DIY Permanent Infrared DSLR Camera
Intro: DIY Permanent Infrared DSLR Camera
This instructable is based on another DIY tutorial, what I found on the web, of course changed here and there a bit to suit my possibilities.
http://eyesopen.org/2010/nikon-d80-infrared-conversion
I will not talk about infrared photography more than this DIY tutorial needs. There are plenty of informations on the net, even here on instructable.com or in books.
There are a few ways to take infrared photos.
The simple way is to use a plugin, or play in Photoshop curves and colors, but that always just some fake copy of an original infrared picture.
Most common is to buy an infrared filter, put to your lens and use it. There are several disadvantages with this. First the camera has a built in IR filter to block the IR rays. Second, you can not see and focus too much when the filter is on, so need a tripod, frame the shoot without the filter, fix the tripod, attach the filter, set the shutter (which will be long regarding the dark IR glass) and take your shoot. The IR filter will allow only IR rays to go through but the IR blocker at the sensor is filtering out, so those bright whites will fade out a bit and still need a lot of Photoshop to have that stunning effect! If you have many lenses with different size, then more filter needed or conversion rings.
The best way to use an IR camera, dedicated for IR shooting, but those are rare and expensive...
And you all know what is left! Do It Yourself :)
Obviously nobody wants to ruin an expensive camera, especially if it won't take normal pictures anymore, therefore the best thing is to buy some good older camera which is easy to modify. To use any of my Nikon lenses on the infrared camera I picked an older, but not too old D80.
The requirements were to have a big enough LCD, handle lenses with no focus motor built in, and have some advanced options to set up the camera for IR pictures.
Costs:
The used D80 was 130 euro. A used but perfect small IR filter was 18 euro.
The price of a good (HOYA) IR lens filter in 77mm size what I can use on my lenses and some additional converter rings cost 130+30 euro. See disadvantages above.
http://eyesopen.org/2010/nikon-d80-infrared-conversion
I will not talk about infrared photography more than this DIY tutorial needs. There are plenty of informations on the net, even here on instructable.com or in books.
There are a few ways to take infrared photos.
The simple way is to use a plugin, or play in Photoshop curves and colors, but that always just some fake copy of an original infrared picture.
Most common is to buy an infrared filter, put to your lens and use it. There are several disadvantages with this. First the camera has a built in IR filter to block the IR rays. Second, you can not see and focus too much when the filter is on, so need a tripod, frame the shoot without the filter, fix the tripod, attach the filter, set the shutter (which will be long regarding the dark IR glass) and take your shoot. The IR filter will allow only IR rays to go through but the IR blocker at the sensor is filtering out, so those bright whites will fade out a bit and still need a lot of Photoshop to have that stunning effect! If you have many lenses with different size, then more filter needed or conversion rings.
The best way to use an IR camera, dedicated for IR shooting, but those are rare and expensive...
And you all know what is left! Do It Yourself :)
Obviously nobody wants to ruin an expensive camera, especially if it won't take normal pictures anymore, therefore the best thing is to buy some good older camera which is easy to modify. To use any of my Nikon lenses on the infrared camera I picked an older, but not too old D80.
The requirements were to have a big enough LCD, handle lenses with no focus motor built in, and have some advanced options to set up the camera for IR pictures.
Costs:
The used D80 was 130 euro. A used but perfect small IR filter was 18 euro.
The price of a good (HOYA) IR lens filter in 77mm size what I can use on my lenses and some additional converter rings cost 130+30 euro. See disadvantages above.
STEP 1: Tools, Materials
- used Nikon D80 camera
- any 50+mm IR filter
To open the camera only one tool needed, a Philips 00 screwdriver. Just in case I had a small precise tweezer with me.
To cut the filter to the desired size I used a water-jet machine, but it can be cut by hand.
- any 50+mm IR filter
To open the camera only one tool needed, a Philips 00 screwdriver. Just in case I had a small precise tweezer with me.
To cut the filter to the desired size I used a water-jet machine, but it can be cut by hand.
STEP 2: Step by Step
The D80 camera is very easy to open. See the pictures to follow.
- Loose the 4 screws on the bottom.
- Remove the 2-2 screws from the sides.
- Open the battery door and gently pull the bottom plate, meanwhile open the CF card door and gently pull the back panel. With a screwdriver you can help a bit to unclip that little notch on the back panel from the bottom plate.
- Flip the back panel up.
- Open that little black plastic lock to disconnect the flat-wires between the back panel and the camera.
- Remove the marked screws on the picture and remove the metal panel.
- Open that two black plastic locks to disconnect the flat-wires between the PCB and the body.
- One more screw to go!
- Flip the panel upright. Fix it with some tape in this position.
- Next, the sensor panel! Remove those three screws, gently pull up the bottom side and pull downward the panel.
- Flip the big PCB panel down followed by the sensor panel.
