Infrared - Lewes Beach

[John B.]

I just had my Nikon D80 converted to infrared. Before this I tried an infrared filter on the lens but find it's cumbersome, and if anyone walks into the scene while the lengthy exposure is taking place, it's either ruined or seems like you have ghosts. Apart from that, everything must be perfectly still. Trees moving in a slight breeze will blur because of exposures taking eight to ten seconds. I finally went for the camera conversion so it can now be hand-held and used as normal. Here is my first attempt, a scene at Lewes beach with the Lewes-Cape May ferry coming in. A little bit of post-processing in Corel Paintshop Pro.



Cape May-Lewes ferry - Feb 10, 2013 by John Henrick, on Flickr

[OldBoy]

Cracking shot and love the sky.

[JamesBlonde]

Great pic!

Just curious who you went to for your IR conversion, how much it cost, and how you're finding it? Did you consider what strength filter to use (680nm vs 720nm)? Any hotspot issues with lenses, or is that purely a long exposure issue that has gone away?

I'm looking to do the same with my D90 at some point in the near future, so would be useful to get some first hand feedback!

[John B.]

Originally Posted by JamesBlonde

Great pic!

Just curious who you went to for your IR conversion, how much it cost, and how you're finding it? Did you consider what strength filter to use (680nm vs 720nm)? Any hotspot issues with lenses, or is that purely a long exposure issue that has gone away?

I'm looking to do the same with my D90 at some point in the near future, so would be useful to get some first hand feedback!

I went to 'Life Pixel' for the conversion. I looked around, first, and found them to be a great source of information. I even had emails going back and forth with them before I decided to get the conversion done. They are on the ball!

I just settled for the standard IR conversion. Their website will tell you all that you need to know. They had reduced their price from $400 to $250, and I'm well pleased with their work. They do recommend a certain lens for the conversion, which in the case of Nikon DLSRs is an 18 - 70 mm zoom because it has no hotspots. They calibrate the focusing for that lens as standard. I have tried my other lenses like my Sigma 18 - 250 mm zoom, and it has a very slight hotspot, although I didn't try the different focal lengths. Same thing with my 11 - 18 mm wide angle... just a very, very slight hotspot. They will custom calibrate for your lens if you prefer, but that's another $100.

Incidentally, I didn't have a Nikon 18 - 70 mm lens but I got one for $140 off eBay, and it's in excellent condition, like new. Otherwise you'd have to pay around $400 for a new one.

Here's their website: http://www.lifepixel.com/

[John B.]

Originally Posted by OldBoy

Cracking shot and love the sky.

Thank you, OldBoy! One thing about IR photos is, when taking landscapes, is a sky with clouds, otherwise it just looks kind of blank. Looking forward to some foliage in the Spring, too.

[JamesBlonde]

Thanks John!

IR conversion prices in the UK (that I've seen anyway!) are around £250, so $250 sounds fantastic, and could almost justify postage to the US!

I've been shooting IR using a Hoya R72 for a couple of years, but I agree with you that long exposures frequently mean you miss something! Although having said that, sometimes the cloud movement adds to the shot! Mind you, I never managed to get my camera down as low as 8 second exposures - I tend to go for 30 second exposures by default at F8 or 9 and ISO L1 (which I guess is 100).

[John B.]

So your British price works out to around $375. That's a big difference. UPS would ship it for you, being international. I didn't realize you are in the UK. You might want to check UPS shipping to the States, but you'd also have to pay a higher shipping price for the camera's return. The company charged me $20 for shipping it back to me, so my total price was $270. That covered insurance, too.

I have that Hoya R72, too, and it now sits in a drawer. I don't know if it would sell on eBay. I can't imagine there's a lot of call for one.

Yes, for shorter exposures you'd need to up the ISO. I think I used my filter around 800 ISO, and a larger aperture.