Modifying Samsung S630 IR Sensitivity

If you are young or you feel young, skillfully talented yet underpaid and you love photography so much especially the picture effects that only an expensive DSLR camera/lens can achieve (IR Photography), then this tutorial is likely to be yours!

DISCLAIMER: THIS TUTORIAL IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR BEGINNERS UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO TRY AND YOU ARE VERY CURIOUS. THIS SHOULD BE DONE BY SOMEONE WHO HAD EXPERIENCED SOLDERING WIRES OR ANY CIRCUIT COMPONENTS AND HAVE DISMANTLING EXPERIENCE IN ANY SORT OF GADGET/S. IT IS ALSO ADVISABLE TO USE CHEAP, OBSOLETE POINT-AND-SHOOT COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERA SO THAT IT WOULD NOT BE TOO HARSH ON YOU IF YOU DAMAGED THE DEVICE DURING THE PROCESS. THIS STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL IS ALSO ONLY APPLICABLE TO SAMSUNG MODEL S630 ALTHOUGH THE PROCESS OF MODIFYING THE IR SENSITIVITY APPLIES TO ALL AND THAT IS THE REMOVAL OF THE IR CUTOFF FILTER. THE COLOR OF THE IR CUTOFF FILTER ALSO VARIES TO EVERY MANUFACTURER. IN THIS CASE, WE WOULD BE REMOVING A "REDDISH" FILTER ALTHOUGH USUALLY FILTERS ARE "BLUISH" IN COLOR. LASTLY, DISMANTLING A DIGICAM IS REALLY HARD BECAUSE IT IS NOT DESIGNED FOR DISASSEMBLING SO DISMANTLE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! ANYWAY, GOOD LUCK...

This is my very first Instructable-guide. Been reading so many amazing stuff here for a year or so now but never did get the chance to share some of my projects due to work. So amazingly I had free time to work on this project and eventually finish it. Completed the project approximately 3 hours including dinner on my worktable. Anyhow, first thing to remember before doing anything else is to gather all the materials needed. It is also advisable to acquire the internal schematic diagram of the device if available. However in my case, I had to completely figure out the dismantling and everything myself because schematic, camera parts diagram is not available anywhere online.

Step 1 GATHERING OF MATERIALS

1) Any cheap and obsolete compact point-and-shoot digital camera. Fortunately in my case, since I was already fond of photography in childhood, I've come to collect lots of system from Toycam-to-Analoguecam-to-Advantix-to-Digicam-to-Lomocam so acquiring an obsolete camera is no way a problem for me. I just need to dig in my stock room and there I have it!

2) Precision screwdriver. I have also been collecting tools like these since high school for some reason. I'm just drawn to dismantling and reassembling stuff. I get thrill from it so the earlier you collect tools the better for you would be using one eventually in hacking projects like this. Although there are many precision screwdrivers available in the market, I personally like to use the one with rubber grip. It is also advisable to acquire a precision screwdriver with opt x 60mm, opt x 23/8in.

3) Soldering gun/iron. I've been using this since college. Well I guess you can tell the looks of the tip of this soldering iron. I think I may need to buy a new one but I can't dispose this for sentimental sake. Anyway, you would be needing a soldering gun/iron because you would desolder something in the dismantling process so it is very preferable that you do have soldering experience.

4) Soldering lead. Of course you can't solder without soldering lead and I always believe that the key to a good solder is through the soldering lead you would be using. I suggest you acquire the one from ALEXAN (local store shameless plug). They market one of the finest soldering lead in the country IMO. I was only able to visit two branches of ALEXAN, one in Raon and the other located at SM Megamall. If you would want to check newest robotic kits and components, I suggest you go to Raon branch for the store is bigger and components there are more complete.

5) Desoldering pump. A desoldering pump, colloquially known as a solder sucker, is a device which is used to remove solder from a printed circuit board. There are two types: the plunger style and bulb style. Well it's hard to desolder without this so I suggest for you to acquire one of these. And I'm using the plunger style.