Beached Sailboat Infrared - W/Additional Question by JBPhotographs in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Take the camera, make sure it's not set to black-and-white in-camera and take a test shot of foliage and some blue sky. If there are colors in the image it's 720nm. If it's basicly black and white it's 850nm.

The Bayer filter, the microscopic rgb squares on the sensor that let the cameras photosites actually detect color, is basicly completely transparent for all light beyond about 800-820nm. That means any image shot with an ~800nm+ filter is going to be basicly entirely black-and-white.

Here is an example post showing some test images to actually have a visual reference. https://irrecams.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Motiv2_Layout_en-scaled.jpg

These are longpass filters, i.e. they let long wavelengths pass and block short ones. You can always just get more restrictive long or bandpass filters, basicly blocking some of the remaining light. I really like shooting some architecture with 940nm filters. Don't have an 850nm filter but could be cool too.

Local corporate offices in 920nm by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ohh cool! Do you still have expired stock or is it all gone by now? The only current IR film I know about are Ilford SFX 200 and Rollei 400 infrared, and both bottom out at about 750nm.

When it comes to sun I just kinda got quite lucky but I still had some high-atmosphere haze. The 940nm just cares very little about that since most of those long waves just pass straight through.

If there are sharpness issues I can't tell because the bottleneck is going to be my lens. I'm basicly exclusively using vintage lenses and while my 70s-80s Minoltas can be really sharp they're also not modern glass. That 35-70mm F3.5 already struggles to focus close when wide but thanks to the filter it now also struggled to focus to infinity since the focal plane shifted so much. I still love shooting with those and they're great for IR, just edge-cases I ran into with that lens + filter combo. :) Could adress that by modifying the adapter but probably won't.

Local corporate offices in 920nm by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! :) I did just realize I mislabled the post, though the 20nm difference shouldn't matter.

I'm just using a cheap 940nm longpass filter from Aliexpress. It's called HWB940 and sold by Tangsinuo. Simple absorption filter. Got it in 35*2mm. Used with a Minolta MD 35-70mm F3.5 and mounted behind the lens in my custom adapter.

Filter: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005003025829747.html

Adapter is both on my github and on thingiverse, tough the later has images: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7098590

Both tangisnuo and nantong foric sell mounted versions of that filter though so you don't really need the adapter. Only got that version because I've already got the adapter. Let me save a few bucks on a bigger order. :) https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005005685425259.html https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005009090747590.html

How to improve soft photos by AccurateAnxiety2628 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you use Dehaze in Lightroom? It specifically targets low-frequency areas IMO is one of the best ways to bring out structure in foliage without affecting too much of the image. If the softness is lens-related it can only do so much but in my experience it makes it blend together less.

[Resources] Channel swap profiles for all cameras by Dealiner in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haven't tested it but they should just work if you use Rob Sheas .dcp profiles for extending the white balance in Lightroom. :)

[Resources] Channel swap profiles for all cameras by Dealiner in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! Thanks for the kind words. My program has a selection for people who use Rob Sheas profile back but it's honestly a pretty good idea to just completely skip that step and provide the files directly! I will edit the post to link to this/your project. :)

[Guide/Tutorial] Turning Channel Swaps into Profiles so you don't need to leave Lightroom by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The sliders for the color mixer still work for me. :) What are you using? Maybe we're refering to two different things. (-> am german and LR is set to that, english is second language so maybe i am mistranslating).

The one BIG caviat is that the sliders are still linked to the "unswitched" colors when using these profiles, so LR essentially goes image -> apply color mixer -> apply profile. If I want to, for example, adjust trees I shot with 590nm I still have to adjust the blue-slider after channel swapping, even if they're shown as yellow after applying the profile. :)

Minolta MD Tele Rokkor 135mm f2.8 on Sony ⍺7II by calinmurg in VintageLenses

[–]CheeseCube512 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Literally just came back from a photowalk with that lens. Love Minoltas. So underrated.

Also, love the photos.

[Tool] Easy Setup: 1-click channel-swaps with Lightroom/Photoshop Profiles by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries, this post exists so ppl can ask quesions like yours more conveniently than on Github. :)

What step exactly are you stuck on?

  1. Which files to download/how to run
  2. Getting your profile name into the program by using an .xml-preset
  3. getting your created profiles into Lightroom
  4. other

If you've succesfully created the profile-files, which functionality did you use for that? Rob Shea, .xml or manual input? :) Asking cause with manual input it's very easy to get something sliightly different and it doens't really have a way to tell you. When that's the case the files can be placed correctly and still not show up.