- The greenish protector glass is the IR blocking filter. That is what we need to replace.
- Unscrew the 4 screws around and remove that holder frame followed by the glass frame.
- Remove the filter glass.
The replacement IR filter needs to be cut to a certain size. I followed the recessed grooves on the rubber surface around the sensor. According to it, the new filter glass size is 29,5 mm x 25 mm. The glass goes under the glass frame but only on the top and bottom.
The new filter is thicker than the original, but the holder frame still have enough tension to hold it down. Before installing, it need to be cleaned very well!
After the new filter has been replaced I assembled the camera. Just do it in reversed order.
- Loose the 4 screws on the bottom.
- Remove the 2-2 screws from the sides.
- Open the battery door and gently pull the bottom plate, meanwhile open the CF card door and gently pull the back panel. With a screwdriver you can help a bit to unclip that little notch on the back panel from the bottom plate.
- Flip the back panel up.
- Open that little black plastic lock to disconnect the flat-wires between the back panel and the camera.
- Remove the marked screws on the picture and remove the metal panel.
- Open that two black plastic locks to disconnect the flat-wires between the PCB and the body.
- One more screw to go!
- Flip the panel upright. Fix it with some tape in this position.
- Next, the sensor panel! Remove those three screws, gently pull up the bottom side and pull downward the panel.
- Flip the big PCB panel down followed by the sensor panel.
- The greenish protector glass is the IR blocking filter. That is what we need to replace.
- Unscrew the 4 screws around and remove that holder frame followed by the glass frame.
- Remove the filter glass.
The replacement IR filter needs to be cut to a certain size. I followed the recessed grooves on the rubber surface around the sensor. According to it, the new filter glass size is 29,5 mm x 25 mm. The glass goes under the glass frame but only on the top and bottom.
The new filter is thicker than the original, but the holder frame still have enough tension to hold it down. Before installing, it need to be cleaned very well!
After the new filter has been replaced I assembled the camera. Just do it in reversed order.
STEP 3: Cutting the Filter
I can access a water-jet cutting machine, you can say its easy like that. Yeah indeed there some advantages. :) However it can be cut by hand or find a water-jet company to cut it for you.
First, I removed the glass from the frame by pulling that ring out which holds the glass in place. Then I taped the glass from both side with masking tape to avoid any scratch on it, than with duct tape I fixed it to a piece of wood to avoid it to slip during the cutting process.
All I needed is square piece in 29.5 x 25 mm.
First, I removed the glass from the frame by pulling that ring out which holds the glass in place. Then I taped the glass from both side with masking tape to avoid any scratch on it, than with duct tape I fixed it to a piece of wood to avoid it to slip during the cutting process.
All I needed is square piece in 29.5 x 25 mm.
STEP 4: Test Images
The next day I took the camera to do some test shots.
The plane shots from the IR camera looks monochrome red. Some setup required to achieve a nice results.
I set the white balance manually to the minimum to offset the red color more to the blue. The images are saved to RAW to have more control during the post process, and set the ISO to 100 to have less noise.
I am pretty satisfied with the pictures what I took. Interesting to see, that even if it's not sunny, the foliage reflect a lot of IR rays. As I see, darker the foliage, more IR rays it reflects. The human eye is weirdly dark, same as a car or any window, since the glass is blocking the IR rays. However the sunglasses are a bit see through! The blue sky is black, the clouds are just popping out.
The purplish camera pictures need some more white balance tweak during the post process. I pull it more down as much I can, and offset it to the blue color. Or just switch the hole thing to black & white. From this point this is matter of personal taste. As long I have RAW file I can always revert to the original and start it over.
The plane shots from the IR camera looks monochrome red. Some setup required to achieve a nice results.
I set the white balance manually to the minimum to offset the red color more to the blue. The images are saved to RAW to have more control during the post process, and set the ISO to 100 to have less noise.
I am pretty satisfied with the pictures what I took. Interesting to see, that even if it's not sunny, the foliage reflect a lot of IR rays. As I see, darker the foliage, more IR rays it reflects. The human eye is weirdly dark, same as a car or any window, since the glass is blocking the IR rays. However the sunglasses are a bit see through! The blue sky is black, the clouds are just popping out.
The purplish camera pictures need some more white balance tweak during the post process. I pull it more down as much I can, and offset it to the blue color. Or just switch the hole thing to black & white. From this point this is matter of personal taste. As long I have RAW file I can always revert to the original and start it over.
49 Comments
AlexN69 6 years ago
Good job. When changing the optical filter did you have to adjust the focus of the camera in manual and automatic?
Thank you
zorwick 6 years ago
OwenB12 8 years ago
I'm just about to do this myself too, ordered a diamond dremel 20mm disc for cutting though, had trouble finding a water jet cutting machine. One question from me, what is the best frequency pass filter to use, while researching I found there were many that differ slightly in the frequency, from 700nm, 720nm, and so on. I ordered the 720nm half bandwidth, with max scope from 800 to 1200nm. how do these vary ?
