Infrared Picture Set with Pentax-M 20mm f4

For some reason, I have been itching to bring out the Infrared modified camera and shoot some IR pictures. The weather has been finally cooperating, and I took this opportunity to try an autofocus lens with the 20D. It's a known fact that IR spectrum affects the focus point; most camera's AF system are calibrated for visible light and if you take a picture with the default AF, the picture will come out blurry. For this reason, AF lenses are not very good for IR work, as you would always have to focus it abit behind the indicated focused point. For lenses with USM that support full time manual focus, this is much easier, but still, it's hard to know the exact amount of focus shift you need to do in order to attain critical focus.

I tried the Canon 16-35mm f2.8L II lens today with various degrees of success. For starters, this lens is not a good lens for IR. It has a large hot spot in the centre of the frame, even when there is no stray light hitting the lens. Almost all Canon USM lenses allow you to focus beyond infinity, and that's what is needed to achieve infinity focus for IR. Most pictures turned out to be in focus when the lens was set beyond infinity to the maximum allowed. This is good for pictures that focus to infinity, but not too good if the focus distance is closer. Some experiment is required. This is the reason I like using manual focus lenses, especially the Pentax-M 20mm f4, for IR. When set to infinity, everything is pin sharp from a couple meters away at small apertures.

Redpath Sugar Refinery in IR - Canon 20D IR & Pentax-M 20mm f4. Click for larger.

The cemetery - Canon 20D IR & Pentax-M 20mm f4. Click for larger.

Geese - Canon 20D IR & Pentax-M 20mm f4.

Infrared Photo Set

I am happy to say that this year I have used the Infrared camera much more often than any other year. I have found that using it as a black & white camera can produce some pretty nice results. Of course, I still find false colours interesting. It's the best of both worlds because I can get either or both. Very different looks.

Can't get over how great the image quality is for a nine year old camera. At ISO 100-400, there is almost no noise, and the image is solid with exceptionally good definition, when matched to a good lens. On the other hand, I find the new generation of Canon APS-C sensors wanting, especially at lower ISO. I hope the new Canon 70D's sensor will be better, though I am not holding my breath. 40 MP (two photodiodes for each pixel, used for phase detect AF) for an APS-C sensor? That's crazy. But then again, technology matches on, and some time it will surprise you. Let's hope it will be good.

Truck at the dock - Canon 20D IR & Pentax-M 20mm f4 @ f8. Click for larger.

Metis and CN Tower - Canon 20D IR & Pentax-M 20mm f4 @ f8. Click for larger.

Ropes - Canon 20D IR & Pentax-M 20mm f4.

End of a Chapter

Today is my last day at a job that I have had for the last 14 years. Couple years ago, our company was taken over by a big corporation and everyone at our department was given a "transition" period; a fancy term used by the big company to mean that "we will lay you off as soon as we've got what we want from you". I am the last of the MIS team to stay and take care of legacy stuff until everything is "transitioned".

It's been a wonderful 14 years. The Spadina & Queen area in Toronto, is a great place to work, eat, and of course, photograph. No doubt you have seen many pictures in my blog posts over the years, that were taken in this area. I would take a 45-minute walk around the area in my lunch hour, pretty much each day, and took pictures. I will surely miss this area, and most of all, miss my colleagues who have been so wonderful to work with. I will look back and cherish the memories, but as Canadian astronaut and commander Chris Hadfield said, "Don't look back. That's not where you are going!", I look forward to the next chapter of my career, which will soon start.

AlgoCafe - Canon 20D IR & Tamron Adaptall 17mm f3.5.

Infrared Photography with Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.8

So far, most of my infrared photography was done with the Pentax-M 20mm f4 lens, and mostly at infinity. The reason is because with infrared photography, what you see focused in the viewfinder is not what is actually focused in the image, because the viewfinder is calibrated for visible light and focus point for infrared is not the same as visible light . This combo works perfectly when I set it to infinity focus.

But, it's time to try other lenses and different kinds of pictures. I picked the Flektogon 35mm f2.8, for no particular reason. Only because it was already there with the adapter on. I tried some pictures with close focus. Close focus is always a hit and miss with infrared, especially with large aperture settings. I use focus bracketing to at least get one or two pictures in focus; take a series of pictures with slightly different focus points. The results turned out quite satisfactory.

Kaiser's Crown - Canon 20D IR & Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.8 @ f2.8. Click for larger.

Leslie Groove Park - Canon 20D IR & Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.8. Click for larger.

Kaiser's Crown - Canon 20D IR & Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.8.

Reading in the park - Canon 20D IR & Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.8 

A Set of IR Pictures from High Park

On Monday I went with Dillon and Sally to High Park early in the morning hoping to photography cherry blossoms.  It turns out we didn't go at the right time yet.  Perhaps we will do it again this weekend.  It was fun as I had not gone to High Park for many years.

