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IR photography and patches (read for elaboration)

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Solidus

Jun 19, 2011
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Well, here goes.

If anything here seems garbled in my explanation, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll clarify.

I'm an airsofter by hobby, and an amateur photographer (I'm taking my first photo course and looking to get into it). Now a lot of airsofters do what's called military simulation (milsim for short) and actually go out in military gear and reenact operations and what not. My team and I plan on doing the same. All the uniforms and gear can be legally purchased online by pretty much anyone as long as they pay.

Now the US Army, for their new Army Combat Uniform, has special near-infrared patches that attach through Velcro to the uniform - they appear to be black and white under normal lighting conditions (visible light) but when viewed through image intensifiers, night vision and what not (IR sensitive devices) these patches glow. This is for IFF (identification - friendly / foe) purposes. (If you're glowing because of the patches, they don't shoot you)

Now, I'm just some high school kid, but I have an ounce of creativity in me, and I decided, what if I shot in infrared in the middle of the night and caught all my buddies with their patches and everything lit up? It would make for some really interesting photo effects!

Now my questions are about photography, so anyone can help (I know nothing about this field), but especially if you are more into photography.

I was thinking of obtaining infrared film, just putting it in the camera and shooting, maybe with an filter to distract some of the color out of it, but I wasn't preferring this because I've heard IR film has to be handled and processed carefully and much different from the color film I've been shooting, as well as - again, I'm an 18-year-od kid - the "instant gratification" component, and not knowing if I've taken the photo successfully or if my venture has just taken a nasty whack on my wallet.

So, in the interest of doing it all under one roof, I'm going to buy a dSLR and use it for photography, and would want to use it for this as well. I wanted to know if any of you had advice for me along the lines of:

1. Would this even work? I've heard dSLRs can shoot in infrared, but are they sensitive in the near-infrared range?
2. I've read online that a lot require modification. What would I need to do this? I can't modify the camera permanently. Are there lens filters that only pass IR that the camera will pick up on? If so, where can I find them?
3. Is it a practical idea (that is, can I do other things worth my while shooting in infrared when I'm not taking pictures of my buddies running around in Army uniforms)?

Thanks for any help anyone can give!
 

Resqueline

Jul 31, 2009
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All (most) digital cameras are sensitive in the near-IR region. Just have a look at the business end of a remote control with a cell-phone camera etc.
You won't need an IR filter if the scene is dark. What you'll need first & foremost is an IR light source. They're often used together with CCTV surveillance.
For shooting IR in daylight (fluorescent lighting won't make IR, but incandescent will) you'll need an IR filter on the camera though.
 

(*steve*)

¡sǝpodᴉʇuɐ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥd
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Electronic flash also puts out a lot of IR. You can place an IR filter in front of it and you have what is essentially an IR flash.

The problem with flash is the inverse square law though...

A simple IR filter is a piece of fogged and developed slide film (it has a high density, but is transparent to IR -- and you may be able to guess why)

Finding a single sheet of 5x4 slide film will be one hassle though, and then finding someone who can develop it...
 

Solidus

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All (most) digital cameras are sensitive in the near-IR region. Just have a look at the business end of a remote control with a cell-phone camera etc.
You won't need an IR filter if the scene is dark. What you'll need first & foremost is an IR light source. They're often used together with CCTV surveillance.
For shooting IR in daylight (fluorescent lighting won't make IR, but incandescent will) you'll need an IR filter on the camera though.

Now are the IR filters those opaque filters (the ones that just look black to the human eye)?

Also, does the same hold true for digital SLRs?

Going off what Steve said, I could just IR filter the camera's flash and that should provide illumination in the IR region?

And Steve, if you could please elaborate. I've been through a couple years of advanced chem courses, but I haven't the physics to really understand light and what-not.
 

(*steve*)

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There are 2 types of IR filters, IR pass, and IR blocking filters.

The opaque (to visible light anyway) are IR pass filters which are designed to block visible light and allow IR through. Exposed to room light (fogged) and developed slide film is a cheap option in this area.

The clear IR filters are IR blocking filters and you find them in a lot of equipment that has CCD sensors because CCD's are quite sensitive to IR. If you're lucky, you can find a camera where this is easily removable or where it has a "hight vision" option where the filter is removed.

You should use google to see if your camera can be used for IR, and if required, what you need to do to make it more sensitive.

Here is an example for some Canon digital SLRs.

Here is an example of converting a flash for IR use.
 

Solidus

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So, there are dSLRs available that allow the IR blocker to be flipped up or otherwise removed from the image for night vision work?

And those would enable the same IR shooting as a permanently converted dSLR?
 

(*steve*)

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So, there are dSLRs available that allow the IR blocker to be flipped up or otherwise removed from the image for night vision work?

I have no idea.

Actually a quick Google tells me that a Fujifilm Finepix S3 Pro UVIR will do this.

I see nothing more recent, and I imagine it will suffer from poor colours when you shoot normally.

Here is another page which indicates that removing the IR filter is really the only practical option.

edit: Actually there is an interesting quote on that last page now I read it again...

Some cameras such as the Sigma SD10 have the IR-blocking filter as a user-removeable component, but they're the exception. Some Sony cameras have a NightShot mode where the IR-blocking filter is moved aside, and these can be useful IR cameras (but deliberate firmware limitations in these cameras limit the available shutter speeds so that IR photography in daylight usually requires an external ND filter in conjunction with an IR-pass filter).
 
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Solidus

Jun 19, 2011
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That is really helpful!

Can you draw me a link to the Sonys with NightShot? Google is being a pain where the sun doesn't shine right now, and any search for "night shot" or "dSLRs with night vision" redirect me to night vision lenses which I could sell to buy myself a new car.
 

Solidus

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I don't think they have them in dSLR variants :/

They do have, on one of their SLRs though, a "night view" mode.

Guess it's time to email them and ask!
 

(*steve*)

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Let me know how you get on.
 

FuZZ1L0G1C

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I once watched a you tube tutorial on removing a mobile phone's filter (can't remember now if it was IR or UV).
A point the poster made was that once removed, the phone was almost useless for visible-light photography, as all pics were heavily fogged.
 

Harald Kapp

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I locked the old thread. Replies after 8 years are usually not menaingful.
 
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