Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“In black and white there are more colors than color photography, because you are not blocked by any colors so you can use your experiences, your knowledge, and your fantasy, to put colors into black and white.” — Anders Petersen
Welcome to #monochromemonday. Today’s topic is infrared camera conversions.
Using on-camera filters is the least expensive method for infrared capture and is still the best way for you to try IR photography to help you decide if you like working in this genre. But…using an IR-converted camera is the most convenient way to enjoy making infrared images. Yo accomplish this conversion, you have lots of options: You can purchase a previously modified camera from eBay or trusted used camera sellers like KEH Camera, Roberts Camera or you can have one of your existing cameras converted for IR-capture. If you’ve been looking for something to do with that old DSLR or mirrorless camera that’s just sitting around on a shelf gathering dust but is still capable of making great but maybe less megapixel images, here’s the perfect job for it.
Infrared Conversion Options
Your eyes see a range of light from 400 to 700 nanometers (nm,) that is a metric unit of length that’s equal to one billionth of a meter. A typical digital camera sensor sees light in wavelengths from 350 to 1,000nm. Digital cameras typically have a low pass filter mounted in front of their sensors allowing only low frequency light that’s visible the human eye to pass through to the sensor. To maintain color fidelity, this filter blocks UV and IR light. During IR conversion that filter is removed allowing all kinds of light to strike the sensor. Then it’s replaced with a filter that allows only infrared light to pass through.
As easy as using an IR-converted camera may be, you will face some choices when having your camera converted, starting with where to have it done. Many different companies offer infrared conversion services and I’ve had varying experiences using three different suppliers over the years. Getting a recommendation from a photographer whose work you admire is the best place to start. Keep in mind that not every company will convert every camera model, so check to see if they will work on your specific model.
How I Made this photograph: When shooting infrared images, most of the time I’ll shoot in RAW format, which requires some post processing to make a black & white IR shot like the above but I usually set the camera in Monochrome mode and shoot RAW+JPEG to get a preview of what my RAW file look like it’s when processed later. Otherwise with RAW capture during the best time of the day, you’ll mostly see various shades of magenta
The Gazebo in Parker, Colorado’s O’Brien Park has long been on of the landmarks that I return to again and again when testing new cameras and techniques. In this case I was testing an Olympus (now OM Systems) M.Zuiko 9mm f/8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens with an IR-converted Panasonic Lumix G5. The G5 was “just sitting around” after I purchased a Lumix G6, so I had it converted by Life Pixel using their Standard IR (720nm) conversion. The exposure was 1/1250 sec at f/8 and ISO 400 with a minus two-third stops exposure compensation. I converted the magenta RAW file (above right) onto monochrome using Silver Efex’s High Structure (smooth) preset.
Most companies that do IR conversions offer a choice of infrared filters. Life Pixel, for example, offers seven choices (plus Hyper Color) including their Standard IR filter that’s equivalent to Hoya R72, Kodak Wratten 89b filter. Life Pixel also offers an Enhanced Color IR filter that’s equivalent to 665nm, Super Color IR equivalent to 590nm, and a Deep BW IR equivalent to 830nm filters. If the intended result is a monochrome image, the Standard IR conversion works great while the Enhanced Color IR filter is better if I’m going to produce a color-enhanced image. For eye popping color, the Hyper Color is hard to beat,
You can also have your conversion company replace the filter in front of your camera’s sensor with a piece of plain glass of the same size and optical characteristics, except filtration, as the original low pass filter. Not all companies offer this choice but some offer what’s called UV-Visible-IR conversions. Theoretically, this conversion lets you capture natural color or infrared depending on what filter you place in front of the lens.
PS: For even more discussion on infrared camera conversions, please check out my video IR Camera Conversions on my YouTube channel, Joe Farace’s Videos.
I’ve found that Life Pixel does a great job with IR conversions and they’ve done some of the conversions for my Canon DSLRs and all of my Panasonic Lumix G-series cameras. This is not a paid or sponsored endorsement, just my experience.
New copies of my book, The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography are available from Amazon for $45.21, with used copies selling for around $28, as I write this. New copes of my book Creative Digital Monochrome Effects that has a chapter on IR photography are available from Amazon for $11.46, with used copies selling for around eight buck, as I write this.