Not for the faint of heart!

Got interested in infrared photography recently, mainly because of some of YouTuber Thomas Heaton’s videos about the subject.

Did want to try it, but didn’t want to faf around with screw-on filters and being limited to very long exposures, so looked into converted camera’s, which A: don’t come for sale a lot second hand and B: when they come for sale, ridiculous money is asked. Having one converted by a reputable company is also upwards of €350 for the conversion alone, and buying a converted one from these companies is much more expensive that a normal body. I do understand that that’s how their businesses earn money and I don’t object to that, it’s just that I only want to experiment a bit.

As I’m not afraid of tinkering with electronics, I took up then plan to convert one myself… ’how hard can it be…’

Got a fairly cheap second hand canon 1300d aps-c camera body in almost mint condition (with live view on sensor focussing, ir light breaks differently than visible light, so normal focussing is off), and got a 720nm ir-filter from a guy in Greece who does ir conversions for a hobby, as the main players also ask silly money for the filters alone.

I had to borrow my brother’s s micrometer on a stand (only required tool I don’t own myself), as the sensor needs to be calibrated to be completely aligned with the lens mount (see extra) after it has been removed and reinstalled. The rest of the job isn’t too difficult, there’s even an incomplete guide online, which I looked at once, but that turned out to miss some important steps and totally omitted on how to calibrate the sensor as that ‘is too difficult without experience and the right tools’… Some experience with pcb’s, tiny flatcable connectors, steady hands, micrometers and calibrating, and an organised way of working help a lot.

After some two and a half hours of tinkering I now have a converted 720nm IR canon crop-sensor dslr which only set me back less than €150 total!

Extras show the calibration, the new ir filter and the first photo I shot. Look forward to some IR images in the near future, even though I don’t think I will take it on holiday.