I've got a new (old) toy

[BlueCorn]

Last night I converted my old Rebel XT to infrared only. The conversion process is not for the faint of heart and involves many tiny screws a taking a soldering iron to the bowels of your camera.

This picture isn't any big deal, it's just a shot of the corner of my back yard, but it's my first test shot. Woo Hoo - it still works!

 

[gregr]

I love that look. You're a braver man than I!

 

[BlueCorn]

Notice that I modified the old XT and not the 30D.

I'm taking another trip to Yosemite in Feb. I can't wait to try it out there.

 

[ssbreef]

VERY NICE!~ I'm going to be doing this to my 30d after my next upgrade.

 

[jwedehase]

Nice, Doug! I'd heard about this conversion, but hadn't seen anyone try it yet. I'd presume the photo shows in the LCD as seen above? I've never shot any IR, even film, so I'm not as familiar as I wish I could be.

How does it compare to shooting IR film? Compose, filter, and shoot? How do you meter? Does the histogram work? This is a permanent "mod" right?

 

[VoidRaven]

Only brave men (and women) do the IR mods....but I notice it's always on "older" cameras

I've seen some really incredible IR photography. Truly amazing the results one can get. But I too have been curious as to how the camera reacts for the exposure.

 

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8860504#post8860504 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jwedehase
Nice, Doug! I'd heard about this conversion, but hadn't seen anyone try it yet. I'd presume the photo shows in the LCD as seen above? I've never shot any IR, even film, so I'm not as familiar as I wish I could be.

How does it compare to shooting IR film? Compose, filter, and shoot? How do you meter? Does the histogram work? This is a permanent "mod" right?

That's roughly what the LCD shows. It actually ends up as a lightly color sepia-ish shot. I converted to grey scale before uploading it.

All digital cameras are receptive to IR. So much so that they have a "hot mirror" in front of the sensor to block IR light. The conversion process removes that hot mirror and replaces it with an IR filter; blocking visible light. The histogram still works and metering still works. The caveat is that the metering is reading visible not reflected IR light. Depending on what you're shooting you may need to compensate a stop or two either direction.

It's not completely permanent in that you "could" go back an reinstall the hot mirror. You'd basically have to repeat the original process.

Using a filter in front of the lens gives you the "Compose, filter, and shoot" scenario as well as very long exposures. This one, for example, is a red rose through a filter for 90 seconds using my unmodified 30D:

The shot at the top of the page is 1/250th

 

[jwedehase]

Interesting yet again... IR action shots!

Thanks for the information, Doug!

 

[PrivateJoker64]

How much difference is there in the results between that and setting the cam to black and white? Not being a smart-aleck, I really don't know...

 

[BlueCorn]

Depends on the surface. Foliage reflects IR very well so it generally ends up as bright white. Sky, does not so it appears very dark.

The rose picture would have been very dark as just a pure BW shot.

 

[PrivateJoker64]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8873811#post8873811 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beerguy
Depends on the surface. Foliage reflects IR very well so it generally ends up as bright white. Sky, does not so it appears very dark.

The rose picture would have been very dark as just a pure BW shot.

That make sense. I see that now. That really is a cool effect!