and this is very close to a cylindrical projection.)<br>

These were converted in LR 3.0, simply by leaving the WB as "As Shot" and clicking B&W. The R, G, and B, channels are essentially identical except for exposure, and clicking with the WB eyedropper produces an even gray across the whole frame.<br>

The contrast in most images is extremely low out of the camera, and even cranking the contrast slider up to 100 isn't enough. (Increasing blacks and brightness gets it where I want it, though.)</p>

This thread has very useful information, thanks to all. Pl advise me also.1

 

I have read thoroghly on many website and found that compact cameras are better and easier to convert and use for infrared photography. As there will not be much focussing error.

Can you suggest which compact camera shud I buy or convert which has maximum wide, EVF and high resolution.

Panasonic LX3/5 and Canon G series are good but no EVF. In daylight it is not possible to screen properly.