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"Capturing Infrared"

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I'm getting hot spots with the Sony-Zeiss 35mm f/1.4. I'll have to give it another try. I've been using the 24-70mm f/4 primarily for [665nm] IR.

Joe
What type of filters are you using? The last few pics that I posted at Yates Mill are taken with the 35 Distagon with either IR590 (color IR) or IR850 (B&W IT) on it. I don't see any hot spots on my copy but all of my shots were taken between f/2.5-f/9. I'm using Kolari Vision branded filters.

UPDATE: It appears the 25 Batis may be useable with the 590nm or 850nm filter while fairly wide open. I have to do more testing to see how much one could get away with. The hot spot is fairly faint and small in a centralized area. The 85 has a large hotspot so it's pretty unusable IMO so far in most IR photography.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Tre, I'm shooting with a LifePixel converted a7R, with their 665nm "Enhanced Color" option, so no [external] filters. I hadn't seen your Yates Mill shots until just now. Well done. It's one of my favorite subjects, for IR or otherwise as you can see here.

Joe
Thanks Joe.

I'm shooting on the LifePixel A7R converted to Full Spectrum (although I was very tempted with the Super Color/ Super Blue options) for the flexibility. I imagine I wouldn't want much more than 36 megapixels for printing so I went ahead converted it to Full Spectrum and just keep my lenses to common filter sizes as much as a I can. Right now it's all 49mm, 67mm, and 72mm lenses.

Oh and I like Yates Mill too since I discovered it about 3 years ago... I try to take all of my new lenses there to shoot at some point to see what they can do. Generally can get some pretty good clouds there as well for IR.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Couple questions for you IR folks ---

I have a Sony A7r. I generally dislike the system -- wanted to love it but it just doesn't work for me. BUT, with this thread it does seem an ideal cam to convert to full spectrum since it is sensor view and can take about any lens, so maybe I can still find a use for it -- fact is I can't sell it for beans now anyway so why not? :ROTFL:

My plan is shooting full spectrum for converting to mono, and then may shoot with the deep red 60 for brighter false-color. Is this a good strategy?

Next question is lens -- is the Sony 24-70 worth the money for a dedicated full-spectrum Cam, and/or does it hot-spot? (We should have a lens IR suitability thread here maybe?) If it were under $800, I wouldn't even ask, I'd just buy it and go with it as good enough. But it's slow, apparently weak at each end, and friggin expensive at $1200. (C'mon Sony, really???) I like the idea of reasonable AF with the cam, so that leaves most obvious lens choices out. My other option is the 28 AF and call it done.

Finally, as an alternative I do have the Metabones Nikon adapter and a bunch of N glass, but then it's back to manual focus. Probably not a huge deal, especially for this application, but then I'd like AF if it worked well on full spectrum...

Appreciate any comments.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Joe, how are the mono conversions from 665 as compared to full spectrum? Thanks for the 24-70 info. Unfortunately I cannot access FM -- Fred is a strange guy and blocked both Guy and I permanently the day we launched GetDPI :loco: But if there is somebody over there with one at a really good price, please steer them my way! In the meantime, I'll check eBay...
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Jack, I’ve gone just about round the world in IR conversions similar to a dog chasing his tail. My first conversion was on a Canon 1Ds II in 720nm. The conversion was good and I actually got several prints that have sold well. The downside to a DSLR was that I needed a dedicated lens. Then came Guy and his selling of the Sony Nex which turned out to be my first mirrorless camera being converted again to720nm. I picked up a 7r shortly after it was released and that too was converted to capture 720nm for a couple months.

I sent the 7r back to have it converted once again to full spectrum and am very glad I did. For me the WS has opened up the ability to shoot in just about any spectrum I wish from WS, color by adding a hot mirror filter, and currently 590, 720 and 830nm. I’m currently thinking about adding a 665nm filter to the mix as well. It’s like have several cameras in one just by changing a filter on the lens.