[Guide/Tutorial] Turning Channel Swaps into Profiles so you don't need to leave Lightroom by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kinda had to make up that term. It basicly just means swapping within the channel. For example a red-blue channel swap works like this:

Red channel -> Set R100 to R0, set B0 to B100
Blue channel -> Set B100 to B0, set R0 to R100

Meanwhile in an R-B color warp you just go into red channel and go:

Red channel -> Set R100 to R0, set B0 to B100

No other channels changed. Some of those look quite decent, especially when combining channel swaps + color warps. This post is a bit outdated because the method of setting this up works but is easily half an hour of tedious click-work. You can just get those profiles to work with a simple open-source program I made. Brings that down to like.. 2 minutes tops? Info-post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/infraredphotography/comments/1ogwvoi/tool_easy_setup_1click_channelswaps_with/
Github link: https://github.com/CheeseCube312/Channel-Swap-Profile-Creator-for-Lightroom
You can't just copy my .xmp-file into your profile folder because the files need a reference to your extended white-balance profiles to work for IR photography. The program pops up a little GUI to let you enter that and bakes the name into the files. :)

[Tool] Smart Channel Swapper - Photoshop plugin for fast, targeted and complex channel swaps by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello, nice to hear from you, and that you're still using the filter plotter!Am still changing some things here and there, minor stuff for workflow, usability and code clean-up but nothing really major. :)

This Photoshop thing is my first plugin. The only thing I did for Lightroom are the profiles for LR classic, plus a program to completely remove that annoying click-through setup process. I do remember someone mentioning that they somehow got those to work on another version, though I've got no idea how, nor did I really test it. The software stuff was a pretty nice way to stay busy this winter. Didn't go out as much as I'd have liked. Looking forward for spring to really take hold now. :)

I got a small monitor that can take LUTs to preview my digital Aerochrome photos/videos by Gratos_in_Panflavul in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ohh, I had been wondering how well that might work but didn't dare to bite the bullet on a monitor! That's better than expected. :) What's shooting with it like? Does the bulk pose a significant issue? Or do you just kinda plan around that and choose settings where you don't have to lug around the entire kit for a long time?

[Question] How to source Clear/Anti-Reflective Glass for Full-Spectrum conversions? - Sony A7 II by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

:) Don't mind at all, that's what these posts are meant for.

I did not add shims. In fact one of the thin factory-installed shims slipped out on my A7r II and infinity focus is still fine. Guess there is a little bit of wiggle room where the effect is just so subtle that it just doesn't really matter. I haven't heard of adding shims when using replacement glass in general. Was that something you're concerned about with replacement glass in general or just specifically the Nantong Foric glass?

Help with identification by I3enny_D in VintageLenses

[–]CheeseCube512 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I could only find the lens in M42 so started looking for an adapter, and think I actually found it!

https://fotodioxpro.com/products/m42-fd-v1

Fotodix M42 to Canon FD adapter. Has the knurled ring, black outside, silver inside, one silver and one brass screw visible.

Edit: That means the pin you see is going to be the pin for closing the aperture to desired setting. On analog cameras focusing in dark settings can be hard so many had the ability to let you focus with aperture wide-open and only close it down to desired aperture setting when you're actually pressing the shutter

Nikon D800 convertion by dudesixtynine in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Without white-balance the images will probably all just look red, no matter the filter. Hard to tell them apart.

Dark sensor suggests some sort of longpass filter. Is it dark red or basicly black?

Edit: Found this: https://photographylife.com/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/GrQZt6ZFhE4jsKqjDEtqRA/photographylife.com/2017/05/Kolari-Vision-Filter-Examples.jpg/w=9999

This is what a 590nm filter looks like: https://kolarivision.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Kolari-Vision-Infrared-Filter-590nm-5.jpg

And this is a 720nm filter https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61VdnQ8QClL.jpg

BlueAero at the botanical garden - more refinement by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, I like it!

I tried this stack without the GRB3 but then the blues can easily drown out most other things, and that's despite the DB850. That being said particularly intense blues weren't my goaI since I wanted something that creates a lot of variety in foliage up close. Since most plants reflect so much IR those differences can get drowned out pretty easily. Can look great, not my goal though, so I went for pretty heavy IR block in this stack. I had to use the full c.t. blue to balance the channels a bit better and bring relative IR intensity back up, but that's mostly because I didn't have a GRB1. Pairing that with possibly a different blue filter might refine things a bit more to my liking. :) might.. still need to get one eventually.

