Which infrared filter?

[@brucesmith9144]

This was a very interesting video. I cannot recall anyone else presenting such different IR filters before. From my eye, the 850 nm is the most pleasing. However, the other IR wavelengths offer some interesting creative possibilities. In the end you’ve got yourself a Swiss Army Knife of differing IR styles.

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

@@brucesmith9144 glad you enjoyed the video! Yes, they all have their own distinct look, and I'm still not sure I have a favourite - I think it varies from one scene to another.

[@berthaduniverse]

Nice work. I really enjoyed it. A little feedback, hope you don't mind. 1) If you are using a DSLR, and the sun is behind you, it is a good idea to cover the viewer to keep the light from entering the camera (unfilterd) and messing up the shot. 2), while I don't know the cause (flare from the viewer, high f/stop, or a lens that is "hot-spot" prone (in IR), around 13:50-14:00 in the video, I see a reasonably strong hot-spot at the center of the tree. 3) IR, being a longer WL, has very differnt CA effects, and can start being noticible on some lenses as low as f/8 (practice with each lens will teach you how far you can stop down w/o issue.

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

Thanks for the comment! Good advice to cover the viewfinder on a DSLR - I use mirrorless so it's not a problem. You're right on the hotspot, I think probably it's the lens I used (some are better than others) - looks like a good database here although I've not checked off my lenses on it yet: kronometric.org/phot/ir/article/Lens%20Hotspot%20Database.htm

[@discoverianalvarez]

Hey, this is so cool. Thanks for showing us how to get started with this technique

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

thanks!

[@ianforber]

I use filters on an unconverted camera. It may depend on your sensor but I find 720nm a bit too weak for my liking. I use 830nm for a dramatic effect and 780nm for a mid - range effect. 800 ISO is best which for me needs a 15 sec exposure on the 830nm. The 780 has the advantage of being able to be hand held at 1/320s if you increase the ISO to 5000. Most modern cameras deal with high ISO very well but if the noise is too much a quick run through a noise reduction process clears it up nicely.

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

I guess on an unconverted camera it makes sense the 720 would be weak looking, because the visible light signal will be much stronger - glad you're finding some filter wavelengths that get you a good result though!

[@adrianchin69]

Thanks for the lesson James

[@toshivibe]

Have you tried using normal ND filters? I remember back in the days when I had a full spectrum Canon, I accidentally left ND filter on a lens, and interestingly, it gave me a nice mix of IR and visible light, straight out of camera on a jpeg. Essentially it looked like a typical false color infrared with white leafs and grass, but with a blue sky, out of the box. I suspect that the sky was maybe blue due to some UV light passing as well. Anyways, it was nice. I think it was 4 or 6 stops UV, don't remember exactly.

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

I've not tried that- but I guess it makes sense. I once photographed a friend wearing sunglasses in IR and the lenses looked clear, so I guess the IR gets through but visible is blocked. Nice suggestion!

[@angelabranson363]

That sounds like a really cool effect

[@glenmorrison8080]

Would be cool to see some composites of visible color photos with a color shifted 850 photo as an overlay.

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

Interesting idea- I've never tried combining the two. I'm now also wondering what a combination of colour from a standard shot combined with the 850 filter for luminance might look like...

[@robingawn1012]

thanks for the upload man really appreciate the info!

[@guinottewise]

Thank you! Nicely explained.

[@cillin4821]

what brand of IR filters you chose? nice to get a view of what brand is best....thanks for video. Have conversed DSLR to full spectrum and got step down/up rings to use a 72mm 720nm filter. looking forward to some sun so i can get out and take the shots

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

Looking back through my Amazon purchases, it's a variety... I have a few Green.L brand, a couple of Hoya, a Neewer... I probably just pick up what's in stock and reasonable money at the time!

[@krzysztofmoranda]

Super. Dziękuję James 🤝

[@andrewfrost8866]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@arthurgphotography]

Im confused why the church building is rendering the same color as the foliage? Wouldn't it reflect less IR? New to this

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

I good question! I'm not entirely sure, but my guess would be that in the sun, the stonework was similarly warm to the trees and thus reflected a similar amount of IR. It's also possible that there's a lot of moss and stuff in amongst the stonework that causes a similar result... but those are guesses :)

[@chicamepa]

Thanks a lot

[@simmybear31]

Hi James really enjoyed the content, quick question as a newbie to IR could you tell me what camera you've had converted to Full Spectrum. I bought an old Panasonic Travel zoom, took the IR filter out and then epoxied a step up ring to the extending lens element as a filter mount. Haven't had much good bright sunny weather to try it yet 😔

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

I'm using a Sony A7 (the original one) as it was just lying around after I upgraded to the A7Rii

[@RobBowesPhotography]

Just come across your channel, great video and learned a fair bit, I am just starting out with Infrared, what brand of IR filters do you use or what would you recommend ?

