OT: Infrared DSLR Experiments

cbass said:
Neat. #7151 is my favorite. You gotta love experiments.

I gots to try me one o' them fancy Dee Ess El Ahrs...
Click to expand...

My wife said she liked all the ones without me in them. Sigh.

I was just having fun and experimentatin', and infrared was something I always wanted to try - but film was too expensive, and the handling requirements were also somewhat of a turn-off to me. I like the fact that my DSLR lets me play and see the results right away. Granted, IR can be overdone, but in small doses, I think it is totally cool.

And I have a lot to learn about IR now.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
Great photos Bill. It does look as if you are drinking too much coffee in some of those photos though. I would watch that. 😀

I didn't know the *ist would do IR. There was a fellow over on the Pop Photo site some time ago who used to post some photos on a modified camera of some sort. You might try a search there for some interesting reading.

How did you do those? That is, just as you described or did you also use a filter? I have a simple P&S that can take IR thorugh an opaque IR filter, but the exposure times are a little long as with yours.
 
oftheherd said:
Great photos Bill. It does look as if you are drinking too much coffee in some of those photos though. I would watch that. 😀

I didn't know the *ist would do IR. There was a fellow over on the Pop Photo site some time ago who used to post some photos on a modified camera of some sort. You might try a search there for some interesting reading.

How did you do those? That is, just as you described or did you also use a filter? I have a simple P&S that can take IR thorugh an opaque IR filter, but the exposure times are a little long as with yours.
Click to expand...

Well, I *do* drink too much coffee. But I was really just experimenting - I had exposure times varying between 1 and 3 seconds at f9.5 (love those DSLR in-between f-stops, hehe), so I tried waving my arms, walking away, and so on. Not that I really wanted to be in them, but I wanted a person in them, and I have not yet got to the part where I hire a model. Prolly soon, though.

I used a Hoya R72 infrared filter on the standard 18-55 kit lens. I shot RAW, then pulled the photo into The Gimp (PS clone for Linux) using UFRAW for reading the RAW file. Then I desaturated and adjusted levels, and bam, that was it. I am sure I need some more work in that area, but this seems to get the job done. I think I underexposed a bunch of these, it is hard to estimate correct exposure on the LCD, and of course you can't see through the filter. AF works through it, though - weird, huh?

I got most of my information about how to do this here:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/infrared/

and here:

http://www.jr-worldwi.de/photo/index.html?ir_comparisons.html

The second link is where I first found out that my *ist DS might be infrared-sensitive - bonus!!!

Anyway, just wanted to share something fun - I realize it is very OT for here, unless you're using an RD-1, I guess. But fun is fun, right?

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
Nooooo don't temp me into buying a new DSLR - I like my 300D (and I have Canon SLRs) but it cannot take infrared and I've trying to resist purchasing another one to enable me to take them..... Need to make do with my old little Nikon Coolpix 700 and it's 2mb sensor.

That said, wonderful, I wish I had one! Anyone know if the *istDL is able to take infrared? Haven't seen any reports on it. I know the Nikon D50 can and the istDL is now discounted around the same price (cannot get the istDS any longer here other than on ebay).

I must resist temptation - spent too much on MF recently and I would like a 30D. Oh dear .... :bang:
 
Nice ones, Bill.
I thought that, apart from a few digital p&s, you needed to take the IR filter off the sensor...as most of the times that filter is stuck on the sensor, it's a very difficult job and then your camera would be useful for IR only (colours will be quite different).
I have a Sigma SD10: in this case the filter is on the dust protector in front of the mirror, but I haven't ventured in taking the filter off yet.
I've seen nice digital IR portraits...the skin is quite different from normal b&w and the eyes become pale-grayish (kind of "living-dead").
I'll definitely experiment with film IR sometime, after all, the expensive bit is the (almost)black filter, right?
 
hiwatt said:
I'll definitely experiment with film IR sometime, after all, the expensive bit is the (almost)black filter, right?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is just 'fiddly' to do it with film (for me). The film should be kept refrigerated, then loaded and unloaded from the camera in total darkness. Exposure is a bit hit-or-miss, and you don't know what you've done until you've done it and had it processed (or processed it yourself). I like the near-instant feedback with the DSLR (although even with that LCD, it is hard to judge exposure for IR).

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
smudwhisk said:
Nooooo don't temp me into buying a new DSLR - I like my 300D (and I have Canon SLRs) but it cannot take infrared and I've trying to resist purchasing another one to enable me to take them..... Need to make do with my old little Nikon Coolpix 700 and it's 2mb sensor.

That said, wonderful, I wish I had one! Anyone know if the *istDL is able to take infrared? Haven't seen any reports on it. I know the Nikon D50 can and the istDL is now discounted around the same price (cannot get the istDS any longer here other than on ebay).

I must resist temptation - spent too much on MF recently and I would like a 30D. Oh dear .... :bang:
Click to expand...

The 300D does have an infrared filter, but it's not very strong. I did try using a R72 filter with mine a couple of years ago, and it worked fine. Exposure will run in the multi-second range, but it does work.

If you have an APO lense, the camera will even AF correctly.

The Sony digital P&S's have a "nightshot" mode which is IR.
 
bmattock said:
Yes, it is just 'fiddly' to do it with film (for me). The film should be kept refrigerated, then loaded and unloaded from the camera in total darkness. Exposure is a bit hit-or-miss, and you don't know what you've done until you've done it and had it processed (or processed it yourself). I like the near-instant feedback with the DSLR (although even with that LCD, it is hard to judge exposure for IR).

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
Click to expand...
Not as fiddly as you think Bill. The loading is the trickiest part, but exposure can be fairly simple. The key is to use a deep red filter (25 I think, I use Cokin deep red), not a true infrared filter. You still get the wild and wonderful halation that says "INFRARED", but without too much hassle.

All that said, you should still process it yourself. I have a horror story about a lab tech guy opening the film can to take out the cannister in broad daylight. Not good.

Speaking from my experience with Kodak HIE, your images have crisp clarity that is, to say the least normally unusual for IR. But you still get the feeling that it is IR. You just reminded me that I haven't shot IR in a while. I'll have to do it again soon. Thanks for the images.

Drew
 
Bill, nice shots.

Kin Lau said:
The Sony digital P&S's have a "nightshot" mode which is IR.
Click to expand...

The sony nightshot stuff works very well. Churches make great IR subjects.

Smudwhisk, there is at least one company that can convert your 300D into an IR dedicated camera for a nominal, and then atop this, you can place special filters so you'd be able to shoot regular as well (although I think it makes composing difficult because of a very dark viewfinder). I think the company was something like supermax or maxmax err.. ? *shrug* I've seen results, and they are very good.

Jano
 
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