Conversion to digital IR for an SLR - my experiment

[snap58]

Yes i have used IR film. And while it can be handheld exposure wise, exposures themselves can vary to a wide extent.

Digital gives us instant feedback in IR, for better highlight and shadow control.

In these days of AF, and for those of us that are more critical about the use of DOF, conversions may be the best of both worlds.

But even as Life Pixel stated, f/8 should be enough to cover most uses. I assume that if I really got in to digital IR I might need to have my 105VR tuned to a specific body, regardless of the aperture I used.

That is the real advantage, and a roll of HIE is about $11.00, much more economical.

I would wager that you won't need to have adjustments made for your lens, but you can wait and see how that goes. To experiment take a lens, set you camera to F11 or 8, auto focus. Take another auto focus and turn you lens a little to the right (as you would for an IR exposure) and see how much difference there is. Unless you are pixel peeping I doubt you will notice a difference.

If you plan on doing close ups with wider apertures, decide which lens you would most likely use and have it calibrated for the camera. I think the calibration differs for each lens?

You still can't get the halo you do with the HIE. I would encourage anyone with the patients to try some out (while they still make it), it really is fun when you nail an exposure. Some of my fiber prints from my film exposures cannot be duplicated (by me anyway) with digital.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

That is the real advantage, and a roll of HIE is about $11.00, much more economical.

I would wager that you won't need to have adjustments made for your lens, but you can wait and see how that goes. To experiment take a lens, set you camera to F11 or 8, auto focus. Take another auto focus and turn you lens a little to the right (as you would for an IR exposure) and see how much difference there is. Unless you are pixel peeping I doubt you will notice a difference.

If you plan on doing close ups with wider apertures, decide which lens you would most likely use and have it calibrated for the camera. I think the calibration differs for each lens?

You still can't get the halo you do with the HIE. I would encourage anyone with the patients to try some out (while they still make it), it really is fun when you nail an exposure. Some of my fiber prints from my film exposures cannot be duplicated (by me anyway) with digital.

You raise a good point. Given my lens list in my other post; how would you all like me to test the D50 when it comes back - in order to decide on your own lens choices?

Based on the info at Life Pixel, I should be able to use any aperture on a Nikon 18-70. With the lenses I listed above, what sort of focus tests would you all like me to try? Forget the 105VR, though I will test this one out too.

The halo effect you talk about is one of the reasons that there is a need for film and digital to exist together.

 

[Silentwave]

well it looks like i'll have paid for a nice shiny new condition D1 (after all these years) for a good low price by tomorrow morning. i'll be doing the conversion to it myself! If I can build up enough courage to avoid breakng my heart by hurting a piece of history.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Update on my expeirence: (in my best Homer voice, "lousy UPS..."

Got an email Thursday from Life Pixel and that it was completed and was being shipped out for UPS Next Day Delivery (so it should have been here today). Well so far nothing.

Just cryptic stuff on the UPS tracking website: "Your package is in the UPS system and is on time with a scheduled delivery date of 07/14/2006.", and this goodie, "THE PACKAGE WAS LEFT IN A UPS FACILITY CAUSING THIS DELAY;DELIVERY RESCHEDULED". Life Pixel called UPS for me, and was told that we had to wait for a destination scan, that all they could tell us is that the package is in their system. Well, duh! Really dislike UPS.

So it looks like my plans on putting the converted camera through its paces this weekend are dashed.

 

[Mike Teezie]

Got an email Thursday from Life Pixel and that it was completed and was being shipped out for UPS Next Day Delivery (so it should have been here today). Well so far nothing.

Just cryptic stuff on the UPS tracking website: "Your package is in the UPS system and is on time with a scheduled delivery date of 07/14/2006.", and this goodie, "THE PACKAGE WAS LEFT IN A UPS FACILITY CAUSING THIS DELAY;DELIVERY RESCHEDULED". Life Pixel called UPS for me, and was told that we had to wait for a destination scan, that all they could tell us is that the package is in their system. Well, duh! Really dislike UPS.

So it looks like my plans on putting the converted camera through its paces this weekend are dashed.

Ah, bummer.

I was looking forward to seeing some images from this little guy. Gotta love UPS!

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Ah, bummer.

I was looking forward to seeing some images from this little guy. Gotta love UPS!

Thanks, just hope that UPS does not do a Delta Airlines on me. "Sorry, but we lost track of your luggage. Have a nice day."

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

After a slight delay....

UPS finally delivered the camera on Monday. Decided to wait till my return to work (where I had it delivered) on Tuesday to worry about the camera.

I did some quick tests yesterday to make sure everything was at least working. Today gave me some more time (relative of course). So here are few shots in this post and a follow-up post of what I have gotten so far.

Keep in mind I am on my PB 12" and have not done a monitor calibration on it. I also thought I would just toss out some uncorrected images (other than for some unsharp mask work in PS CS1.

Life Pixel sent the camera back with the WB preset to their preferred method of green grass, and exposure compensation set to +1.7. The first two photos are showing their settings and the same converted to B&W using the PS CS1 grayscale method.

Followed the same methods above, but with a +.7 exposure compensation. Only because the D50's LCD made the images look light to me. The final image was with the auto levels in CS1.

