Converted Digital Infrared Cameras

Discussion 131 posts |  Only members can post. Join?

About Converted Digital Infrared Cameras

This group is for anyone who has had their digital camera converted for infrared photography either by themselves or by companies such as LifePixel. No limit on the number or type of photographs that can be posted (within reasonable limits) but they MUST have been taken with an internally modified digital camera.

The conversion process removes the hot mirror in digital cameras and replaces it with a custom made filter. The effects are dramatic. The advantage is that you do not have to use any kind of filter over the lens and the camera retains full functionality, with a sharpness you rarely see in infrared photos.

Here, for instance, is how LifePixel describes the process:

"Digital imaging sensors in most cases are just as sensitive to infrared light as to visible light. Camera manufacturers stop infrared light from contaminating the images by placing a hot mirror filter in front of the sensor which effectively blocks the infrared part of the spectrum while still allowing the visible light to pass.

We remove this hot mirror filter and replace it with a custom manufactured infrared filter. The infrared filter does the opposite of the original hot mirror filter, it blocks UV & visible light and allows infrared light to pass unaffected."

Other conversion operations may approach it in a somewhat different fashion and companies such as LifePixel also offer do-it-yourself materials for the technically proficient and adventurous.

Please share your stories as well as the post-processing techniques you use to create the final images.