Over the weekend I spent some time experimenting with my newly converted infrared GX1. My conclusion is that digital infrared is totally addictive.
The light was not very good for traditional photography and the sky lacked any real detail. Seen on the infrared LCD however this drab scene took on a completely different appearance. I also found the Panasonic Lumix GX1 is very easy to carry as a second body; it’s easy to slip it into my bag or pocket. In the end though I was walking around with two cameras around my neck because they are so light; the unconverted GX1 with a 14-45mm lens and the Infrared version with a 9-18mm lens.
Following up on my previous posts I have also made some useful discoveries about shooting infrared with the GX1:
- I reported previously that the focussing seemed to be off and indeed it was. I have now switched to using the pinpoint focus rather than the movable area and the problem has corrected itself. I have since switched back to the moveable area focus and that now appears to be working also. I don’t know what caused the problem but I will monitor it carefully.
- I found an article on IR photography on the internet that said setting the white balance is very important and that the AWB seldom gives good results. I had pretty much ignored the AWB setting as I shoot in RAW reasoning that I could set it later. I would never have thought however about making the adjustment that was recommended, taking the Colour temperature to the minimum (2,700K). When I came to update my camera I found that the company who performed the conversion had already registered 2 custom colour settings in the camera and they work very well.
- I had previously thought the images produced were a little grainy so I performed a Pixel Refresh from the menu and the problem seems to have been corrected. This might however be as a result of the new white balance settings that I am using as a starting point for my conversion to Black and White.
Whilst the weather wasn’t great at the weekend I am starting to realise some of the potential of my converted camera and am actually quite pleased with some of the images. More will appear on these pages in the future.
The Lightweight Photographer 
Hi Robin,
I can definitely see the effect that the infra red has made on the sky but would it be possible for you to publish a photo taken at the same time & in the same place with a non infra red camera so we can see the difference & really appreciate the difference that the infra red camera is making on a really dull day. It would obviously be needed to be PP’ed in the same way so as to appreciate the full difference. I am interested to see the results as you are using the infra red camera to take images on completely different types of day than is generally published.
Many thanks
Hi Paul, I don’t have anything at the moment that I can post but this is something I will do in the future.
Great picture, I really like the atmosphere. Hurray infrared 😉
Thank you very much – Infrared’s also totally addictive.