Aargh! Why did I not buy more of this when it was available?

[Sonnar Brian]

Spencer's Camera (Keep mixing up with steve's).

http://www.spencerscamera.com/

This is where I had the EP2 converted, and a friend bought a D7000 from them.

 

[GaryLH]

Thanks again
Gary

 

[Colin Corneau]

^ I could easily photoshop a glow onto that image and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Do you have a filter for understanding the point of the OP in the first place?

 

[raid]

Spencer's Camera (Keep mixing up with steve's).

http://www.spencerscamera.com/

This is where I had the EP2 converted, and a friend bought a D7000 from them.

A converted EPL-2 costs $1100. I wrote them to get cost estimate.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

It is ~$300 or so to convert a camera.

 

[Elektrojänis]

^ I could easily photoshop a glow onto that image and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. However if there was one to begin with I definitely couldn't remove the glow. So I think having a sharp image with naturally good tones is better in the first place.

Yes... It would be possible. But sometimes that's not what it's about. Sometimes the process of making the image is just as important as the end result (to a hobbyist anyway, professional work is probably different).

There is one really nice feature in digital IR though... If the camera has live view, you can actually see how the scene you are photographing looks in infrared. (This however changes the process of making the image, and may not be as much fun as it takes away much of the anticipation that one has for the images when using film.)

BTW. For my IR conversion, I used piece of old window glass and three layers of fully exposed processed colour negative film to replace the original hot mirror filter. Cost: 0€ (Thats about $0) 😀

 

[GaryLH]

$1100 wow that is a bit more than I expected. Raid, when did u get the quote? Is the quote just for the conversion?

Brian, the $300 that u mentioned is more in line with what I was hoping for. Is Raid's quote due to the difference in design between a m43 and the dslr?

Electrojanis, where is the hot mirror filer located?

Thanks for info
Gary

 

[Elektrojänis]

Electrojanis, where is the hot mirror filer located?

In the camera I used, it was a small piece of glass between the lens and the sensor. It was easy to replace after I got the camera opened and the lens removed (which was a bit harder, as these things tend to be held together with about million little screws that are hidden in all the weird places). Hardest part was to cut/file a fitting piece of glass to replace it with (if you just take it out, the camera will only focus to very close distances).

On some cameras the hot mirror filter might be more closely integrated to the sensor (for example to the same pice of glass that is the anti alias filter). That would make the conversion more difficult.

I wouldn't really recommend the diy route for anything else than for a camera that isn't getting any use and hasn't got any practical value. It's fun project for people who like to tinker with these kinds of things. For many people, taking a digital camera apart is most likely somewhat frustrating.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

At Spencer's, $100 is for the complete camera. They have a used D100 converted to IR for $450 or so.

Conversions run in the $300 range, and is offered as full-range (clear filter) and IR Only.

 

[GaryLH]

Thanks Electrojanis and Brian. Both your explanations cleared things up.
Gary

 

[gdi]

More people than I realize were unfamiliar with digital IR, I guess.

Yes you can buy a digital camera and have it modified, or get one than has a high IR sensitivity out of the box (remember the M8, or R-D1?) The photos websites must have 10s of thousands of digital IR shots (B&W and Color 🙁) But as pointed out earlier, you don't get the same ethereal look you could get from HIE. It should be obvious from the digital posts here that digital is no replacement for HIE - and I have never seen any convincing post processing that came close.

But, that said, HIE is gone. Settling for Efke, or Rollei, or digital is required for IR....

 

[Mark A. Fisher]

I shot HIE as my primary film for almost 10 years, as I worked on a continual project on Route 66. When HIE was discontinued, I thought the project was dead. Then I had a D100 converted to IR by Lifepixel. I still much prefer the HIE - I still have 8 or 10 rolls in the fridge - but the converted D100 does some pretty decent work. I just loaned it to a friend of mine, who liked it so much he had a 20D converted by the same group. Check 'em out at www.lifepixel.com.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

On a humorous note, and to show how far digital has come- I paid $4000 extra to have Kodak make the KAF-1600 with a clear cover. It required them to interrupt the standard manufacturing process. The body was $12,400 total. 1.6Mpixels. It was azero-defect when new, picked up 3 hot pixels over the years. The Sensors Unlimited camera was more expensive- but went out past 2uM, uses an Indium-Gallium-Arsenide (InGaAS) detector, 320x200 resolution. That was 8 years ago. The first IR detector that I used had 32 elements and cost $40,000- just the detector. It was used in a Scanning sensor. That was 1981. How things change.

 

[shadowfox]

Some digital cameras can give you the IR look just by using an IR filter (no sensor mod.):

* Olympus E-300 with Hoya r72 filter