Sunday, March 11, 2012

The (Forgotten) Fun of Infrared Photography

Ontario Place in False Colours of Infrared
Ontario Place in False IR Colours -- Canon 20D IR Modified & Pentax-M 20mm f4

While importing my old pictures into Lightroom, I realized how few picture I took using the IR modified Canon 20D, and almost none for the whole year of 2011, and I really should be using it more.  Why?  Because it's fun! The IR filter used in my 20D does not completely fall into the infrared spectrum.  There are still some visible spectrum that go through the filter.  I love the mix of visible light and Infrared, because of the weird colours you can get, whereas a true infrared filter will give you only infrared pictures (B&W).  When the weather turns warmer, and the vegetation comes back, I will sure be out there more often with this camera this year.

3 comments:

  1. Initially I wanted to modify a digicam to become a light meter for IR film in my 35mm camera, but now I'm pondering just having an IR modded high quality digital camera.

    The problem is that shinny sensor surface causes all manner of 'hot spots' with various lens / camera combinations. great shot btw

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Although I have not tried too many lenses on the modified 20D, the ones I used all seemed to work well without hot spots. I think hot spots is only a problem with using only IR filters which causes very long exposures. The modified camera is essentially camera operate at "normal" light sensitivity, but of course all depends on how much IR light the scene has. The built-in meter is not really accurate anymore.

      Delete
  2. I agree with your post. One of the projects on my "to do" list is to remove the Low-Pass Filter (Hot Filter) over the imaging sensor of a Pentax istD and replace it with a Hoya 720nm infrared filter (cut to size). I have the camera and the filter, along with complete disassembly instructions (Pentax istD) so now I just need to find the time to perform the "operation".

    ReplyDelete