Infrared "nasty" cam - costume required.

I know I know, this is the camera people can't stop talking about Firstly, purists, pixel peepers, noise obsessives, DXOmark addicts etc etc step away from the review now, this camera is definitely not for you.

Sooooo, I picked up one of these with an IR conversion as part of the deal, knowing full well I was purchasing the camera equivalent of the big button phone. In terms of build quality my wife would lovingly describe it as "Nasty". However, it is what it is, cheap, plastic and built for idiots, so ideal for me It's a 16mp big button piece of trash with an optical viewfinder so small that light struggles to penetrate it, but is it? Well not quite IMHO, because it's ideal as a carry everywhere IR camera which you can shoot IR with without a tripod. Apparently it's an easy conversion, I don't know, the guy I bought it from did it, but apparently it is. Simplicity is it's strength, just switch it on, set Exp comp to -1/3 (leave it there) and carry on. To convert simply choose mono in the software of your choice and tweak to taste - simples.

In terms of image quality it'll print nicely to A4+ (If you don"t overdo the PP). It isn't especially sharp, there will be noise and softness, but the images have a slightly ethereal quality if you process them right, a bit Hansel and Gretel in mono IMHO, and with the right subject it looks very nice. Old houses, churches and villages look great in an unsharp, dreamy, high ISO film sort of way. It's best to stick to ISO 100 but ISO 200 is ok as well if you need it.

I took the two shots below today and printed them out at A4, one is ISO 100 and the other 200, both look fine and dandy at A4 on cheap paper in a quick a dirty print test, so a commercial print would probably look great. Both these shots had been through the Silver Efex torture test as well, which always increases noise and I didn't take any particular care about them, just a little NR in the sky afterwards, so better results are possible.

So, if you need a cheap IR camera which weighs nothing and uses AA batteries which last for months (I told you it wasn't all bad) then this is a great little camera to consider. The ovf does serve a purpose as you can hold the camera more steadily whilst looking through it, where you focus doesn't really matter as the dof is virtually limitless in these kinds of shots. Obviously you will need to consider the costs of plastic surgery and an identity change should you ever be spotted using one, but wigs, fake moustaches and sunglasses are very cheap these days (I prefer the banana republic dictator look myself - don't go for Borat, the costume chafes a bit).
Above all else this camera is fun to use and produces a very individual look in IR with little effort, that ain't so bad.

So here's a couple of examples, I'm not going to post larger sizes, anyone who asks can automatically rule the camera out, it's not for you, but as I said A4 is no problem, take it or leave it ( I imagine most will leave it anyway but hey don't say I didn't tell about this camera and IR ). I'm giving it five stars because no other camera I own can do what this one does, so it's unique and I actually really like it in a "I know it looks crap but check the viewfinder out and the hilarious huge buttons" kind of way - live with it

Canon 5Ds and Nikon D800E eat your heart out.....

ISO 200

ISO 100