Took along the almost forgotten IR modified 20D with me, and the trusty Pentax-M 20mm f4.  I must say this lens is a perfect match for the 20D/IR.  A relatively wide angle of around 32mm equivalent, almost a comfortable 35mm.  I ended up shooting more IR pictures than with the NEX-5N.  Hope you like these pictures.

House at the bottom of the hill -- IR 20D & Pentax-M 20mm f4. Click to see larger picture.

There are two dogs in the picture below.  They were so obedient and they were posing for the owner!  Lovely dogs.

The only cheery tree in full blossom in High Park -- IR 20D & Pentax-M 20mm f4

Sally shooting with the EF 180mm f3.5 Macro Lens - IR 20D & Pentax-M 20mm f4

20D Infrared Sample

Relaxing under the tree -- Canon 20D IR Modified & Pentax-K 28mm f3.5.

Dusted off the IR Modified Canon 20D today.  It hadn't see much action for many months.  The recent nice sunny days are perfect for IR pictures.  The Pentax-M 20mm f4 lens continues to be my favourite lens for IR on the 20D, and now the Pentax-K 28mm f3.5 is also winning my heart.  Both are fantastic lenses, although the 20mm f4 has pretty severe distortions if not used carefully.  They are insanely sharp lenses and the built quality is excellent.  My PK-EOS adapter is slightly thinner than specification,  which turns out to be even better, as it allows focus slightly past infinity.  The focus point is actually slightly ahead in IR spectrum than in visible light.

Black & White Infrared Sample

West Don Lands -- IR Modified 20D & Pentax-M 20mm f4. Click to see larger.

While looking back at some of my IR shots, I found this one that I took last June, but didn't process.  Most of my IR pictures are in false colour.  While that's kind of interesting to look at, I think B&W is better.  I processed this one with one of the B&W film filters in Photoshop (sorry forgot which film I chose) and really like the way it looks.  Can't wait for sunny weather to come back, so that I can use the IR 20D more.

Ontario Place

Ontario Place in IR -- Canon 20D IR & Pentax-M 20mm f4. Click to see larger

This year has to be the hottest and the most humid year I remember.  As much as I love summer, this weather is driving me crazy.  I am even looking forward to winter if this weather continues!  The good side to this is that sunny days like this are perfect for IR pictures. 

Ontario Place in IR

Ontario Place -- IR Modified Canon 20D & Pentax-M 20mm f4. Larger Picture.

Went to the Ontario Place on Saturday, I think it was the opening day and what a mistake! The place was jam packed with people. I guess the $5 play all day pass was too much to resists for most people, including us. The wait for the ride could be more than an hour. The kids just went to Soak City and play with the water instead. Good thing it was a nice sunny day, but not hot enough. Perfect to take pictures.

I took the Rebel 550D with kit lens and the 35L, 50L and 135L, and the IR 20D with the Pentax-M 20mm. In reality, I really only used the kit lens with the 550D and the 20mm lens on the 20D. Next time I will know better.

I must say I am very impressed with the optical performance of the 18-55mm IS kit lens. It's very sharp and produced pictures indistinguishable from L lenses when shot at the sweet spot of f8 to f11. With a polarizing filter on a sunny day, the colours are excellent as well. Also, I have grown very fond of the Pentax-M 20mm f4. It's just so perfect on the 20D and Rebel, giving a mini wide angle of 32mm, close to my favourite focal length of 35mm. This lens works especially well on the Infrared 20D because I almost always set the focus at infinity and left it there. I am glad I have kept it, after a couple years of sitting on the shelf (because it didn't work on my 5D/1D III).

Surprisingly, I have not used the IR 20D as much as I had anticipated. I think the weirdness of IR wears away after a little while, but when used occasionally, I enjoy it, very much.

Fun with Infrared Photography - Part III

Don River and Gardner Expressway -- IR Converted 20D & Pentax-M 20mm f4 @ f8. Larger Picture.

There are different flavours of infrared, depending on the cut-off frequency of the IR filter. Most common IR filter is the Hoya R72, which has a cut-off frequency of 720 nanometers (nm). Lots of people like this filter because the R72 allows some visible colours to get through the filter, thus gives the "False Colour" you see in some IR pictures.

The higher the cut-off frequency, the less visible light and the image will become more monochromatic. Anything above 800nm will be basically just black and white. Some like the monochromatic look, but I personally prefer false colours in IR. This was what attracted me to IR photography in the first place. Besides, you can always convert the picture to black & white if needed.

Lucky for me, the IR converted 20D I bought has an internal IR filter similar to R72. It allows small amount of colour through, especially the blue and deep red. As with everything in life, having too much of one thing will quickly make your bored. I have shot with the IR 20D for just a few days, and I am already having IR fatigue. IR pictures need high contrast scenes to look interesting, like blue skies and lots of trees and water. An IR picture of a building will not be very exciting, regardless how wonderful the lighting is. IR photography is like a fish-eye lens -- it's fun and interesting when used in moderation. This begs the question, should you convert your camera to a dedicated IR camera?

