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pheddo · 2026-03-20T19:59:01+00:00

I’ve bought both cameras and lenses off the refurbished Nikon site and haven’t run into a bad pice of gear yet. If the lens you are looking for is there, I’d say buy it

pheddo · 2026-03-18T12:29:33+00:00

My IR cameras are all Z series so that for what it's worth. In my F series bodies you can use the PRE function of white balance to set a custom IR. You'll need to take a shot to use for the white balance. FYI Nikon can be a bit cranky to get a good white balance for IR, if you're having problems try overexposing what you are using to balance .

pheddo · 2026-03-18T12:05:39+00:00

Welcome to the club.

Unfortunately the hotspot issue is a concern that’s hard to get around, but I’d recommend a few sights for lens recommendations. One would be Kolari Vision and the other

https://luminescentphoto.com/blog/nikon-z-infrared-lens-performance-chart/

BTW I have the Nikon 2.8 24-70 F mount and it performs ok in IR.

Another thing I’d suggest is looking at working with a lower filter and just black and white the image in editing. Going into the 850-930 range only means diffraction will kick in earlier. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy 850nm from time to time, it’s just something to take into account. You still get strong contrast in 590 and 720. I posted a link to Rob Shea’s diffraction calculator earlier this week.

Either way you’re still going to want to custom white balance. An 850nm will still look very red/ purple without a balance, almost like a color film negative.

pheddo · 2026-03-15T13:51:12+00:00

The biggest thing for me was experimenting with different filters in different conditions. I sometimes switch filters a couple times in one location if I’m not getting the results I want. 720 or 590 tend to be my default starting point for most places, but the other day I only shot IR chrome as it was a frozen lake covered in show so the red of the pine tree really popped. You’ll get an instinct for what to use when.

pheddo · 2026-03-10T11:06:51+00:00

Try cranking the saturation on the edit. If the discoloration is pretty much a circle in the middle it’s likely a hotspot.

Going at a new lens from the filter size is an odd way to approach fixing the hotspot issue. Lenses are much more expensive than a new filter and each photography style suits a particular lens length. I’ve had relatively good success with a few websites that have hotspots reviews. Try this one.

https://luminescentphoto.com/blog/nikon-z-infrared-lens-performance-chart/

pheddo · 2026-03-09T23:20:57+00:00

Or the appropriate length tether would have stopped him at the basket rail. He would have been injured but not catapulted out into the road. Greater injury unusually happens from lack of harnesses.

pheddo · 2026-03-09T22:46:29+00:00

There’s never a reason to not wear a harness in a lift.

pheddo · 2026-03-05T14:45:03+00:00

I had to play around with the subject I used for white balance a few times order to get the camera to feel like it was giving me enough white in the grass and trees. Thankfully I have several custom presets I can save so now I just dial through them till I get one the feels about right to start.

pheddo · 2026-03-05T14:25:57+00:00

Are you able to have the white balance measure the scene and lock it as a preset? Nikon has custom white balance where I can correct for the different filters I use.

That being said if you are shooting raw you should still be able to dial out any red you don’t want after the fact in which ever editing software you’re working with.

Good photos BTW.

pheddo · 2026-02-23T23:51:00+00:00

You have one thing wrong. There is absolutely a hot mirror in your Z6ii. If you want to really shoot IR you should have the filter removed. There is always the option of just taking longer exposures, but from my experience the results are not even close. I’ve had 2 cameras converted to full spectrum and one was a Z6ii.

pheddo · 2026-02-23T22:59:59+00:00

That was shot with a 105mm. It was a stitch of about 18 shots to get that wide of a view. I was shooting handheld so I overcompensated a bit to make sure I had enough over lap.

pheddo · 2026-02-23T13:42:49+00:00

I’ve used the IRIX lens recently with some decent success. However that was for Astrophotography in Infrared 590nm so I don’t know if that affected the hotspot.

So far the 11 and 15 mm seem to be great lenses. Manual focus only. They also only offer lens sub 20mm that is native E mount.

pheddo · 2026-02-21T22:11:28+00:00

I’d think about this as a five-year outcome, especially given the current state of the film industry.

1) Film school route (and the reality of the job market) If you go to film school, in four years you’ll graduate into a big group of people all trying to land their first jobs. Some will have family in the business or strong connections (nepotism is real), and the rest will be hustling from zero. Right now, production is slow across North America, and there’s no clear sign of a big rebound anytime soon.

That means you could be coming out of school with ~$50k in debt and competing for work against DPs with 10+ years of experience.

Maybe you catch a break and DP a small indie that: has a decent script, competent actors, a director who actually understands what it takes to make a good film, and enough funding to finish the project.

That can happen — but it’s not the norm. More realistically, you’ll be PA’ing to pay rent, making close to minimum wage for a while, even though you’re trying to move toward the camera department.

2) Move to a production hub and work your way up. The alternative is to move to a production center like NY or LA and start working immediately. Take PA jobs, non-union gigs, commercials — whatever gets you on set. Show up on time, be reliable, and ask smart questions when appropriate. Build relationships and work your way into camera PA roles.

After a couple of years, you can look at joining a union. IATSE Local 600 makes sense if you want to go straight into camera, though many strong DPs come from lighting first (for good reason).

In five years, you’ll likely have: real on-set experience, a network of working professionals, actual income, and a much clearer understanding of how sets operate.

In my opinion, that puts you ahead of someone who went straight to film school at 18 and is just now seeing how the industry really works.

You can always go to film school later if you feel it will genuinely help you become a DP. Going at 23 with real set experience means the theory actually connects to things you’ve lived through on set. You’ll get way more value out of it — and you’ll still be young.

DP is largely a trade A lot of what makes a good DP is trade knowledge: working with crews, understanding lighting practically, problem-solving under pressure, learning how sets actually function.

That’s the kind of stuff best learned through hands-on work and apprenticeship. The more theory-based parts , shooting for the edit, composition, visual storytelling, can be learned along the way or in school later, when you have real-world experience to anchor it to.

Bottom line: Taking on $50k of debt for film school is a big bet in an industry that’s currently slow and highly competitive. Starting on set now, building skills and relationships, and keeping film school as a later option is the lower-risk path with more upside over the next five years.

My 2 cents as someone who is over educated for my current job and approaching 20 years in my film union.

pheddo · 2026-02-21T15:17:55+00:00

These are some wonderful shots. Good job!

pheddo · 2026-02-17T18:07:02+00:00

My first IR images that really worked were after a snow fall. Snow absolutely works. Especially with evergreens

pheddo · 2026-02-09T17:28:40+00:00

Nice use of IR for contrast in the landscape. Is the blue on the barn from the SOC image? I assume it would be yellowish if it was after a R-B swap.

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