Infrared photography camera equipment
Photographers often want to know what camera equipment I use for my Black & White IR photography. While there are many different, effective camera/lens combinations in use today I can only express an opinion based on my own practical experience gained in the field while using my own setup.
When I was considering entering infrared photography, ability to use full frame DSLR system with lenses, filters and other equipment I already owned was important to me. I didn’t want to invest more money or time into owning and learning about yet another new camera system. Apart from the need to learn how differently infrared light will behave vs visible light spectrum, my transition into Infrared photography was relatively easy.
After some considered research I sent my camera to LifePixel company located in US. Based on my experience in dealing with them I can highly recommend using their Infrared camera conversion services. LifePixel.com is also excellent, resource rich website for all matters regarding infrared photography.
To find more information you can also visit Kolari Vision or Camera Clinic in Melbourne, Australia. With the increased interest in area of infrared photography there are now more new companies starting to provide similar IR conversion services.
When it comes to colour infrared photography I must admit that resulting false colour which infrared conversion process produces doesn’t pleases me at all. I think I have already said enough about that.
I opted for LifePixel’s Deep Black and White IR filter ( it corresponds to 830 nm filter). This strong IR filter will accomplish Black and White image conversion straight out of camera and it has ability to produce the darkest sky and whitest foliage. Of course files will need to be further processed in image processing software.
Camera and lenses
UPDATED 2021
Since the last year I have been exclusively using Canon 5Ds as my main IR camera. Permanent conversion to infrared was again performed by LifePixel using the same 830 nm filter.
Canon’s 5Ds full frame sensor produces 50mp native files which has greatly increased quality of my work and allowed me to produce extremely detailed prints which my customers love.
Another major equipment upgrade is purchase of my new heavy duty long exposure Sirui tripod.
While researching available tripod options in Australia I came across the website of Dean Cooper Australian landscape photographer who also runs great photography store and amongst other stuff sells Sirui tripods. I can highly recommend Dean based on my interactions with him during the sales process.
We live in a times of great technological advancements in camera technology and many photographers are looking forward to minimise the size of equipment they carry out in the field. I went in opposite direction as for my type of photography , long exposure landscape photography I need the most stable tripod I can get. I can truly say that having solid tripod able to sustain any vibrations in the field has dramatically increased quality and sharpens of my files. But will leave the details for another full post …
Bellow are my older Canon camera models :
Canon 5DIII with Canon 17mmTS lens and Lee Filters adopter ring for 17mm TS
Canon 5D with Canon 24mmTS lens and Lee Filters wide angle hood
My older Canon 5DIII together with Canon 17mm TS lens was my main camera before switching to Canon 5Ds. 17mm Lee Filter adopter ring( seen on the lens ) also provides protection for the large front lens element and may act as small hood preventing the sun flare entering from the sides of the lens.
Original first Canon 5D ( seen on the right with Lee wide angle hood / filter holder) was my first now retired camera. It has no live view so to properly focus the image I had to use IR mark on the lens after I have already focused the scene trough the viewfinder. Now I certainly can appreciate the luxury of having Live View which makes focusing much precise and camera easier to user.
Filters and filter holders
Lee Filter holder 100mm
Lee wide angle hood with Lee circular polariser
I have relied on Lee filter systems before with my conventional colour landscape photography , so now I have just repurposed it to be used with my infrared photography. Lee wide angle hood with circular polariser I only use on Canon 24 mm TS lens due to strong vignetting issues it will produce on Canon 17mm TS lens.
Normal Lee filter holder (100mm) mounted on 17mm adopter ring on 17mm TS lens will also cause vignetting at extreme ends of lens Shift range and effectively it will limit lens use to approximately allow for half of the available shift range on each side. However, even with that limitation I find TS lens to be indispensable tool when I need to precisely compose the scene in the field.
When using Tilt function to achieve sharpness throughout the image file , lens adjustments are smaller and usually have no impact on vignetting.
Note:
To ensure that there is no possibility of light leaks which will make the image file worthless, once the filter is inserted in Lee filter holder I seal all the edges with the black duck tape. Taping the edges takes some time but is well worth the effort. In addition after focusing the scene ,body of my TS lens is also wrapped around with a cloth to avoid any possibility of light leakage between the moving lens elements. ( hard lessons learned…)
Lee Filters Stoper range 6 stop, 10,stop 15 stop
For the long exposure photography I use range of Lee ND stoppers (6, 10 and 15 stops ). Mostly I use 6 or 10 stop filter. I have rarely used 15 stop ND as I still like photographing early in the morning or later in the afternoon when the light levels for the use of this filter are too low and would require very long exposure times.
My portfolio is mainly photographed with Canon TS primes : 17mm and 24mm and occasionally I use different focal range lenses.
It is important to mention that not all lenses are suitable to be used for IR photography due to nature of their design for the visible light spectrum. When used in IR spectrum these lenses produce problematic hot spot ( white spot ) in the middle of the imaging circle and therefore will cause image degradation rendering them unusable for IR.
You can find out if your lens is suitable for the use in IR photography on Kolari Vision website. They maintain current database of known hot spot issues with different lens models from the range of lens manufacturers .