Infrared photography with the 20D

[design8r]

Hi everybody, new to the forums so be nice to me :p

I'm a relatively new photographer, i've had experience in the past with SLRs but none with DSLRs, i live and work in Paris and you can call me design8r. My serious hobbies are photography...duh...and skating.

Well i've got my eye on the EOS 20D, i havent yet decided 100% but i'm sure you guys will persuade me. I've been using the Sony F828 upto now and mostly do macro photography, some landscapes and portraits and recently got into IR.

Does anyone here have any experience with IR photography with the 20D specifically? Any links to such pics and any advice?

thx for your time

[mdr]

Check out Fred Miranda's very useful Digital Infrared PhotoShop action on http://www.fredmiranda.com/DI/. There are some sample photos of the original colour and converted IR equivalent. It's only $8.50 so you can't loose with a buy-and-try.

[design8r]

Thx for reply Mdr but i'm really looking to use the IR filter i have.

[mdr]

Traditionally, you would use the IR filter with an IR film such as Kodak HIE or red sensitive film such as Ilford's SFX. Not sure how you can make the sensor red sensitive.

In fact, I understand that the light sensitivity range of a digital sensor is narrower than that of film, so would be less red sensitive than normal film.

Suggest you go to a reputable dealer who will let you try the 20D with your IR filter. If you take your own CF card, you can check the results out at home.

[kwang0429]

I wonder the same as well, but after doing some research on dpreview.com 20D is possible to do IR, but not ideal.... 10D was better at it but still bad....

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=10290863
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=10380326

[Windup]

design8r,

If you can wait a month I will be getting 20d and will try it with my B&W #093 filter.

Why does everyone feel the 10D does poorly with IR?
I have been very pleased with the results with no modifications.

http://silentharmonies.com/CRW_1329a.jpg
http://silentharmonies.com/CRW_0855b.jpg
http://silentharmonies.com/CRW_0848%20copy.jpg
http://silentharmonies.com/CRW_2473.jpg

[design8r]

thx for the posts!

strangely enough i read somewhere that the sony F717 and F828 produce the best IR results due to their night-shot modes...i guess i shouldn't be in a real hurry to sell my F828.

Still it would be interesting to see some good results out of the EOS DSLRS and particularly the 20D for which i'm aiming.

[mdr]

Nice pics. Think I'll go and buy an IR filter for my 20D now :cool: .

[Longwatcher]

Not 100% sure on 20D since I don't have one of those, but
D60 did NOT do IR
10D did near IR, but barely (still good enough)
1DsMKII will also do IR, a touch better then the 10D, but still limited.
The recommended filter is the Hoya R72 or a similiar filter with a cutoff between 700 and 750nm.

The Sony F-series does excellent IR, in fact Sony had to change their sensors because it apparently did it too well with the original 707. This is because the Sony has a IR filter that apparently moves out of the way in night mode. However, the Sony cameras do not have the flexability that a DSLR would have.

Which leads me to the point that all of the Canon DSLR from at least D60 forward will also do excellent IR if you take the IR filter off the sensor (not recommended proceedure for the amateur technition). The catch is it permantly becomes an IR only camera at that point and is still imited to near-IR range, just more of it.

[eunger]

I know you were not looking for a emulated way to produce IR images, but you should check out this article from popular photography magazine. I have used it several times and it has created some amazing images. http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=4&article_id=1174

[Marvinspu36]

The Canon 20D has an infrared filter in front of the sensor, as well as a low-pass filter. Check out the following link to Canon's website which describes the filters.

Check out the following link for info.
http://www.canon.com/technology/detail/digi_35mm/lo_filter/

According to one user on Steve's Forums, he uses a Hoya filter. Here's his comment:

"You can try it with a Hoya R72, it just takes veryyyy... veryyyyyyy long shutter speed since the camera is highly insensitive to this region!"

I've never tried it though...

Edit: One thing to note. When using the Hoya filter, the image in the view finder will be very, very dark, since it is cutting out most of the visible light and the camera is not very sensitive to IR due to the IR filter in the camera.

Best Wishes

[SeanH]

design8r,

If you can wait a month I will be getting 20d and will try it with my B&W #093 filter.

Why does everyone feel the 10D does poorly with IR?
I have been very pleased with the results with no modifications.

http://silentharmonies.com/CRW_1329a.jpg
http://silentharmonies.com/CRW_0855b.jpg
http://silentharmonies.com/CRW_0848%20copy.jpg
http://silentharmonies.com/CRW_2473.jpg

When you say "no modifications", are you saying that is straight from the camera without even a contrast / light/ dark adjustment??

[FlyingPete]

Grab yourself an old G Series and use that:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=40366&highlight=Infrared

Some nice results there, better than any digital EOS ones I have seen.

[dwildone]

Check out Fred Miranda's very useful Digital Infrared PhotoShop action on http://www.fredmiranda.com/DI/. There are some sample photos of the original colour and converted IR equivalent. It's only $8.50 so you can't loose with a buy-and-try.

Where do I purchase the action? All I see on the above linked page is a description and a few examples. :confused:

[FlyingPete]

Where do I purchase the action? All I see on the above linked page is a description and a few examples. :confused:

Actually I have a guide on doing this, I will hunt it down and post it, save some $$$, as the results look the same as FM's.

[mbze430]

Gary Fong's website has an IR screw on filter, it's about $160+.

[FlyingPete]

A Guide to IR in Photoshop:

1. Select a full colour image and open it in Photoshop
2. Create an adjustment layer
3. Select the Channel Mixer from the pop-up menu
4. Check the 'monochrome' box
5. Set the slider for the green channel to 200%
6. Set the blue channel to -80%
7. Set the red channel to -20%
8. These can be fine tunned depending on the image, however the sum of all three should be around 100%
9. Use the 'constant' slider to adjust overall tonality
10. Select the image layer again, and select the green channel in the channel palette and add a Gaussian Blur radius of around 5 pixels
11. Select Edit>fade, reduce the opacity to 30% and set blending mode to 'overlay'. Also try blending in 'Screen' mode to give the green the typical luminous glow.


There you go, be good to see some examples, especially of a scene actually also taken in IR.

[Windup]

When you say "no modifications", are you saying that is straight from the camera without even a contrast / light/ dark adjustment??


No modifications to hardware.