Introduction: DIY Infrared Camera for Vegetation Analysis With Canon A2300

By www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-magn
About: I am an experienced energy professional with a strong background in technology and leadership. My successful finalization of a Ph.D. research focused on Li-ion modeling Energy systems, a master's degree in Sma…

This method was proposed by Public Lab. http://publiclab.org/wiki/near-infrared-camera

In this instructable, I'm just telling my experience with the Canon 2300 camera.

A consumer camera has a CCD or CMOS sensor with a spectral response between 400nm and 1100nm; however, it has a short-pass filter that only allows obtaining data until 720nm.

After complete this instructable, you would obtain a photography with spectral information of near infrared (NIR) and visible (VIS).

Step 1: Materials

- Canon 2300

- Filter ROSCO 2007

- Pincers

- Gloves

Step 2: Disassemble the Camera

There is a video that shows how to disassemble the camera.

For disassemble the camera, you need to follow this steps:

- First, you have to remove the 6 screw holding the securing plate.

- After that use a plastic to free the clips on the top of the back cover.

- Remove the motherboard secured plate.

- Disconnect the button and flash wire from the board

- Disconnect the display wire from the mother board

- Remove the secured plate from the LCD.

- Finally, disconnect the CCD and optics.

Notes:

You must remove the battery and the SD card before disassembling the camera.

Step 3: Taking the Band-pass Filter Off

The filter is located behind of the CCD sensor, so you must take off the sensor for reaching the filter.

Then you can just taking off the filter but sometimes it's glued together with the focus system and then you have to break it.

Step 4: Put the Custom Filter On

In order to obtain a visible & near infrared image for vegetation analysis you could Rosco 2007 filter.

As I said before, this method is explained in http://publiclab.org/wiki/near-infrared-camera

Of course you can use other custom filter to obtain different kind of images. For experimentation purpouse I bought this set of filters (Roscolux Swatchbook) which includes the Rosco 2007: http://www.rosco.com/sbreqs/

Step 5: Reassemble the Camera

For reassembling the camera you could just follow the same steps for assembling but in the opossite way.

You have to considerate some points:

- Use a gloves and the tools correctly in order to prevent damage in the process.

- Be careful with the flash module, it could be charged.

Step 6: Results

Finally, you can capture photos in the near infrared and visible spectrum.

Have fun and don't forget to post your results in comments.
For more information please visit:

www.southmade.org

Thanks for reading.