IR Filters REPOST (from another forum)

[RedOctober25]

After seeing Fillmore's IR photos of Epcot, it makes me want to shoot IR myself. ; So I have a couple of questions. ; After doing a little "googling" I found a few sites that say some digital cameras are able to pick up IR out of the box and not need a "conversion". ; Initially it said that the easy way to test this was to point an IR remote at the camera and see if it picks up a white light when a button is pressed. ; I also found out that the Sony "Nightshot" that is on my camera (DSC-H50) is actually using IR (although when used the photos look more like NightVision Goggles) in "No Light" situations. ; So my question is this... Since the Nightshot allows the sensors to pick up IR, does this mean I could purchase an IR filter and start shooting or would I still need a converted camera? ; I obviously do not want to invest in the filter if it isn't going to work. ; Any information/ advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Jeff Fillmore]

My understanding is yes- at least in Nikon Land older models work better since newer models have a more robust IR filter built in. ; Exposures will be long- kind of like a super-nd filter so a tripod will be required even during the day. ; That's about all I remember reading on it.

 

[Dan]

I'm already posting essay length responses on the other post.. but in Sony land things are different. ; The camera lets you remove the IR blocking filter from the sensor and lets you take hand held IR pictures. ; The downside is that by default engaging night shot mode severely cripples the camera's functionality and may limit you to 1/30s and the widest available aperture. ; Meaning if you have too much light you may have to start stacking ND filters to manually adjust exposure, or else be willing to take the camera apart and mess with the innards to fool the camera into thinking it's in normal mode when you have the night shot switch turned on.

I'm only in Sony land in terms of a camcorder I have.. but it does take still pictures, just not very good ones. ; I'm starting to wonder if I could find a teeny tiny IR pass filter and maybe try out either IR video or low quality IR still shooting.