I did something crazy today (Hint: D70i ver. 2)

[TrailsofLife]

Hi guys,

I decided to cut a piece of LEE filter big enough to fit the space just behind the mirror of the D70 and stick it with double-sided tape. Just did a trial, Lighting is bad due to overcast and its late evening, so ISO800 is used.

The "Pros" of doing this mod is you can see thru lens to compose, dun have to remove filter when change lens. I realised for Peleng 8mm lens, image is alot sharper. Also, there's no "tearing" up of the camera, when you want to "return" your camera back to normal, just tear out the LEE filter. Warranty will not be void.

The "Cons" is LEE filter only produce BW images. Exposure for LEE filter is longer, so tripod is a must. For metering, you have to be the judge.

Here's the trial image to share with you all.



Fisheye- Peleng 8mm
Today at 6:21pm, 30sec at f8, ISO 800




Kit lens-18mm
Today at 6:24pm, 15sec at f4.5, ISO 800




Kit lens-70mm
Today at 6:26pm, 15sec at f4.5, ISO 800

Just wanna share my alittle mod experience with you all.

Cheers
Max 2.8

[deadpixel]

Nice

This is a quick and easy way of creating an "IR Camera".

Originally Posted by Max 2.8 The "Cons" is LEE filter only produce BW images. Exposure for LEE filter is longer, so tripod is a must. For metering, you have to be the judge.

The long exposure is due to the AA filter between your Lee filter and the CCD. If you took the plunge to remove the AA filter, you'd be getting exposures of 1/250s at f/8.

Cheers,
Matt

[TrailsofLife]

I realised alot of us, either can't bear to "tear up" our D70 or not that good with those techinical procedure.

So thought of this easier way of making a camera that's easy to use during shoots.

Actually, I got the idea from IRMan who uses film body. He mentioned in a posting here that he stick the LEE filter behind the shutter, so he can see thru the lens to compose.

So can't claim the credit lah.

[deadpixel]

Originally Posted by Max 2.8 I realised alot of us, either can't bear to "tear up" our D70 or not that good with those techinical procedure.

Hee! Hee! Well, I can't do anything that'll make it more bearable, but anytime you guys need help with the "technical", you know who to look for.

[ark19]

Max, wah u really did it ah?! Must be too free right
Results looks good man
Btw, for Peleng, I found that I got the best results when it is set to F16.
Give it a try

[photoexpress]

Wow! Great test adn thanks for sharing! Congratulation.

Cheers!

[teerex]

Max,

They're good ........ but ....... exposure too long. 100% need tripod.

Thanks for sharing your daring venture.

[Adiemus]

Way cool bro!

Got pictures of the mod procedure? Maybe should start modding D70 and rename it to D70IR.

Also, will the increased exposure time cause hotspots?

Thanks for sharing.

[TrailsofLife]

Originally Posted by Adiemus Way cool bro! Got pictures of the mod procedure? Maybe should start modding D70 and rename it to D70IR. Also, will the increased exposure time cause hotspots? Thanks for sharing.

Hi, I dun think increasing exposure time cause hot spot. As you can see, my exposure us 15 to 30secs. Dun see any hotspot.

Hi Teerex, will do a proper test under proper lighting condition. Yesterday, I did the test at 6+pm, sun already setting liao, and heavy overcast like going to rain like that. I believe exposure should be about 2 to 5secs, with f5.6 and ISO 200 if its sunny.

[TrailsofLife]

Oh, sorry missed out something. I didn't take any picture, I can discribe to you all.

The mod is very easy.
1. Buy LEE filter, cut to 26mm by 35mm.
2. Tape a 2mm wide double-sided tape on top and bottom of the filter.
3. Set your D70 to Mirror lock-up. Make sure CCD is clean.
4. remove the double-side tape's non adhersive paper.
5. Slide the LEE filter in stick it down. Before you slide in the filter, make sure the side facing the CCD is clean and free from finger print and dust. Press it light with a pincher or ruler. I used a ruler cover with microfibre cloth.
6. If there's finger print on the side facing you, clean it light with lens tissue or microfibre cloth. Dun use those lens cleaning solution.