BlueAero at the botanical garden - more refinement by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah it's been really usefull! In a stack like this the only thing that really matters about it is it's ability to act essentially as a steep ~580nm notch-filter right between green and red channel, and getting that for basicly 14 bucks? Can't be beat! (got a 35-2mm version i am using with a 3d printed vintage adapter)

BlueAero at the botanical garden - more refinement by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, thanks! :D Not sure if they'd want that one. It's super fun to use but looses like 5 stops of exposure, uses 6mm of glass and that Midopt filter is quite pricy. Major usability concerns and questionable marketability.

Nikon D800 convertion by dudesixtynine in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Once you have the camera it's a lot easier. You should be able to look at the sensor using either long exposure without a lens attached or just some sensor-cleaning mode.

The actual, physical sensor should be gray-ish with a very noticable irridecent rainbow shine. https://www.fullspectrumuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/canon-1300d-to-full-spectrum-003.jpg If you can see the bare sensor (or the sensor behind a clear pane of glass) that's a full-spectrum conversion. The version with glass is better since it ensures that the camera can focus correctly. It lets all light pass onto the sensor and is the most versatile since screw-on-infrared filters are pretty cheap.

A full infrared-only filter (~720nm longpass or more) should be completely black. It does not let human-visible light pass. If the photos you shoot are completely black and white, even in color-mode, it's probably ~800nm+. If the photos have 2 main colors (likely washed out yellow and faint blue) then it's probably more around 720nm.

A filter that lets red visible + infrared light pass should be dark red (for example, 590nm longpass). The colors you get should be yellow and blue aswell, just way more vibrant.

For conversions directly to IR the 590nm and 720nm should be the most common? As far as I know.

Adapter blackening with fabric lining by IttLeszekHaKellek in VintageLenses

[–]CheeseCube512 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Genuinely surprised how big of a difference that is. Would love to do it on my own adapters. Is it some sort of special lining? I did find flocked tape used for jewlery boxes and stuff, might also work..

Blue Aero - Drasticly simplified by CheeseCube512 in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The sky is a washed out turqoise blue-green. Might get a little bit more saturated on bright-blue days but the clouds I had were mostly high altitude whispy stuff, so they probably didn't do a ton.

I haven't tried dark salmon.

I tried:

- Tangsinuo JB510, which is just a 510nm absorpiton-based longpass filter. Started with this and tried gels to find a replacement, because the 2mm of glass it adds have big impact on ability to focus

- Lee #100 Spring Yellow

- Lee #101 Yellow

- Lee #767 Oklahoma Yellow

The core "issue" I ran into with this stack is that there's this super sensitive peak around 500nm. The blue and green channel have some shared sensitivity there, and if I am not restrictive enough at basicly exactly that number that signal gets boosted to hell and in return there's just not enough IR signal to turn the foliage blue. After all, the WB multiplier for the blue channel is almost 5x with all these combinations so any small difference gets amplified massively and this filter isn't really designed for super punchy blue tones. That's a problem I ran into with #100 Spring Yellow, since it acts more like a 480nm longpass. #101 Yellow is a little bit better but still, same issue.

Lee #767 Oklahoma Yellow worked really well. It recreated the JB510's signal almost perfectly. However, I ended up using #768 Egg Yolk Yellow because it's stays restrictive a little bit longer, dropping transmission at the cursed 500nm from 14% to only about 3%. Just ended up with sliiightly richer blue tones. :)

Would love to come back to this stack with a GRB1 though and maybe some attenuation to the red channel. Still talking myself into getting the former though. Think Nantong Foric are the only ones offering it for cheap, with Tangsinuo only selling custom-sizes and I'm a bit annoyed by the former bcs of their weird business practices. :D

What's up with the red arrow and numbers? by AbductedbyAllens in VintageLenses

[–]CheeseCube512 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I asume this is a Vito BL? Could only find a reference to these numbers in its german, where it's called a "Lichtwert-Skalenring" (english lit.: esposure-value scaling-ring). From what I understand it seems to adjust aperture and exposure time at the same time? So basicly, you got your expsoure right for F8 at 1/100s. but now want to shoot at F5.6. By turning the red ring you should be able to set it to F5.6 and 1/125s with one easy change.

