Cell Phone Night Vision - Under $10

Step 4 Removing the lens & IR filter

Now that you've found your camera, you need to remove the lens to get to the IR filter.

The Infrared Filter in your cell phone filters out any light in the 900+ nanometer(nm) range. The light in that range is called infrared. Humans can't see it, so why should it be seen on film: that is the idea behind IR filters.

However, we are going to take that filter out so we CAN see infrared light.

First, unscrew the lens from the camera module. On cell phones, it's very small, don't lose it.

Take a look at the lens. You'll notice a piece of glass that has a cherry red/orange tint (THIS IS NOT THE RAINBOW COLORED CHIP THING, thats the CCD semiconductor, don't touch it!): this is the IR Filter. In most cell phones, this is glued to the lens assembly. If not glued down, gently tap it out and proceed to the next step.

You will have to break the IR Filter off. Use a small screwdriver, and press down onto the Glass IR Filter where it meets the lens assembly. Do this around the entire circumference of the filter or until the filter breaks into pieces, then scrape them out. Do not continue to break the rest of the glass inside the lens assembly!

Comments

[the "wow shammy"]

if you take off the filter will it make your pictures go dead forever?