The great thing about the 7r is that since it’s mirrorless,what you see in the viewfinder or LCD is what the camera sees and what you’ll get in the end. It’s a bit of a PIA onwhite balance however that is solved in C1 (I’ve written a blog or two onshooting IR).

Regarding lenses; I’ve reduced the Sony lens herd down to2-primary lenses, the 24-70 which works very well and the 50 f/.95 which worksjust as well. Sandy has a 70-200 which Ican also use if I need the extra reach as well as the 90 that I haven’t triedas yet.

In the end a converted 7r is good for what it does; offers a small lightweight 36-megapixel platform that will capture great IR files. Personally, I feel that any file converted toB&W from IR is above that is converted from a color file.

Slightly off topic, I had the chance to test/use a Leaf WSand was just as pleased with those files.
And to throw another thought into the mix, Ken Doo and Ihave been exterminating with flash photography in IR by using the same filteron the flash as we have on the camera. Very interesting results….

Hope this helps.


 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Joe and Don, thanks for the great feedback.

This may be hard to believe, but I am only slightly less compulsive than Guy when it comes to making a camera decision and purchase! So the cam is off to LifePixel for a Full Spectrum conversion, I found a decent 24-70 on ebay from a 100% camera seller and it's on its way, and ordered a 67mm B+W 090 deep red, or 590nm filter, 091 deep red/650 and 092/730 ir, all should be ready to assemble in a couple weeks. Probably will also ultimately experiment with UV, but that can wait. Almost ordered a UV/IR cut for normal light, but will likely never bother shooting the cam normal capture anyway ;)

Again, thanks for the feedback and info!
 

mike in brazil

New member
jack, shooting IR with the a7R is a great strategy. I don't shoot full spectrum because I have an aversion to carrying filters and trying keep up with them, especially with different lens filter sizes. So I went with the LifePixel 665nm conversion and have been happy with it.

I use the FE 24-70mm almost exclusively, having experienced hot spot issues with other FE lenses. Tre is probably a better source of information on lens compatibility than I am. The 24-70mm is a good, not great, general purpose zoom that you can find on Fred Miranda or eBay at a reasonable price (used, not new).

I'm working on an article for my blog on IR photography with the a7R that I will publish in the next few days. It's not a tutorial, but will have some tips and resource links that might prove helpful. Stay tuned.

Joe
i am using a modified A7R . Recently bought the the new CV 15mm III, but it has a hotspot. My current wide is an old zuiko 24 2.8 , which is ok but subject to lots of vignetting, i am back in market for good compact FE wide lens(es).

Have any of you with IR modified A7(R) bodies tried the (new this year) Sony 28mm SEL28F20 and its 21mm adapter SonySEL075UWC?

i wrote to lifepixel to ask their opinion, awaiting their reply
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Mike,

Welcome to the best photography forum on the net, great first post! Looking forward to hearing LifePixel's reply re the 28 with adapters ;)
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
jack, shooting IR with the a7R is a great strategy. I don't shoot full spectrum because I have an aversion to carrying filters and trying keep up with them, especially with different lens filter sizes. So I went with the LifePixel 665nm conversion and have been happy with it.

I use the FE 24-70mm almost exclusively, having experienced hot spot issues with other FE lenses. Tre is probably a better source of information on lens compatibility than I am. The 24-70mm is a good, not great, general purpose zoom that you can find on Fred Miranda or eBay at a reasonable price (used, not new).

I'm working on an article for my blog on IR photography with the a7R that I will publish in the next few days. It's not a tutorial, but will have some tips and resource links that might prove helpful. Stay tuned.

Joe

Jack,

Don Libby and Cindy Flood are by far the bigger IR Photography experts (despite Joe's gracious comments) compared to myself. They both helped me out a lot through questions and past posts. As far as the 24-70 goes - it works. and it's a great lens to have if you can find it in the $6-800 range. That's what it's worth to me but some find it to be great amongst 24-70's.

For the most flexibility I recommend the Full Spectrum Conversion. If I wanted the flexibility with color IR then I'd do the Super Color 590nm. You can still put filters on the front and white balance is achieved with a 18% gray card still until you get to IR 720 or higher (I believe) in which case you'd WB with live foliage.