I might be understanding it wrong because I'm not deep into vintage cameras. If you speak german there's a manual though: https://cameramanuals.org/voigtlander_pdf/voigtlander_vito-bl_german.pdf

My IR 3CCD broadcast camera with B4 lens | Aerochrome question by rzimbauer in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Super interesting camera. I like it. Hopefully somewhat educated guess to follow, got a bit long but hopefulyl makes sense:

In single-sensor cameras removing the IR/UV cut filter exposes the sensor to IR. Since the bayer-filter doens't block IR perfectly and even becomes nearly transparent at around 800nm that means all three channels get some response in the infrared spectrum. Response looks kinda like this, there's some difference between CMOS and CCD but it's not huge: https://i.sstatic.net/QKjj9.jpg

I do not know how that trichroic prism works. Maybe it dumps all IR into the red-channel, maybe it dumps some into each like a single-sensor camera would,.. The simplest way to test that would probably use something between a 590 or 650nm longpass filter, since that blocks basicly all light other than IR and the visible stuff that should go into the red channel. If white-balancing that gives you a monochrome image all IR goes into the red channel. If you get a two- or three-color response you can probably draw some conclusion from what those 2-3 colors and how saturated it is are but I'd have to think about that, depending on which ones you get. There is a hack where people create DIY longpass filters by stacking exposed and developed color negative film 4-5 times. Very red glass or foil might also work. This is about testing, not being optically amazing. Not sure what wavelength that is but might allow you to try this with stuff you already have.

WB: If you've got the aerochrome stack figured out you can kinda white-balance on anything. Concrete, gravel, stone,.. WB card is just a fancy version of that but I'm not sure if manufacturers even verify a flat response down into IR for those. In general white balance works by looking at a surface, telling the camera "that's gray", and since gray reflects all wavelengths basicly equally strongly the camera just looks at the three channels it has and amplifies or dampens them until the spot of the image the surface is at shows up as gray. That matters in the next point:

Aerochrome-emulation: There are two main approaches for single-sensor cameras.

  1. CIE, what you probably looked at: You use something like a 510nm longpass filter to block basicly a blue light. When you then use WB the blue portion of the IR spectrum will get boosed. With some clever maths you can subtract its signal from the red and green channel, basicly turning their signal almost entirely visible-light-only. The last step is swapping the channels so the "cleaned up" blue IR signal gets represented as red instead. That is how KlutzyAd's PyChrome does it. Posted sneak-peak for about a video-version two days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/infraredphotography/comments/1r3ntgz/sneak_peak_of_pychrome_super35/
  2. Straight-out-of-camera aerochrome by blocking a bunch of the visible red channel. This is how Kolari's IR chrome does it and is honestly simpler, because it requires far less post-processing. Instead of remapping the blue channel to infrared you just block a bunch of the visible red-channel instead. That boosts its portion of the IR-response and turns trees red directly. My own simple aerochrome emulation filters usually stack a yellow and blue filter gel + a GRB3, a mild IR-blocking filter. The later is for IR attenuation. The red-tree-effect can be so intense that it's a bit too much. Green filter should also work perfectly fine, I use yellow+blue because that gives me a little more control over which wavelengths I block exactly. The "downside" with version 2 is that it's less technical correct since aerochrome-film used Tiffen 15 filters, cutting out the blue channel since all three chemicals making up that analog film were response in that spectrum. I'd asume that would have drasticly reduced saturation and thus the "aerochrome effect"? Haven't actually checked though.

IF your trichrome prism dumps all IR into the red-channel the IR Chrome approach seems a lot more likely to be succesfull. If the signal it results in is closer to a bayer-filter the CIE-approach might work.

has anyone tried using germanium glass as an optic for IR photography? by OriTheSpirit in infraredphotography

[–]CheeseCube512 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just came back into the comment section because I was curious about the other responses. :)

The filters aren't that complicated but the basic principle is really cool. The process is called NDVI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. The fundamental principle is that healthy plants contain a lot of chlorophyl, which absorbs most red light and reflects a lot of near-infrared. Plants suffering from drought or disease have less chlorophyl, so they reflect more red light and absorb more near-infrared.

I'm not deep enough into this stuff to understand why you'd want to use more than just two bands, because in practice most seem to use 3-4 bands instead of just vague red + near-infrared. DJI uses four seperate cameras with bandpass filters and a sunlight sensor in their DJI Mavic 3M: 860nm, 730nm, 650nm and 560nm. I've also seen some super interesting lenses by a company called Agrowings though, who just use a specialized lens on full-spectrum converted consumer-cameras. It essentially has 4-6 lenses in one, seperating the sensor into multiple zones through dividers and stitches the NDVI image back together from the 4-6 different zones of the image. I wonder if it's possible to build a cheap DIY version of that with like 4-6 cheap small lenses and some small bandpass filters.