I was inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope to try some infra red photography and so sent away for a filter for my DSLR. Of course, I didn't have a clue about this kind of thing so it should have come as no surprise to me when it arrived that I was barking up the wrong tree. I'm stupid enough that it still came as a surprise.
So I went on to the web of all things to find out where I was going wrong. And this is the story of what I found and what I did. I thought I would document it in case others wanted to try a similar thing. Here goes.
It turns out that the CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensors in modern cameras are very good at detecting IR light. So good, in fact, that the manufacturers add an optical filter prohibiting IR. This sits between the CMOS sensor and the lens and has to be removed. I happen to have two DSLRs but I'm a coward at heart and didn't want to risk seriously damaging one when I didn't really know what I was doing. Luckily, I had a couple of very old compact digital cameras lying around and chose the one that already had a fault. It was an old Canon that was never used because the autofocus was on the blink. Other than that it still worked perfectly.
So, picture No. 1: Tools and equipment
Here are my weapons of choice. The isopropyl alcohol spray and cotton buds (I believe y'all Americans call them Q Tips) are for cleaning the CMOS and the lens.
Next, I had to get into the camera, unplug the ribbon cables holding the LCD in place and remove the LCD to gain access to the sensor.
After unscrewing the sensor, there is a small, rubber grommet holding the IR filter in place. Remove grommet, remove IR filter, clean lens, clean CMOS, replace grommet and replace CMOS as can be seen below.
At this point, I'd just like to say that these little cameras are not really designed to be taken apart and are extremely fiddly. Once I'd exposed the CMOS, it took less than five minutes to convert it. It took over an hour to open up and then rebuild the camera and was a complete pain in the arse.
Obviously the next step is to test it. When turning on the camera in normal daylight, everything has a slightly red tint. This is good news because it means that IR is now getting to the CMOS. To test it further, I'd have to either wait for darkness or to hold my newly purchased filter (it doesn't fit the camera) in front of the lens and take a picture. The lens is designed to block lightwaves of less than 720nanometres. Visible light is between 400 and 700nm. Looking through the filter, everything is black but put it up to an IR sensitive camera and this is what you get (remember I said the focussing was knackered on this camera)
So there you have it. One compact camera functioning within the Infra-Red spectrum.
Now, all I need to do is pluck up the courage to tackle a decent camera. Don't hold your breathe....
So I went on to the web of all things to find out where I was going wrong. And this is the story of what I found and what I did. I thought I would document it in case others wanted to try a similar thing. Here goes.
It turns out that the CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensors in modern cameras are very good at detecting IR light. So good, in fact, that the manufacturers add an optical filter prohibiting IR. This sits between the CMOS sensor and the lens and has to be removed. I happen to have two DSLRs but I'm a coward at heart and didn't want to risk seriously damaging one when I didn't really know what I was doing. Luckily, I had a couple of very old compact digital cameras lying around and chose the one that already had a fault. It was an old Canon that was never used because the autofocus was on the blink. Other than that it still worked perfectly.
So, picture No. 1: Tools and equipment
Here are my weapons of choice. The isopropyl alcohol spray and cotton buds (I believe y'all Americans call them Q Tips) are for cleaning the CMOS and the lens.
Next, I had to get into the camera, unplug the ribbon cables holding the LCD in place and remove the LCD to gain access to the sensor.
After unscrewing the sensor, there is a small, rubber grommet holding the IR filter in place. Remove grommet, remove IR filter, clean lens, clean CMOS, replace grommet and replace CMOS as can be seen below.
At this point, I'd just like to say that these little cameras are not really designed to be taken apart and are extremely fiddly. Once I'd exposed the CMOS, it took less than five minutes to convert it. It took over an hour to open up and then rebuild the camera and was a complete pain in the arse.
Obviously the next step is to test it. When turning on the camera in normal daylight, everything has a slightly red tint. This is good news because it means that IR is now getting to the CMOS. To test it further, I'd have to either wait for darkness or to hold my newly purchased filter (it doesn't fit the camera) in front of the lens and take a picture. The lens is designed to block lightwaves of less than 720nanometres. Visible light is between 400 and 700nm. Looking through the filter, everything is black but put it up to an IR sensitive camera and this is what you get (remember I said the focussing was knackered on this camera)
So there you have it. One compact camera functioning within the Infra-Red spectrum.
Now, all I need to do is pluck up the courage to tackle a decent camera. Don't hold your breathe....