Cesarini 8 years ago
hi, I am trying to do this witj a small camera DV150f from samsungs, but I can not find the IR filter, I already opened and looked between the sensor and lenses and there is no filter as the one I am accostume to see, becasues thi is my third camera conversion. Thanks for the help
zorwick 8 years ago
So maybe that camera wont work.
Zoltan
Cesarini 8 years ago
So it is weird, I am lost with this camera.
Thanks.
Hughleal 8 years ago
snelson43 8 years ago
di.mongar 9 years ago
Hi! I tried to convert my Nikon D70 into an IR-camera myself. I followed carefully step by step the tutorials on the internet (youtube and others), but the only thing I didn't do is to exchange the original filter with an IR-filter (because, according to one tutorial it wasn't necessary...). When I tried my camera it didn't quite work. I can view the previous pictures stored in the memory card but it doesn't seem to be able to register any new photographs. I tried to reformat the memory card and try again a message on the LCD-screen appeared: "THIS CARD CANNOT BE USED". I don't think is the card though... I tried the same card on another camera and it works just fine. So I'm afraid I happened to damage my camera.
What could have possibly gone wrong? Do you have any idea of what the problem can be? Is it possible to fix?
Thank you very much in advance.
zorwick 9 years ago
You wrote, that you did not replace the filter with an IR filter...than how would you have IR camera? If you did not put any protection glass front of the sensor, it will be damaged by even a piece of dirt.
di.mongar 9 years ago
Thank you very much for your response!
I have checked twice all those small connectors and they appear to be properly reconnected... I'll check it once again.
About the IR-filter... I thought that there was a filter blocking the IR "light" and that it was enough just to take away the original filter. Maybe I'm wrong hahaha. I'll buy a proper IR-filter.
LamarC1 9 years ago
The error "THIS CARD CANNOT BE USED".is 99.999% of the time, the ribbon cable not being inserted deep enough into the board connector. I had the same problem with two Nikon D70 I converted for myself. Checked many times, and it all looked correctly connected. WRONG!!! If you keep getting this error is because STILL NOT PROPERLY CONNECTED.
ruppaw 9 years ago
Hey, I have converted a few point and shoots for problem. Recently I got a d3000 to try and convert to full spectrum but the screws were all locked in to tight and I stripped the ones the held in the hot mirror, so I re-soldered it and sold it. trying to figure out where to go from here. Does anyone have an experience with d3000’s, could it have just been a problem with mine? are there other cheap nikons that are easier to dismantle?
Byte_M3 9 years ago
Nevermind, I get it, it doesnt filter out IR, but visible light
Byte_M3 9 years ago
Why do you put a new IR filter inside the camera? Isn't it better to use just a piece of glass?
JOSUESTEIN 10 years ago
hello. I'm doing the process with the Nikon D70s.
What the new IR filter is thicker does not cause problems in the rest of the camera?
hola. estoy haciendo el proceso con la Nikon D70s.
¿que el nuevo filtro IR sea más grueso no causa problemas en el resto de la camara?
saludos desde Venezuela
zorwick 10 years ago
Hi,
The D70 is almost the same as D80, so it should not be a problem to convert it. The IR filter what I use is 2mm thick, but still fit. The most important is to open your camera and see what size you need exactly. Because the original IR block filter is carved to a special shape, I could not do that, that is why I had to check what size could fit. I dont know if there is any difference with the sensor between the D70 and D80, so check it first. That flexible frame what holds the original filter can take thick pieces. Changing the filter is not effecting any other parts or the function of the camera. It can be turned back to normal if you want later.
Before the final assembly make sure the edge of the new filter is sanded, all little particles cleaned carefully. And never touch the sensor itself!
After assembling the camera, I experienced some back focus issues, but it can be fixed following this website:
http://leongoodman.tripod.com/d70focus.html
Some lens, mainly the wide angle types, could have IR hotspot, what is an unwanted light spot on the middle of the picture. Its because the inside paint/coating of the lens barrel is reflecting the IR light. It happens with my Tokina 11-16 lens, and its visible on my photos.
My test photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24907525@N05/sets/721...
Good luck!
Zoltan
JOSUESTEIN 10 years ago
para hacer el mejor Balance de Blanco, usa una kodak Carta Gris de 18%.
to make the best White Balance, using a Kodak Gray Card 18%.
saludos desde Venezuela
@steinfoto
zmashiah 10 years ago
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32448585/IR%20R%26B%20DD.exe
If you want to use Photoshop, here is a text explaining how to use the color mixer:
http://pario.no/2008/06/09/color-channel-swapping-in-photoshop/
zorwick 10 years ago