The whole procedure should only take about 5 minutes.

Hi Ark, will try the Peleng again, thanks for the tips. Also, now that LEE filter one is successful I am thinking of putting a Cokin P007 inside. He...he...

[ark19]

Originally Posted by Max 2.8 Oh, sorry missed out something. I didn't take any picture, I can discribe to you all. The mod is very easy. 1. Buy LEE filter, cut to 26mm by 35mm. 2. Tape a 2mm wide double-sided tape on top and bottom of the filter. 3. Set your D70 to Mirror lock-up. Make sure CCD is clean. 4. remove the double-side tape's non adhersive paper. 5. Slide the LEE filter in stick it down. Before you slide in the filter, make sure the side facing the CCD is clean and free from finger print and dust. Press it light with a pincher or ruler. I used a ruler cover with microfibre cloth. 6. If there's finger print on the side facing you, clean it light with lens tissue or microfibre cloth. Dun use those lens cleaning solution. The whole procedure should only take about 5 minutes. Hi Ark, will try the Peleng again, thanks for the tips. Also, now that LEE filter one is successful I am thinking of putting a Cokin P007 inside. He...he...

Bro, Lee filter is thin and light.
Cokin P007 is rather "heavy" and if never stick properly, it might fall out and jam the mirror....
Be careful hor
I think the best mod would still to replace the AA filter with R72 or P007

[TrailsofLife]

Originally Posted by ark19 Bro, Lee filter is thin and light. Cokin P007 is rather "heavy" and if never stick properly, it might fall out and jam the mirror.... Be careful hor I think the best mod would still to replace the AA filter with R72 or P007

Yah lahh, but removing the AA filter means major surgery and no more colour IR leh.

[deadpixel]

Originally Posted by Max 2.8 Yah lahh, but removing the AA filter means major surgery and no more colour IR leh.

One other issue after the AA filter gets replaced is that the "Sunny-Grass" CWB won't always register. You would very likely need a grey-card or ExpoDisc or 5cents coffee filter.

[PandaOng]

care to elaborate more on the 5 cent coffer filter??

[TrailsofLife]

Hi Deadpixel,

I thought after removing the AA filter, you dun need to do CWB. Because CWB if to correct the colours, and without the AA filter you only get BW image. What happen if you just shoot with AWB?

PAnda, the coffee filter can be found at your coffee maker or NTUC.

[PandaOng]

can that measure exposure?? pai sei huh, hijack your thread.

[deadpixel]

Originally Posted by PandaOng care to elaborate more on the 5 cent coffer filter??

The 5 cent coffee filter (the paper type you place in a coffee maker) is known to give quite good results for the recording of Custom White Balance, sort of like the Pringles lid. To use it, simply cover the lens with it and take a CWB shot.

Once the AA filter is replaced with one of the IR filters, the camera's metering will be thrown off, so that a shot that requires a 1/800s exposure is shown to require a 1/1250s exposure. For some reason, the wonky metering also affects the CWB, so that a "sunny-grass" CWB setting will often fail. However, a CWB setting through an ExpoDisc or coffee filter works 99% of the time.

[TrailsofLife]

Hi deadpixel,

Tell me leh, without CWB what kind of image you get?

[deadpixel]

Originally Posted by Max 2.8 Hi Deadpixel, I thought after removing the AA filter, you dun need to do CWB. Because CWB if to correct the colours, and without the AA filter you only get BW image. What happen if you just shoot with AWB? PAnda, the coffee filter can be found at your coffee maker or NTUC.

Max,

Not quite. If you're using a filter that's in the 650-750nm range, your shots are still going to come out red if you use AWB. Note, you can still get "colored" IR shots if your filter is in this range. Remember this photo I posted:



I could not get a CWB on grass, so resorted to using an ExpoDisc. However, the skies were blue in the photo, with a blue typical of the Hoya R72. I'm thinking of changing it to a Cokin P007 or B+W 092 as these will give the same black and white results but will give deeper more saturated blues in the "colored" IR shots.

Cheers,
Matt

[TrailsofLife]

Oh! So you still get coloured IR image from your D70i? Damned! Now I'm tempted!