You’ll need to excuse me this week. The “new toy” effect hasn’t worn off from my infrared converted digital camera so I’m sharing another recent shot.
You may already have seen this on my Instagram feed but I wanted to share it here because not everyone checks Instagram. The Instagram images are also quite small, so it’s sometimes difficult to appreciate the image.
This is the view from the moors above my village. In winter when there are no leaves on my trees, I can see this rocky outcrop in the distance. I’ve been longing for the lockdown to ease sufficiently to allow me to venture up there. If you look to the distant hill in the centre, you can see the top of the war memorial which is a huge obelisk. Over to the right on the horizon, the dark patch is Manchester. On the full-sized image, I’m quite surprised at how clearly I can see the distant buildings.
I shot this image with my infrared converted Fuji X-T2 which uses a 665nm filter. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about (or you want to start infrared photography), I’ve just published an introduction to digital infrared photography on my website. It also includes some useful links and details of the company I used for my conversion.
For this image, I used my Fuji 18-135 which strangely seems one of the best Fuji lenses for digital infrared. I’m extremely impressed by the results. I then converted the RAW file using Capture One 20 before applying a Kodak HIE film simulation with Exposure X5 software. Exposure X5 is my go-to software for processing digital infrared because of the great grain control and Infrared Halation effect.
The exposure is handheld for 1/105” at f/11 and ISO200.
I hope you like the image and have a great weekend.
The Lightweight Photographer 
Nice picture, Robin. I tried some ir, with a native unmodified olympus pen and a 680 nm filter. This setup requires a tripod because exposures are long, even in daylight; but the point is, I do not achieve your ir look. I suspect that having an anti-ir filter over the sensor and an ir one on the lens transmits to a similar extent both vis and ir light. The result is that the image is exposed with both ir and vis light and the result is halfway infrared. Do you have experience with a similar setup? Thanks, Andrea
Yes, I have tried IR using a lens filter and an unmodified camera (Olympus EM5). The exposure was very long but it gave me something similar to my converted IR camera at the time. I think the difference for me was that I was using a 720nm filter. I’m imagining that the 680nm filter would reduce the IR effect a lot because the visible light it is allowing through would overwhelm the IR light in terms of the exposure. To give you some idea of my 720nm filter on an unmodified EM5 gave a 36″ exposure at f/8 and ISO200 in the middle of the day. Using the same settings on a modified camera (also an EM5) produced an exposure of 1/40″. If you don’t want to convert a camera, I would try a cheap 720nm filter to see if the results improve. One other point I would stress is that processing is very important with IR if you want to achieve good results.
Thank you, Robin, I shall follow your advice. I’m still not sure about permanently converting a camera. Andrea
Great shot Robin. Almost looks like a very cold winter scene. I live in Tasmania now from the UK. This shot makes me feel
So home sick.
Loving your work
Cheers
Robert
Thank you very much. Tasmania is still one of my must-visit locations, but if I ever moved away from the UK I’m sure I would soon be home sick very quickly.
I am a different Robert than the Robert from Tasmania ;-), you helped me once helped with his LAN. I like both infrared images you posted, the one in the forest has very nice, mysterious, but still optimistic light.
Right now I am nibbling into infrared with a converted D800e too. It was converted to 590nm. I am sorry now, but it happened. They talked me a bit into it and I admit, I was a bit curious about false colors. Thought to have two worlds in one camera body… Since I started to play with it I soon discovered, the original idea to shoot B&W was right. Now I have hassles with filters. Oh well…
Exposure X5 seems to be interesting software, the film simulation you used is very nice onscreen.
Keep well,
Best regards
Robert
Hi Robert, I think I remember our discussions. Were you trying to decide on a NAS drive?
I’m pleased you like my images – thank you.
Do you not achieve good results using the 590nm conversion? I would have thought if you were converting to B&W you could achieve a moderate IR look. I would really recommend downloading the trial version of Exposure X5 and trying out some of the Infrared Film simulations with your images. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Hi Robin
Yes
Yes again, they are “likable” 😉
It is not that good results would not be achievable, but they require more steps in post process than with say 720nm. (I found out, that I am not much into false colours)
Right now I am in the mountains, not so much time. But when I get home I will try it.
Regards, Robert