SD10 Dust Protector IR Mod Project

Hi all,

A few weeks back Jim(JLK), Seng(SPM) and I had talked about a modified Dust protector for the SD10 with a IR filter on it.

Well, Jim and Seng has taken the initiative to contact Sigma and a glass filter supplier and are now ready to make the project a reality.

If you are interested in IR photography with the SD10 and are interested in this filter mod. Please reply here.

Jim and Seng will follow up with more information because I have to get back to work (trust me. the boss is a demanding jerk. haha...).

thanks.

--
Chunsum.

http://photography.chunsum.com
http://www.pbase.com/chunsum
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9
http://www.foveonx3.org

Chunsum J Choi said:

get back to work (trust me. the boss is a demanding jerk. haha...).

Click to expand...

I thought you were self-employed??



--
Jim

JLK said:

JLK said:

get back to work (trust me. the boss is a demanding jerk. haha...).

Click to expand...

I thought you were self-employed??

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure he was being a little facetious........but count me in on a filter, assuming I won't have to go to the bank to take out a loan.

Mike

JLK said:

--
Jim

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/pheggos

I know he was being facetious---that's what made my response even funnier (well, to me at least...)

Mike: We hope to be able to offer these for about $50---this will include the dust holder frame, the filter glass, and an extra "normal" dust cover glass (because it comes with the frame). This is basically cost of materials, so we'll probably have to figure shipping and packaging for this too...

Jim

I am. I hate demanding bosses that's why I'm self employed and I'm demanding.. ironic isn't it?



--
Chunsum.

http://photography.chunsum.com
http://www.pbase.com/chunsum
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9
http://www.foveonx3.org

Just to make sure I understand... does this mean I wouldn't use a IR filter on my lens? In other words, to take IR pictures, I just replace the dust protector on the body with this new piece? If so, I'd be interested.

That's correct: this is meant to replace the current dust protector filter (an IR blocking filter) with an high pass IR filter. We have ordered RB-630 glass for this, so the filter will allow some of the visible light to pass (you have to see to frame and focus).

There will be no need to use external IR filters on your lenses, and this should work for all lenses.

Jim

I've never used an IR filter before, so does it change the way the camera auto exposes, etc.?

Anyways, it sounds good. When are they going to be available?

I'll be more interested when Sigma comes out with the new camera, providing that the dust protector is the same as the SD10. It doesn't help me with my SD9.

tjh
--
'To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding
something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to
do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you
see them.' - Elliot Erwitt

pbase gallery: http://www.pbase.com/tjhanlon/
Sigma Users Group: http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/tj_hanlon

super_kev said:

I've never used an IR filter before, so does it change the way the
camera auto exposes, etc.?

Anyways, it sounds good. When are they going to be available?

Click to expand...

I would suggest you do a web search on IR photography. I have always done my IR imaging using manual exposure, but that is somewhat dependent on the strength of the IR filter.

Seng found a "weak" IR filter (and I bought one after seeing how well she did with it) that did not require many or the additional stepts normally associated with IR photography.

Before that the normal stepts I used for IR photography were 1) compose and focus the camera and lens on a tripod, 2) put the IR filter on the lens 3) switch to manual exposure of say 5 sec 4) take pix and review it 5) adjust exposure and go back to step 4 till you are satisified.

Using the IR filter Seng recomended you could actually see the image so it was possible to just snap away and review the images till you found a focus and exposure you liked.

Keep in mind that some IR wavelengths are out of the range of the vision of some humans, but these light waves can be recorded on a CMOS chip. For the same reason they do not come to focus at the same place as visible light waves. So even if you use a weaker filter it is probably a good idea to play around with the focus and exposure.

Also keep in mind that what you see in the view finder may not be what the captured image looks like. Green plants look sorta dark red to your eye in the view finders, but if they are captured in the middle of the day when they emit a lot of IR radiation they will look white or light grey in the captured image. So you almost need to do manual exposure in this case.

But as I titled this post I want one. Please keep us posted on this development.

Chunsum J Choi said:

Hi all,
If you are interested in IR photography with the SD10 and are
interested in this filter mod. Please reply here.

Click to expand...

i'm very interested. count me in! How long do you expect before your ready to ship! do you need the money ahead of time? do you need Email addresses?

TIA, & Thanks for the extra work to help us out!

Chunsum J Choi said:

Chunsum.

http://photography.chunsum.com
http://www.pbase.com/chunsum
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9
http://www.foveonx3.org

Click to expand...

--
Michael
Hobbist

SD10, 24-70mm EX, 70-200mm EX, 20mm EX, 2x TC, Flash 500 DG Super SA-N, Expo Disc

Hi,

I'd be very interested in this filter. I'm currently using a Wratten 87C gel cut to 67mm on my 28-70 EX DG. I'd like to be able to shoot some IR with my other lenses.
--
Joe Crosby

Hi Joe,

This filter would be bw091 or 29 so that we can see through it...it is a weaker filter but allows great flexibility and super fast shutter speed (like 1/1000s at f8 sunlight and sometime faster), handheld and auto focus.

