Darryl88 Loc: New Zealand

Hi there, can anybody help me - I have just purchased an infrared filter (IR 850). The only instructions I got was to set your white balance by aiming at green grass and then putting the IR filter on and take your shot. I have looked on Youtube for a tutorial but didn't really find anything too helpful.... Can someone either tell me (slow and gentle steps please) or point me in the right direction for a tutorial. thanks

artistwally Loc: Scotland

I use an R72 and get good results but the R850 should do just as well. Depending on your camera you may see nothing when the filter is on so try giving an exposure of about 20 seconds at f8 (ISO200), then vary to get the correct exposure. The image will be red or purple-ish so you will have to convert it to mono. Most cameras give a round hot spot in the middle of the image.

With R72 on Olympus E-5


Convereted to mono in Picasa.

Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

I use the R72 on my Lumix FZ18 and need to practice more now that it is spring and have the bright greens to work with

CooledgeR Loc: Sunny (Hot) Arizona

There is actually a thread on Ugly Hedgehog devoted to infrared:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-3448-1.html

steve40 Loc: Asheville/Canton, NC, USA

I use a R72 Hoya filter, and set a custom white balance with either a white sheet of printer paper, or the grass With the filter installed. If you try to set WB without the filter on the camera, it will not work.

Or you can use one of these in the proper size for your lens, I do, and it works great installed over the IR filter of course.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/535317-REG/Dot_Line_DL_2577_77mm_White_Balance_Lens.html

artistwally Loc: Scotland

May I respectdully point out that attempting "white balance" with infrared light is pointless - leave the camera at "auto" white balance - you are not dealing with white light.

steve40 Loc: Asheville/Canton, NC, USA

No WB for IR is not pointless. By doing so you get a better image, one that allows near IR conversions, and a better balance of tones when you do a standard IR conversion. Like these:
http://www.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?action=read&id=1316393435&user=landscapesimages
Its also best if you under expose for IR by about 1 stop, you get less hi-light exposure clipping.

Darryl88 Loc: New Zealand

thanks for that link - I will click it shortly.

Darryl88 Loc: New Zealand

AHGGG! Obviously more to it than meets the eye (is there a pun in there lol). I will click the links shortly.

Darryl88 Loc: New Zealand

I guess I am really going to show my ignorance here....Do we have to convert the image to mono - I seem to think I have seen soft colours in IR photos. Also can you tell me how the filters are graded ie: you are using R72 whist my filter is R850...what is the difference between them?? Darryl

Darryl88 Loc: New Zealand

Wow, great shot Steve...and thanks, you have just answered a question for me ~ obviously we can do IR in colour....or did you use some other process to get the colour? Darryl

steve40 Loc: Asheville/Canton, NC, USA

The difference between the RM72, and the R850. Is the passage of light the 72 passes light fron 720 nanometers up, while the 850 only passes from 850NM, blocking the small amount of visible red the 72 passes.

In short the 850 I am afraid might? prohibit you from doing near IR, or color IR in other words. There is a process for converting from IR to near IR, and requires the use of a color channel mixer in the photo editor.

This is the reason for performing a white balancing step, before you shoot in IR. It is to balance, the small amounts of visible red light. The shot then appears much different, than the usual solid red of most IR shots. It will now have a range of tones, from red to a sort of tan color.

This shot you convert by swapping the blue and red channels, and fine tune with a touch of the green channel.

I have a channel mixer down-load for Photoshop Elements, which has none. So you can do the conversion with PSE.

Later I will start a thread on the IR conversion process, and try to explain it. Also I will post a link to the converter down-load. :) You also get better IR quality using a channel mixer to convert to gray, rather than just punching make gray scale like most do.

steve40 Loc: Asheville/Canton, NC, USA

I've been looking around for some more info on the R850, but as usual its not very forthcoming. One quick question, with the filter on the camera, can you see anything in the LCD viewer.

With the RM72, you can actually see enough to compose, and also use your auto focus. Although it looks all red, still you can see. This is the small amount of visible light, or near IR the RM72 passes being seen.

Of course you have to be using a fairly small F stop, like F4 or less. And a slow shutter setting. My camera for those shots was set at; Manual Exposure, ISO 100, F4, shutter 1.6 seconds. And I had a fairly good image, on the LCD.

Of course how much you can see, will all depend on how IR sensitive your camera is in the first place.

Darryl88 Loc: New Zealand

Hi Steve, Thanks very much for all the info you have given me/us. I am using a Canon 20D and unfortunately I don't have 'live view' (I am very glad I have kept my Canon S3 IS with it's articulating LCD). I can see nothing through my viewfinder. I have just taken some test shots and these are my settings......Bright sunny day, 18~55mm kit lens, ISO 200, f8. I set f8 just in case I moved my focus slightly while putting the filter on. I set the focus using auto (no IR filter) and then switched to manual focus and put the filter on. I took a series of shots at 2 sec intervals starting at 2 sec thru to 10 sec. I then went 15, 20, 25 seconds. All the pictures turned out exactly the same....total 100% black.....Blast ~ I have just remembered I left my WB on auto - I will go and take more shots (I see you did recomend setting the WB with either white paper or the grass). Darryl

Darryl88 Loc: New Zealand

Hi again Steve, I set my WB as per instruction manual (custom white balance) with my IR filter on. I used a freshly painted green fence (to my old eyes it's the same colour as the grass) to set my WB, took a series of 13 photos at different times and again all I see are black photos. I used both 'manual' and 'AV' and I did notice in AV mode my exposure level indicator on the top LCD would go right over to the '2 stops' over mark and flash - indicating to me that my shots are greatly over exposed. I have read somewhere that most DSLR's have an anti Infrared filter installed so as to filter out IR light so I guess my 20D's inbuilt filter is working too well. Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me. Darryl