Hassle free infrared photos from an Olympus camera.

I bought a cheap R72 infrared filter about a year ago.

I haven't really used it much because on my GX85, it required a tripod to get it to work.

Given the far superior IBIS performance of EM5III, I thought it might be possible to do handheld shots even with the IR filter on so I mounted it on my PL15 and gave it a quick test shot from my balcony.

Turns out, handheld is quite easy to do on EM5III. Though I think the difference has a lot more to do with stronger IR filter on Panasonic sensors which makes it difficult to get sufficient exposure (though IBIS capable of 1" SS with ease on EM5III does help keeping the ISO lower). I have heard that Oly put more infrared filtering on their lenses, so this may not works so well if you only have Oly lenses on Oly body. Luckily, I have pana lenses and oly body so it should be the best combination to get the most out of IR filter setup (without converting your camera to a dedicated IR camera.)

In addition to being able to use handheld shots, the white balance capture function made it super simple to adjust the white balance to correct for the red tint from the IR filter.

I only had a chance to take a quick pic from my balcony, but I think I'll go for a photo walk later with the IR filter to see what I can get.

SOOC jpeg. The cheap filter is very prone to flare and it does degrade the image quality quite a bit, but it is still a lot of fun.

Just got back from a walk with additional shots.

All SOOC with no edits (though I changed some setting here and there while I was shooting). Imported straight to my phone via blutooth & OI share app.

This is my favorite of the bunch.

My favorite spot in this park. It's almost obligatory at this point.

I tried to use the flare just right. It kind of worked?

john isaacs wrote:

Do a custom white balance on the trees, and they will come out white instead of blue.

Thanks for the tip! I kind of like blue leaves, but I will add that to the custom white balance so that can be an option.

AlmostDoctor wrote:

Just got back from a walk with additional shots.

All SOOC with no edits (though I changed some setting here and there while I was shooting). Imported straight to my phone via blutooth & OI share app.

This is my favorite of the bunch.

My favorite spot in this park. It's almost obligatory at this point.

I tried to use the flare just right. It kind of worked?

You've got a good eye for composition. Just wondering if you coud take a comparison shot sans filtre to see if the IR really makes a great difference in overall appreciation in the end. B&W shot could also be fun to see...

WhiteBeard wrote:

AlmostDoctor wrote:

Just got back from a walk with additional shots.

All SOOC with no edits (though I changed some setting here and there while I was shooting). Imported straight to my phone via blutooth & OI share app.

This is my favorite of the bunch.

My favorite spot in this park. It's almost obligatory at this point.

I tried to use the flare just right. It kind of worked?

You've got a good eye for composition. Just wondering if you coud take a comparison shot sans filtre to see if the IR really makes a great difference in overall appreciation in the end. B&W shot could also be fun to see...

Thanks.

Well today was more of an experiment in IR filters. In all honesty, these shots probably would have come out just as good without the filter.

However, this happens to be a park near my place that I have photographed so many times...so my friends have already seen all the scenes and these new photos likely would not have stood out without the IR effect to them.

I like IR filters for the fact that I can take photos of the place I know like the back of my hand and somehow make it feel like a completely new place. I had thought about converting a camera to IR, which I still might do, but it's nice to know that a cheap IR filter can be somewhat usable on my EM5III + Panasonic prime combination.

WhiteBeard wrote:

AlmostDoctor wrote:

Just got back from a walk with additional shots.

All SOOC with no edits (though I changed some setting here and there while I was shooting). Imported straight to my phone via blutooth & OI share app.

This is my favorite of the bunch.

My favorite spot in this park. It's almost obligatory at this point.

I tried to use the flare just right. It kind of worked?

You've got a good eye for composition. Just wondering if you coud take a comparison shot sans filtre to see if the IR really makes a great difference in overall appreciation in the end. B&W shot could also be fun to see...

Qucik in-camera raw edits of B&W versions.

I think it worked out great for the first one.

MHshooter wrote:

I'm amazed. R72 filters are light infrared (I've used ones that were above 1000nm cut-off) but even still, doing hand-held with a camera that still has its IR filter on the sensor is impressive. The old Nikon D70's I've converted couldn't do it effectively, especially with stronger filters that would kick exposures up into multiple seconds.

That was my experience with GX85 and R72 filter.

I think it might be the combination of Olympus body + Panasonic lenses that makes it possible.

I have read before that Oly puts IR coatings on the lenses more than the sensor, and Panasonic does more on the sensor than the lens. (This actually results in unpleasant purple blobs on oly bodies for some lens, like lumix 7-14mm f4 that I own.) I don't have any oly lens so I can't test this hypothesis but either way I know that I can take IR photos just with a filter without a tripod now. I think a R72 filter is a worthy addition for anyone who has an oly body and a fast pana prime.