I would say no to expensive cameras, unless you have an obsession to IR. But if your Rebel 300D, 10D, 20D, etc, is collecting dust and hardly sees the light of day, it maybe a good idea to have it converted to be a dedicated IR camera. Just keep in mind that the conversion itself will cost more than what your camera is worth.

Fun with Infrared Photography - Part II

There are many problems that need to be overcome with infrared photography, depending on how one goes about doing it. For people who just use IR filters on unmodified cameras, the biggest issues are exposure time and black viewfinder. For a modified camera, they are focus and metering.

Unless your camera was designed from ground up as an IR camera, the metering and auto focus system are geared to and calibrated for visible light. On an IR modified camera, these two components will no longer work reliably. In most cases, the metering needs to be adjusted by at least 1 stop, but most of the time, 1.5 to 2 stops on anything that do not emit heavy infrared like buildings. For trees or flowers on a sunny day, negative compensation is required, sometimes as much as 2 stops. Thanks to digital, this is not as a big deal as it sounds, as you can always take a picture and adjust exposure as needed. The trickier part is achieving accurate focusing.

If you have a manual focus film SLR with a lens at home collecting dust, you will almost always find an infrared index on the lens. In the case of a zoom lens, there maybe multiple IR marks. Even the cheapest of lenses in the old days would have this index. Now a days, you will be lucky to get a distance scale on the lens, let alone IR mark. Unfortunately, to get accurate focusing, you will need to reference this IR marking on the lens.

The focus point for infrared is always ahead of that of the available light. If focus is achieved at 1 meter, the infrared mark is usually at around 1.1 to 1.2 meters. What this means is that once you see the picture is sharp on the view finder, you will need to turn focusing ring slight farther where the IR mark indicates. The amount of compensation is different for each lens. Some more and some less. This sounds like complicated, but it's not. After you have tried it a few times, you don't need to look at the mark any more, you will now approximately how much compensation you will need. Of course, if you use very large apertures like f1.2 or f1.4, this will be much harder to achieve critical focus.

Today I shot with a Pentax-M 20mm f4 lens on the IR 20D, and I am surprised how many sharp keepers. Partly because the 20mm f4 lens has a very short focus throw, anything farther than 2 meters is considered infinity, so the lens was set at infinity most of the time. The trick I used was focus bracketing. Take a picture at the indicated visible light, than turn the focus slight ahead for another pictures, and still a little further ahead for a third picture. This turned out really well.

Next time, we will talk about different IR filters and their effects on the picture.


St. Mary's Dormition Ukrainian Catholic Church -- IR 20D & Pentax-M 20mm f4.


Tool Shed in false colours -- IR 20D & Pentax-M 20mm f4. Larger Picture.


Bench in false colours - IR 20D & Pentax-M 20mm f4. Larger Picture.

Fun with Infrared Photography - Part I

Years ago, when for the first time I saw Daniela's infrared pictures taken with the Minolta Dimage 7, my jaws dropped to the floor, with a loud thud. These surreal, mystique, and fascinating pictures looked so otherworldly. I told myself that I would have to try it. The only problem, was money, or lack thereof. Back then, most infrared pictures were taken with an infrared filter screwed onto the front of a lens. Dedicated infrared cameras were very rare, partly because digital cameras back then were very expensive. Few would risk damaging the camera to convert it to IR.

Over the years, I tried some IR filters, but, most Canon DSLRs are not sensitive to IR, it would take many seconds to minutes to expose for an IR picture. On top of that, you can't see your composition with the filter on, because the filter is opaque. I soon gave up.

Next was the Sigma SD10 that was semi defective that I bought in a camera show. The batteries would only last about 30 shots. Something was wrong with it. But, the SD10 had a removable IR blocking filter. By removing this filter, you would expose the sensor to all spectrum of the light. So, I tried again, with an IR filter, but the image never came out the way I liked it. After that, it was enough for me. The only way I was going to try again is to get a dedicated IR camera that shoots just like a normal camera.

My chance came a few years ago when someone was selling a IR modified Canon 10D. I went for it, but soon discovered that I could not make any sharp pictures with it, regardless of aperture or focus point. The pictures were always soft. I returned it to the seller, who gracefully accepted the return, minus $50. My heart was broken. I have not touched, or even thought about IR until I saw someone was selling an IR modified Canon 20D on Craigslist, and I was lucky enough to be the person who bought it, at a great price.

I took some shots with the kit lens the day I bought it, and it proved to be excellent. A few sharp pictures, but mostly soft.

Next time, we will talk about the pit falls of IR modified cameras, and how you can avoid it.


Cheery Tree in full blossom - Canon IR modified 20D & EF 35mm f1.4. Larger Picture.

United Metropolitan Church in IR

United Met in Infrared - Canon 20D (IR) & EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS.

Got an IR Modified 20D today (Thanks John!). I have been wanting an IR DSLR for like an eternity. Bought an IR 10D few years before from someone, but turned out it could not focus. Everything was soft regardless where the focus point was (yes I know focus shifts for IR cameras). The 20D I got today is nothing like the 10D. Very happy.