SD1 Infrared Monochrome Solved

Its a year since I bought my SD1 and I have struggled with infrared output, especially colour. I have authored several posts on colour output recently and still feel that this is hit and miss. Yes good colour output can be obtained but is NOT CONSISTENT. Monochrome IR has also been difficult. Noting a recent posting on this forum I wish share my experience of what I feel is final success with monochrome and an easy workflow.

I have tried Raw Digger, Iridient and SPP. I have tried green , red and alpha channel alone. I have tried 590, 720, 780 and 830 nm filters. I have tried numerous configurations in SPP and numerous settings on my camera. I seem now to have consistent (good) monochrome results.

My findings are this:

Get a good custom WB (neutral to red background)

Use ISO 200 and try not to stop down smaller than F8 (shows sensor dust). Use a 780 nm filter and use a tripod ( you have to as you cannot see through this filter).

In post processing  use SPP allocate monochrome to your X3F files and take the sharpening down to the lowest. Adjust the rest of the sliders to balance up contrast well. Batch export to Lightroom and sharpen there  with other final adjustments. The below are all shot in one place today over a 15 minute period. I have added some toning to these in LR.

Raw Digger was not as successful as SPP as it produced quite mushy results. Iridient produced a lot of noise. The 830 nm filter produces an odd banding that the Merrill sensor can produce with infrared light. The longer wavelength filters were not really IR enough (for my taste)