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

Hey, thanks for checking out the channel, pleased you're enjoying the videos. I think I have a few filters kicking about from different brands, but these days I seem to often end up getting Gobe (now Urth) filters as they're usually priced well but also perform well. I think with IR filters there's probably not much in it between brands though.

[@RobBowesPhotography]

@@JamesBillingsPhotography Thank you so much for replying, Its a minefield out there for IR filters, Zomei come in at around £25 Hoya at around £90 then a steep increase for something like a Kolari, I have bought a couple of Zomei and a Hoya R72 to start and will see how I go with the Zomei's and might upgrade those if I am not happy, I will check out Urth. Many thanks

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

@@RobBowesPhotography I've not heard of zomei, but I've got Hoya polarisers which work well 👍

[@JayCritchley-e3z]

Thanks. Could you talk about infrared video?

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

A good question - I've not tried. My initial thought is that video won't have the same amount of data as a raw photo (it's more akin to a jpg) so large adjustment to white balance won't be possible.

[@jango71]

Thanks!

[@Narsuitus]

Thanks for the video. When shooting black & white infrared film, why is it not necessary to do a bunch of color channel switching to produce infrared monochrome?

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

I've not tried shooting film, but I imagine it's the same as digital - the reason for the channel swap is to let you get a blue sky (because otherwise, the filters will make it pink/red) Sometimes, a photo with light blue-trees and pink sky can look cool, in which case you would not bother doing the channel swap. If you're aiming to produce a monochrome image, then again, you probably don't need to channel swap.

[@travelyeti4357]

Just a quick question , what was your custom white balance set too?? And was the camera you are using was it converted to full spectrum?

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

The camera is usually on auto white balance. The camera is indeed full spectrum. You'd need to then create a custom white balance in Lightroom to get the effect you want. I made a video a few years ago that explains it, and should still be mostly relevant: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6vSo4WMj82gpM0

[@travelyeti4357]

@@JamesBillingsPhotography thank you so much for quick response :). I just started IR and its so confusing and complex :/ i just have a few ir filters at the moment and am considering getting it converted to full spectrum…. Thank you again

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

@@travelyeti4357 The filters will be a good start, but you'll probably need to do much longer exposures if the camera isn't converted (basically the filter lets through only IR but the unconverted camera tries to block IR) - you can battle through it with long exposures hopefully!

[@travelyeti4357]

@@JamesBillingsPhotography wow !!! As i am teaching myself i am so unknowledgeable of the process. I thought just having the ir filters on a normal camera solved the problem…. Hmmm so you are supposed to use an IR filter on a full spectrum? I just assumed if you got camera converted you wouldnt need a filter…. I am so ignorant of this of all this 🤦‍♂️

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

@@travelyeti4357 it just takes a bit of time to get your head around... So a normal camera out of the box will have a filter over the sensor which blocks IR (because for normal photos, IR light is bad) When you do a "full spectrum conversion", that filter is removed, so now the camera can see visible light and also infrared light. So to do IR photography, we need a filter to now block the visible light, and that's what IR filters do. You can either get ones that go on your lenses like I have in the video, or your "full spectrum conversion" can actually be an "infrared conversion" where they put the IR filter on the camera sensor. But then you can only use the camera for IR and nothing else. If you have an IR filter with an unmodified camera, then you have what I described before- one filter letting through only IR, then a second filter blocking IR. So the end result is no light at all. In reality, the cutoffs are "soft", and different cameras block IR differently... so with a long-exposure on a tripod, you might will get something. You'd need to experiment.

[@AndersVold]

Cool :)

[@g4untlet]

Nice comparison of the 3 filters, I'm a fan of the 720 myself but also like to chase the red foliage 'aerochrome' look from time to time. FYI you can make your channel swaps in LR if you make a profile that combines your white balance profile with a PS lut, Rob Shea has a great video on the subject kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIrOZ32oYpWUlas

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

That sounds like a great tip, I'll check it out one evening this week!

[@hotquebec]

wind noise is annoying!

[@JamesBillingsPhotography]

Yeah, I need to sort out my dedicated microphone! Sorry...