Hello, I’ve been interesting for some time in IR photography and recently seen some nice shots shown here so I risk to ask, according to you :
What is the cheapest but still capable body with full spectrum I can get ?
I have several lenses and a speed booster from my micro 4/3 time, would it be smart to try to get a micro 4/3 full spectrum converted body ? Or are there special requirements for IR lenses preventing me from re using these ?
I still have 2 micro 4/3 body lying around (lumix G1 and GH1) would one of theses worth paying for a conversion ? Would theses be appropriate for the job ?
Filters
What filter pack would you advise for landscape ?
have you experimented with IR portraiture ?
Misc
What general advices would you give to a beginner in the field ?
I bought a used Olympus EM1 full spectrum from eBay that has enough resolution for me. There’s also a guy called Florian in Romania who converted another old camera to infrared for me for around £160 pounds. He has his own website and also offers his service through eBay and I found him to very reliable and friendly.
There are also instruction videos on YouTube showing how you can do your own conversion for free.
The main thing to watch for with lenses is hotspots. I was able to use most of my existing M4/3 lenses without problem. There are some hotspot lists of lenses available online, such as:
I’ve also used cheap manual focus lenses with an adapter.
The one thing about full spectrum is it gives you much more flexibility but you almost always need to use lens filters on your lenses to get the effect you’re looking for, whereas cameras that have an IR filter installed over the sensor allow you to just shoot without a filter on your lenses.
I’m not an expert but my general advice is IR photography can quickly become overpowering and repetitive and so I personally prefer things that hint at infrared but aren’t just endless white or red foliage. The risk is you’ll try it and get bored. So i’d try to avoid investing too much. You can get an infrared filter that you can put on your unconverted camera and using a long exposure and tripod get some infrared effects to see if it’s interesting or not.
There are cheap filters available from China in the usual places when you’re just trying things out but check the reviews as some aren’t what they claim to be.
I had a very old but still good working Olympus E-PM2 which I converted for about 100€ to full spectrum and now i use it for either astro or infrared with some small and cheap filters that can be put between the lens and sensor. Of course, also normal photography is stil posibile, you just need a custom white balance with the astro filter
Very good advise and beginner video
even though I guess the exposure time must be shorter with a modified camera, It seem very sensible to start just with a filter to experiment and just see if I want to go further with IR.
Thanks for the hot-spot lens DB as well !