All these first test images were done with my 18-200VR. I have not done tests to see if the focus adjustment they made for the 18-70 is spot on for the 18-200VR. I do have a used 18-70 sitting in the wings if I need more accurate focus at wider apertures. It should be noted that today was one of the DC days of haze and humidity. These IR images show much clearer detail between the sky and clouds.

I hope to test focus further this weekend. Also will try to test the focus with my other lens this weekend too. As well as trying out the IR flash filter that comes with the R1/R1C1 macro CLS kit.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

This next series was shot at 105mm, the ones above were at 18mm. Same trio of file settings as the last three.

 

[seenew]

Cool shots! Shine some IR light onto someone's face from a TV remote or something... Or would that not work? I found that with my old Nikon Coolpix8800, I could see white IR light from my TV's remote..

Oh, and is there an IR filter for 350D's? I know I'd have to use a tripod, but still..

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Cool shots! Shine some IR light onto someone's face from a TV remote or something... Or would that not work? I found that with my old Nikon Coolpix8800, I could see white IR light from my TV's remote..

Oh, and is there an IR filter for 350D's? I know I'd have to use a tripod, but still..

One can use an IR filter on an unconverted camera, but the difference is that these were handheld.

 

[Silentwave]

Chip, my D1 arrived but I don't have the heart to convert it... its too much fun. I'm looking to pick up a 2nd one in worse shape that I will be able to convert with a clear conscience.

You've got me excited!

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Some recent tests with the Nikon 18-70

Been having a tough summer, so haven't had much chance to go shooting. These are some test shots that I did on Aug 6th.

Still playing around, so I had to do auto levels, and tweaked the sharpness a bit. And converted to B&W via PhotoKit using the 1/2 Yellow contrast filter setting

The Nikon 18-70 seems to be flawless with the D50IR, no hot spots as shown by these images.

The last image shows a slight back focus in doing close focusing with the Nikon 18-70. The red lines shows what Nikon Capture said was the focus point. Given the easy instructions on the LifePixel website on adjusting the focus, I am sure that I could fine tune it if I wanted to. I may try some tests just stopping down more to see how that goes.

Given the quick results that I first posted when the body came back, I did not take the Nikon 18-200VR out for this test. Wish I had. Some further testing is needed with that lens.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Some recent tests with the Nikon 10.5 fish-eye

It seems that this lens is OK as to hot spots.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Some recent tests with the Tokina 12-24

This was the most disappointing test. There were hotspots. Will have to see about borrowing the Nikon 12-24 to see if it delivers the same results. It wasn't till the 24mm mark that it seemed to correct itself.

The following images were not converted through PhotoKit as the above images were, since the hot spots were minimized some what.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Some Nikon Capture 4.x examples of the 10.5 fish-eye

These are some some samples of the original file and the corrections allowed under Nikon Capture 4.x. Very surprised at the results compared to my other fish-eye tests with the program.

 

[Silentwave]

I believe the Nikon 12-24mm also gives a hotspot.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I believe the Nikon 12-24mm also gives a hotspot.

If I can get one to test, I am sure that is the case for IMO they just might be the same lens with minor differences.

The major test for me is whether the Nikon 18-70 tuned D50IR can meet up with the Nikon 18-200VR. Stay tuned....

 

[seenew]

This was the most disappointing test. There were hotspots. Will have to see about borrowing the Nikon 12-24 to see if it delivers the same results. It wasn't till the 24mm mark that it seemed to correct itself.

The following images were not converted through PhotoKit as the above images were, since the hot spots were minimized some what.

So the hotspots would be where it turned blue?

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

So the hotspots would be where it turned blue?

In the images I posted the hot spots were areas that showed a lower contrast compared to to the rest of the image.

 

[seenew]

Okay, after reviving my thought-to-be-dead Coolpix 8800 (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/224047/), I've decided I want to dedicate it to IR. Can it be converted? And who should I go to to convert it?
How much will it cost? (I'm going to college next month $_$)

 

[mcarnes]

I've noticed the Canon and Nikon sensors give a different IR 'color' for some reason. The Sony gives a color that is at first dull, but you can work with it better in PS. Chip, try this workflow on your Nikon image:

http://www.pbase.com/catson/color_infrared_workflow

More of this guy's images can be seen here:

http://www.pbase.com/catson/infrared_world&page=all

I have not been able to do this with IR images from Canon or Nikon. But I'm not the best at PS and maybe you'll have better luck with it. I've only been happy with fully desaturating the image from Nikon and Canon. The image examples on LP website all have a tint to them after PS tweaking (usually a blue tint in the shadows), that the Sony images for some reason lack. But these are from a Sony digicam which gives long exposure times (firmware) and is hard to work with.

 

[Mike Teezie]

Very impressive Chip. This makes me want to pick up a used XT to send off and get IR'ed.

Keep 'em coming...

 

[seenew]

Crap.
I can't find ANYONE to convert my 8800.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Very impressive Chip. This makes me want to pick up a used XT to send off and get IR'ed.

Keep 'em coming...

You won't regret it in the end IMO. I am so looking forward to taking my D50IR body on my Caribbean cruise in October. Just hoping that my tests tomorrow will pass muster as did the Nikon 18-70 did.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Crap.
I can't find ANYONE to convert my 8800.

Call Life Pixel to see if they might do it even though it is not on their list.