Anyone for infrared?

[Seachicken]

I decided to try my new S2 with infrared .. I was a little worried, but it handled it splendidly. :)

It was my first attempt.. so I am hardly an expert, but for the record here is what I did.

1. Bought a Fuji SC74 celluloid filter, together with a preposterous elasticated filter holder that tries to snap my fingers off when I attach it to a lens. According to the graph in the brochure, this filter has a 50% transmission at about 740nm.. so it's close to the wratten 89b filter commonly used.

2. Increased the exposure seven stops above the meter reading (without the filter). For me this was 4-6 seconds at F8 and 100ASA.

3. I just used the normal visible light focus position of the lens and relied on the depth of field to help me out. My 60mm Micro Nikkor didn't seem to have an IR focus mark.

I've posted a couple of samples in the gallery section.

Two Trees (http://www.s2pro.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=30)

Temple Entrance (http://www.s2pro.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=31)

The histograms I got from the images from the camera were a lot broader than I've seen from other digital IR users on the web. One or two hardly needed any levels adjustment at all. I guess this is a very welcome feature.

I also tried a Fuji IR88 filter too.. cuts off much deeper into the infrared (I'm guessing, but from the number maybe 50% cutoff at 880nm). This was barely usable requiring 12 stops of exposure adjustment.

I am very pleased with the infrared capabilities of the camera - it's something I hoped it would do, and it seems to do a grand job.

:)

[cmclaughlan]

I was just about to post a question as to whether the S2 could do IR pictures as it was the only thing stopping me from buying one.

Well after your pictures, I'm buying one on Friday ;-)

Thanks,

Colin

[Topngu]

Where did you buy Fuji...filter....(in USA)

[Seachicken]

Hi,

Good luck Colin! Let us know how you get on. I've had mine for 2 weeks, and I love it. Of course there are niggles, but at the end of the day, the quality of the prints I've got so far (to my eyes) match the best I ever got from 35mm film..

..and for IR, the advantage is clear.. no guessing at the exposure! .. just look at the histograms.
The S2 also lets you see the red histogram, which is useful for IR because it's the one channel that will overexpose.

I bought the filter in Japan for 1050 yen (about 9 US dollars!). They do a large range of "sharp cut" filters that cut off light in gradual increments.

If you can't find the Fuji filters in the USA, you'll definately be able to get a Kodak wratten 89b gelatin filter which is roughly the same as the one I used.

Or, you may look at a proper glass filter from Harrison and Harrison.. if I hadn't found the cheap Fuji filter, I would probably have bought one from them.
Harrison & Harrison
Phone: +559-782-0121

Andy.

[jknights]

Nice shots.

I must try out my new S2 and compare it for IR use versus my D1X. I used the D1X and for IR and the results are goood.

[Seachicken]

More S2 infrared images (http://www.andrewfinch.com/Nara-Nov-17-2002/)

All taken on the same day using the details given above.

Andy

[jknights]

Andrew,

I have downloaded the JPG so I could look at the exif info.

What filter are you using and what ASA/ISO, shutter speed, aperture.

It seems that you are post processing in Photoshop.
What did you do to DSCF0244 compared with say DSCF0298 ?

Keep posting.:)

[Seachicken]

Hi,

First, let me say I found a relevant thread on another forum (http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1020&message=3904240) just building up steam.

Things I've learned from here are that:
1) You can meter through an R72 filter (set the camera +1EV) - haven't tried this yet.
2) It seems that other people are getting more IR response than me. So my filter may not be as useful as an R72.

All my ISA/filter details are all in the first post in this thread.

The differences in processing are just the results of me playing around with levels. :)

DSCF0298 (Temple+Lake) was more or less the way things look straight out of the camera.

DSCF0244 (Pagoda) For this one, I adjusted levels in each colour channel separately so that the histogram filled up all the space from black to white.
The (accidental) result was a black and white looking tree and colour in the rest of the image.

Different images gave different sets of colors using this trick.. and sometimes it looked awful.

Andy.

[jknights]

Take a look here:
http://www.pixelagogo.com/infrared.html#

There is also another page by Bjørn Rørslett
http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html
This page had some really great IR and UV shots.

[cmclaughlan]

I've posted a couple of S2 IR pictures here: http://www.pbase.com/cmclaughlan/sf_dec_2002

Also included with those are some "false color" images created by combining an IR image with a color image. You can tell those ones as they have red foliage very like "EIR" film.

Colin

[Seachicken]

Nice!

How did you do the false color?
I read somewhere that you can just swap the red channel in a normal color image for the monochrome IR image ...

[cmclaughlan]

To do the false colour IR I take the red channel from the IR image and move it into the red channel for the color image. I also take the red and green channels from the color image and move them to the green and blue channels.

Its kinda fun but I have problems getting the images to match up on the S2 as it seems the settings are being adjusted somehow between the normal and IR shots.

Colin