Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Today’s #monochromemonday post is in black and whit, not in color—there’s no green! If you’re interested in saving some green, maybe the tips you’ll find in the post might save you a few bucks…
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
Photographs are a way of imprisoning reality…One can’t possess reality, one can possess images–one can’t possess the present but one can possess the past.” ― On Photography
Today’s post could be subtitled, “Infrared on the Cheap,” since it tells how I used an older mirrorless camera along with a moderately priced infrared filter to make IR images, often at nosebleed high ISO settings.
The Lumix GX8 for Infrared
When it was launched in 2015, my initial impression of Panasonic’s Lumix GX8 was that I didn’t like its size, weight or ergonomics but technically it seemed like an awesome picture-taking machine. But there was not enough to love so that, later, I sold the camera. Do I have any regrets? No. I have too many cameras anyway. But…
…one day during last year’s peak infrared season, I got to thinking about putting some of the GX8’s technical capabilities to work for infrared capture using filters and shooting it hand held instead mounting it on a tripod that’s usually required when working with these dense filters. So I dug into my filter kit and attached the relatively inexpensive ($47.23) Hoya 58mm R72 Infrared Filter to my Lumix G Vario 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 lens using a 52>58mm step-up ring and headed to McCabe Meadows.
In my visit to the oft-photographed (by me) park, I was attempting to leverage the Lumix GX8’s robust in-body image stabilization and its high ISO capability of up to 25,600 to produce an acceptable handheld image when doing so with other camera was, if not challenging, then next to impossible. According to Hoya, “This nearly opaque filter blocks all visible light up to 720nm, enabling recording of subject matter and scenes that are not visible under normal conditions.” As I was discover, the key words here are “nearly opaque.”
Unlike other cameras I’ve tried using filters for infrared photography, the Lumix GX8 refused to focus through the filter until I cranked the ISO up to 25,600 and that’s when the electronic viewfinder experience changed from it’s normally brilliant almost optical quality to what I might call “early 1950’s TV snow.” Nevertheless, clicking the shutter at speeds raging from one-half to one second—the image you see was shot at one-half sec at f/3.5 and ISO 25,600—produced a normal-looking image in the EVF.
Two things that are worth mentioning about this experience: I was able to hand hold one-half second exposures because of the Lumix GX8’s in-body stabilization and some of the time (but not always) was able to get reasonably sharp images. The Lumix G Vario 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 lens is also image stabilized but I was able to achieve better results with the IS on the lens turned off. Take that information for what it’s worth.
Noise in the image in predictably intense You can see it in the space to the left of the tree branches in the center of the image but for the finished image I did two things to mitigate it. First, I ran the Define filter to remove a a lot of visible noise and that did a pretty good job and used the Platinum tone from PhotoKit to somewhat warm up the image. Second, I hit the image file with the Glamour Glow filter from Color Efex, reducing the glow layer to 50%.
It was fun shooting IR with filters handheld because sometimes you just don’t feel like schlepping a tripod. For the true handheld experience and normal hand holdable shutter speeds, you’ll find that an infrared camera conversion of the type that’s offered by companies such as LifePixel, is much more convenient for serious IR shooters.
Life Pixel does a great job with IR conversions and they have done all of conversions for my Canon DSLRs as well as Panasonic Lumix G-series cameras. This is not a paid or sponsored endorsement, just my experience.
Used copies of my book, The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography are available from Amazon for around $19.00 as I write this. My book Creative Digital Monochrome Effects has a chapter on IR photography and is available new from Amazon for $16.16 with used copies starting around seven bucks