Can E-510 do infrared photography?

[shaoken]

I heard that there are some camera bodies are unable to take infrared photos.

I'm unsure whether my Olympus E-510 can take infrared photos when I attach a infrared filter onto my lens.

I'm not sure about this but I heard that to take infrared photos, I need a bright lighting. Is that true?

Can I take infrared photos under normal exposure and shutter speed such as shutter speed of 1/10 or 1/13 during broad daylight of a landscape (which I usually shoot at such shutter speed)?

I need advices.

Thanks!

[egnaro]

Originally Posted by shaoken I heard that there are some camera bodies are unable to take infrared photos. I'm unsure whether my Olympus E-510 can take infrared photos when I attach a infrared filter onto my lens. I'm not sure about this but I heard that to take infrared photos, I need a bright lighting. Is that true? Can I take infrared photos under normal exposure and shutter speed such as shutter speed of 1/10 or 1/13 during broad daylight of a landscape (which I usually shoot at such shutter speed)? I need advices. Thanks!

if you wanna do IR photography on E510 is definitely possible. infact IR filter on all DSLR is also possible.

Using filter, you have increase your EV to at least 5 stop unless you modify your body. so good luck. I tried it once...

[headfonz]

Yes, the E510 is Near-Infrared (NIR) sensitive. i used it with a Hoya R72 filter. you should check out the IR / UV sub-forum for techniques and filters. http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=77

specifically for E510: http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/infrared/e510.html

[Oly5050]

Nice pic headfonz!

[shaoken]

Originally Posted by egnaro if you wanna do IR photography on E510 is definitely possible. infact IR filter on all DSLR is also possible. Using filter, you have increase your EV to at least 5 stop unless you modify your body. so good luck. I tried it once...

Modify? Modify in what sense?
How much will it costs?

[Benares]

Does anybody know exactly if the 510 can go under the knife to become an "IR camera"(successfully)? I read from the IR subforum that "The Camera Hospital" does this for the other makes of dslrs, but am unsure if anybody did it for the Oly bodies. Appreciate if anybody can enlighten me on this. Thanks.

[Benares]

Originally Posted by shaoken Modify? Modify in what sense? How much will it costs?

It is a 'surgery' that will remove the IR (protective) retardent layer from our camera sensor. From what I read/recall, the modification cost is between 2-300 sgd.

[shaoken]

Originally Posted by Benares It is a 'surgery' that will remove the IR (protective) retardent layer from our camera sensor. From what I read/recall, the modification cost is between 2-300 sgd.

Oh. That means after I modify, is it a must to put a UV filter?

After modification, can I take photos under broad daylight at shutter speed of 1/10 or 1/13 anymore?

[Benares]

Originally Posted by shaoken Oh. That means after I modify, is it a must to put a UV filter? After modification, can I take photos under broad daylight at shutter speed of 1/10 or 1/13 anymore?

As far as I know, the modification which I had mentioned above is permanent and meaning to say, what your camera can perceive is totally different now.

If I am not wrong, all your "normal shots" will turn out to be all purplish prior to all the post-processing required before you can obtain pictures something like what Headfonz had shown. 1 thing for sure is that, after the modification, you don't have to leave your camera to 'bake' (bulb mode) for many minutes (easily 15mins in a bright sunny day) to take a similar picture (before all the PP).

To the experienced IR-shooters, if I had made any wrong comments here, please do correct me. Cheers and thanks.

[headfonz]

Originally Posted by shaoken Oh. That means after I modify, is it a must to put a UV filter? After modification, can I take photos under broad daylight at shutter speed of 1/10 or 1/13 anymore?

It is not a simple modification. The procedure involves removing the camera's mirror box, shutter unit and sensor from the body cavity to remove the AA or IR cut filter and replacing it with a different filter.

Once a camera is converted, you cannot use it as a normal camera as the camera's meter will read the scene with the NIR light. The NIR converted camera will only work for NIR images and you cannot use it as normal. So yes, you can take photos under broad daylight at your preferred shutter speeds anymore, but it will not expose the same way as before. Your shots at those shutter speeds will probably be overexposed.

Also note that most service centres will not service NIR converted cameras.

[headfonz]

please read this thread for all the basic things you need to know about IR photography

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=423664

[shaoken]

Ok. Thanks for all the advices.

I think I'm not really ready for IR photography for now.

[Mikefellh]

Originally Posted by shaoken Ok. Thanks for all the advices. I think I'm not really ready for IR photography for now.

You don't need to modify the camera to do nIR photography...as already stated check out:
http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/infrared/e510.html

It's just some people choose to modify their cameras, or buy a second body just to modify so their camera is more sensitive to nIR or do colour nIR.

Now once your camera has been modified you can get a screw-on replacement "hot mirror" filter to replace the one that was removed when the camera was modified, so with that you can take normal pictures again with the modified camera:
http://www.2filter.com/faq/tiffen/tifhotmirror.html

Otherwise all you need to get started with your E-510 is the R72 filter and a tripod (since you'll be dealing with long exposures).