camera for infrared?

[Joseph Bradley]

Lately I've been kicking myself for throwing away a broken Nikon CoolPix 5000 that I could have had fixed and converted to infrared.

Can someone point me to an online infrared conversion site that either has for sale or can convert a relatively inexpensive P&S for infrared? Every time I Google infrared cameras I only get back sites for cameras for hunting and surveillance and the like.

Could anyone suggest a good, relatively inexpensive P&S for such a conversion? I want to shoot HDR and panoramas with it, so it would need to have a manual setting as well as a tripod socket centered on the image sensor. Used would also be good.

I'd prefer Nikon (what I'm used to) but will consider any brand and model.

Thank you.
--
-Joe

 

[palincss]

35mm infrared film is available, so you could use any 35mm film camera, if you wanted to.

 

[Barrie Davis]

Could anyone suggest a good, relatively inexpensive P&S for such a conversion? I want to shoot HDR and panoramas with it, so it would need to have a manual setting as well as a tripod socket centered on the image sensor. Used would also be good.

Minolta Dimage 7, if you can find one.... but they are much sought after because of the IR facility. Lens is very fine (28-200) but tripod socket slightly offset... no problem for landscape, though.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/minoltadimage7/

Note: the 7i and Hi models are not IR sensitive to the same degree.
--
Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"

 

[JohnK]

Hi Joseph, IMO one of the Sigma DP series would give the best IQ for a small camera. Sigma forum member, spm, has a converted DP1 and does stunning IR work with it.
--
JohnK
Take a picture, it'll last longer.

 

[Barrie Davis]

The Dimage 7 does not need conversion. It can shoot IR hand held in sunshine with the addition of Hoya IR passing filter on the lens, nothing more.

Of course, this means it can be restored to full colour shooting by simply unscrewing the filter again.
--
Regards,
Baz

"Ahh... But the thing is, they were not just ORDINARY time travellers!"

 

[fatman_br]

I have found a book that explain how to modify a Sony P92 camera, it´s "Extreme Tech Hacking digital cameras", I have done the mod myself .

Look at this site for a camera service that do the mod, I don´t know them, but can be a starting point.
http://www.precisioncamera.com/infrared-conversion-services.html
--
Fabio Leoni, from Brazil
My galleries:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Fabio.jose.leoni
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9741796@N05/
http://www.pixels-urbanos.blogspot.com

 

[Chris ™]

I think, if you're mainly interested in IR HDR and panos, you don't need a highly IR capable cam, that can shoot IR handheld.

If you don't mind using a tripod, you might be happy with a Canon G12, that can do both, shoot stunning color images in nearly DSLR quality and IR too.

Here's an example I shot one morning about two weeks ago ... right side JPG with AWB, left side custom WB in RAW:





I hope the weekend weather will be fine enough to take better examples than this balcony shot.
--
Greetings from Germany

Chris™

 

[deleted_081301]

sigma SD10's can be converted simply by removing the dust/IR filter from infront of the sensor its simple to do i use a SD10 with a 72nm filter on the front the only thing iss you have to either use a tripod or an external viewfinder
these pics were taken with the SD10

 

[Chris ™]

sigma SD10's can be converted simply ...

Nice images, but I bet it's not easy to get a SD10 nowadays ... it was released in 2006, wasn't it?

--
Greetings from Germany

Chris™

 

[deleted_081301]

i think the Sigma SD14 can be converted easily too you dont even need a screwdriver on that model

SD10's come up on E-bay often enough and can be reasonable prices ..i dont think the SD9 can be converted but i'm not 100% sure
Glad you like the images

i have some others on the Gallery section some taken with an Olympus C4000z compact not converted but the exposures are long so they need a tripod
i picked up a C4000z for £9 the other year on E bay