X-Pro1 - Infra Red Photography

Whilst looking into dark glass (ND Filters) - I came across a number of examples of metering anomalies with the X-Pro1, that suggested to me that this camera was seeing infra red light, as well as visible light.

This would be an exciting revelation, a camera that does IR out of the box, without requiring permanent internal filter modifications would be an great tool for a whole new field of photography.

One quick way to find to - buy an IR filter, and try it out.

Well, today my Hoya R72 filter arrived - a rather specialist filter designed to block visible light, and allow IR wavelengths above 720 nm to pass through to the sensor.

In practice, The R72 hits 50% transmissivity at 720 nm, just inside the Near Infra Red (NIR)

I screwed it on - set ISO at 400 and the aperture at f8 for some DOF - and put the X-Pro1 on a sturdy tripod.

IR exposures can be long - there's not much illumination getting through even on a sunny day like today!

All shots from Leo Carrillo Ranch, Carlsbad.

You can see that plant-life goes white - so leaves etc glow in a nice ethereal way - Skies have super contrast, as if you used a CPL.

Focus seemed to be a non issue for the X-Pro1, as the camera was focussing using the contrast in the image - so issues with different focal lengths for the different wavelength of light do not seem to matter using this system.

The original files would be deep brick red in color - so I used a WB of 2600k and then modified that further to the 'green' end of the spectrum to counteract the red cast from the R72 filter.

The false-color originals have a IR 'hot spot' in the center with the 18mm lens - not tried the 35mm yet, so can't comment on whether it's a lens or camera feature. When you convert the false color images to B&W, the hot spot is no longer an issue.

Exciting stuff - and the good news is the Hoya filters are not expensive.

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