It would not work for anything as strong or stronger than r72 until we figure out how to get the view finder for composing (this would be our next project).

At any rate, this would allows a few good people more fun, do ir with our many lenses and keep sensor protect too.
s

Joe Crosby said:

Hi,

I'd be very interested in this filter. I'm currently using a
Wratten 87C gel cut to 67mm on my 28-70 EX DG. I'd like to be able
to shoot some IR with my other lenses.
--
Joe Crosby

Click to expand...

--
Everything I said or wrote reflecting those of my own personal opinion only.

JLK said:

I know he was being facetious---that's what made my response even
funnier (well, to me at least...)

Click to expand...

LOL......

thanks guys, for putting this together. Should be fun.

Mike

JLK said:

That's correct: this is meant to replace the current dust protector
filter (an IR blocking filter) with an high pass IR filter. We have
ordered RB-630 glass for this, so the filter will allow some of the
visible light to pass (you have to see to frame and focus).

Click to expand...

I think this is a great idea! The different filter thread diameters on different lenses is driving me nuts. But I don't like your choice of RB-630 glass.

RB-630 is about the same strength as Wratten 29 or B+W 091. While this will let through enough visible light for framing it will also mix visible light with IR in the image, creating a rather bland result. I would be much more interested in a "dust protector" that had a 850 nm (i.e. similar to Wratten 87C) pass point, bundled with some sort of simple wireframe "sports finder" to go into the hot-shoe for framing.
--

• gisle

I'm in - Thanks for doing this. If you would let me know as soon as you have it available please; the marsh grasses here in the southeast are in full bloom! And I would love to have a dedicated IR camera!

Theresa

gisle said:

JLK said:

That's correct: this is meant to replace the current dust protector
filter (an IR blocking filter) with an high pass IR filter. We have
ordered RB-630 glass for this, so the filter will allow some of the
visible light to pass (you have to see to frame and focus).

Click to expand...

I think this is a great idea! The different filter thread
diameters on different lenses is driving me nuts. But I don't like
your choice of RB-630 glass.

RB-630 is about the same strength as Wratten 29 or B+W 091. While
this will let through enough visible light for framing it will also
mix visible light with IR in the image, creating a rather bland
result. I would be much more interested in a "dust protector" that
had a 850 nm (i.e. similar to Wratten 87C) pass point, bundled with
some sort of simple wireframe "sports finder" to go into the
hot-shoe for framing.

Click to expand...

Hi Gisle...this is what I am aiming for eventually...as 87c aka bw093 is my favorite for ir because of the effects...but this is also great for handheld and super fast shutter speed, I mean 1/1000s average for f8 in sunny with auto focus alone is a big pluses.

"sports finder" is our next step...for now, this would free us from lens changing and retain our dust protector as well.

gisle said:

--

• gisle

Click to expand...

s
--
Everything I said or wrote reflecting those of my own personal opinion only.

gisle said:

JLK said:

That's correct: this is meant to replace the current dust protector
filter (an IR blocking filter) with an high pass IR filter. We have
ordered RB-630 glass for this, so the filter will allow some of the
visible light to pass (you have to see to frame and focus).

Click to expand...

I think this is a great idea! The different filter thread
diameters on different lenses is driving me nuts. But I don't like
your choice of RB-630 glass.

RB-630 is about the same strength as Wratten 29 or B+W 091. While
this will let through enough visible light for framing it will also
mix visible light with IR in the image, creating a rather bland
result. I would be much more interested in a "dust protector" that
had a 850 nm (i.e. similar to Wratten 87C) pass point, bundled with
some sort of simple wireframe "sports finder" to go into the
hot-shoe for framing.
--

• gisle

Click to expand...

Gisle,

The results that I've seen from Chunsum and Seng don't look bland at all, but I do understand the concern. I'm thinking that if you bent a coathanger and used it off the hotshoe, you would have one of the strangest looking cameras around.

You'd probably be better off with the Cokin filter holder (that adapts to many different lenses) and a square filter. The company that we're using (Howard Glass) has RG-860 in a 6.5 inch square for $160. You could get that cut to appropriate size for the Cokin holder, and then just pop the glass into place when the shot is framed.

We're also going to experiment with a couple different filters for this project (higher, but not to the 800 nm range)---but we'll publish the results before trying to sell these.

Jim

Chunsum J Choi said:

Hi all,

A few weeks back Jim(JLK), Seng(SPM) and I had talked about a
modified Dust protector for the SD10 with a IR filter on it.

Well, Jim and Seng has taken the initiative to contact Sigma and a
glass filter supplier and are now ready to make the project a
reality.

If you are interested in IR photography with the SD10 and are
interested in this filter mod. Please reply here.

Click to expand...

I'm interested, I hate taking out the dust protector entirely.

--
---> Kendall
http://www.pbase.com/kgelner
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/user_home
http://www.kigiphoto.com/Gallery

I'm interested, it can be very useful