As for the lenses that I've used on the A7 that worked well for IR - 35 Distagon FE, 55 Sonnar FE, 35 Sigma Art, and Contax Yashica 100/2. Vivek has used the 28/2 on IR and it works well. There are many examples in this thread of what works.

As far as filters go check out some of the past filter tests in this thread. There are some filters that still allow IR contamination.
 

Cindy Flood

Super Moderator
I use Sigma A 10-20 f/3.5 and Sony 16-35 f/4 on my A6000. I don't have hotspot trouble. I'm hoping to sell my A6000 and convert my A7II to full spectrum. Then I'll stick to 16-35.

Welcome Mike in Brazil.

I had foot surgery and am out for a day, and look what happens, Jack Flesher:thumbs:
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I use Sigma A 10-20 f/3.5 and Sony 16-35 f/4 on my A6000. I don't have hotspot trouble. I'm hoping to sell my A6000 and convert my A7II to full spectrum. Then I'll stick to 16-35.

Welcome Mike in Brazil.

I had foot surgery and am out for a day, and look what happens, Jack Flesher:thumbs:
I forgot to mention the 16-35... Don had one and it looked like a great lens on IR. I may need to pick one up eventually.
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
So far I've used a 16-25, 24-70, 70-200 and the 50 f/.095 all with great success. I've now down sized my lens herd to just 2, the 24-70 and 50mm f/0.95. Sandy has her copy of the 70-200 and a 150-500 and just picked up the 90mm which she says I can use for a "price".

I only use the 7r for infrared so having a bunch of lenses that I may or may not use is pointless.

The 16-35 is a great wide lens just a little too wide for me and Sandy didn't like it as well so we ended up selling it. I did get some great files from it when I used it. The 70-200 was sold because Sandy has one and I simply didn't use it enough to justify a second copy.

Okay, slightly off topic. The great (at least for me) reason to have the camera converted to wide spectrum aka full spectrum is the flexibility in using an assortment of filters. I had a conversation shortly with Life Pixel shortly after testing/reviewing the Leaf WS 50 on whether or nor there's a difference between "Wide Spectrum" which Leaf calls their color spectrum and "Full Spectrum" which Life Pixel calls their conversion and we decided there wasn't any. The files I captured looked the same from both systems. We decided it was just a naming convention.

I've been carrying several filters with me ranging from a color to infrared including 580, 720 and 830 that I use depending on the location. Full/wide spectrum files are unique in themselves from normal color files and can be a real joy to see what they produce. I'm still surprised at the files where as I've used the IR filters enough to know what to expect.

Shooting either wide spectrum or infrared is both easy and somewhat time consuming (speaking solely from a converted camera). There's the white balance that needs to be considered as well as post processing. I've made the WB easier by taking capturing a file using a Expo Disk as a first shot in the filter cycle then keeping the WB on the camera set to "Auto" bang away. The downside to using this method is that what you see in camera ill always have a red tint to it. I use the Expo Disk again if I cage filters thus giving me a place marker. The files are all opened in C1 Pro where the first file (Expo Disk) is calibrated for WB then copied over to all the remaining files in the series. Takes much longer to write about it than it does to actually do it. After much trial and error this process works for me.

I've been doing landscape, nature and some wildlife as well as flash and lightning using the system described above with very good results.

Hope this helps.

Don
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
5 Shot (by hand as I didn't take my tripod) Vertically stitched Panorama taken from the Seattle Space Needle (A7R-FS + 55/1.8 Sonnar FE @ f/8 + Kolari Vision IR590... Metadata in the link)

Space Needle Pano by Tre Nelson, on Flickr
 
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iiiNelson

Well-known member
This is a 25 Batis IR850 Test shot @ f/4... Not horrible but not great. It's a little hot in the middle but nowhere near as bad as the 85 Batis that blooms throughout most of the central part of the image.

25BatisIR850Test by Tre Nelson, on Flickr
 
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