Does a Hoya R72 filter compete with a converted infrared camera? 

Like most people, I started with the filter. Now I have a full spectrum camera with about 7 IR filters. Doing photography in the middle of the day while most other photographers have left is great. Just remember to have fun with the editing.

That’s interesting, my brother converted an old Nikon (converted as in removed the ir filter from the sensor), but we still need crazy iso or long shutter speeds, natural light alone often doesn’t cut it. Also the shot comes out very red like your shots with just the filter

I have two Canon 5D cameras, one has been converted to infrared @ 720nm. If I use a Hoya R72 (720nm) on the unconverted camera, the difference is a lower level of contrast. This is because of low level bleed through of light from the upper visible spectrum - and that is OK, it still looks great, but a different look when compared to the converted camera. I actually like the longer exposures necessary with the R72, it’s all good!

Thanks so much.. this topic is so interesting to me as well as informative

I recommend a full spectrum modified mirrorless camera any sensor size. In short here is why, you can use any infrared filter. You can also use cut filter to shoot normal visible light. You just lose the ability of having auto white balance with the camera. Not really a big deal. Secondly, you can shoot a number of vintage lenses and not be tied to a brand. Just research the lens and make sure it doesn't have hot spots and learn how to test for it when shooting. Infrared.

On Olympus cameras the art mode has a color wheel and the infrared filter works sooc.

Nice results! It is certainly a major difference having access to those faster shutterspeeds. Sometimes the long exposures effects are nice, like when shooting waterfalls, but otherwise it can be stifling.

Awesome! THANK YOU!

Well done bro👍👍👍

thank you!

Well done sir

The test could have been better. My suggestions: - Try to get the same composition - Overlay the 3 pictures as 3 layers in Photoshop and position compositions straight above eachother. - Make all 3 black and white. 0 saturation. - The IR converted cam is clearly the best, so take that as reference. Now: adjust exposure, contrast and levels and try to get as close to the converted image as you can. Than we can truly see how much you gain with the conversion. Of course, ease of use can be a component, but not the only one. Side question I have for myself. Owning a new A7s III and FX6 they have double base ISO one at 128k or 64.000 depending on the mode. I'm wondering if I do crank the iso up what will happen.

the 3rd shot was amazing i mean the one with the house

Nobody shows the filter very well. Is it a red filter like the film infrared filters? I happen to have one from my 70's photography. If you have plant life indoors by a window on a sunny day is that workable? Thanks, and I subbed.

I have a Harrison Infrared filter. Any chance it's more or less identical to the Hoya R72 filter?

Hi, i'm new in this genre of photography. i have a Nikon APS-C DSLR converted camera. But my question is(or where i have a problem) is that i can't have a sharp photo, it's like the focus is not done right. I use the auto focus of the camera but the photos are not sharp, How you arrive to nail the focus in infrared photography?

The Hoya filter had more contrast but a longer shutter speed and a nicer image. I'm thinking of converting an older Sony a7 do you have any input.

Without going through all the comments, let me say that it’s difficult to compare the 2 different IR types without knowing the specifics of the converted camera. Which frequency was the Z50 converted to? I’d say probably not 720nm, because the image doesn’t have the red-orange cast the externally filtered camera has. Or, if it is a 720nm conversion, I’m going to say you had a custom white balance set. I have experience with 2 IR cameras; an older D70 which was converted to a 720nm IR camera, and a D200 which has been converted to Life Pixel’s deep IR. This camera only renders monochrome. Your Z50 images were color IR, and the Z7ii were monochrome. Not really a fair comparison. But that said I like it when IR information gets out there; good job!

very interesting IR? its not something i’d thought about - I use the Z7 II - so how do you you use it for IR?

converted camera looks more detailed and life like.

Thanks. I recently got an R72 and have started to experiment, so far only making straight conversions to B&W (in Silver Efex Pro). I'm not sure how to get the "false color" effect (pale blue, orange-brown, sepia, etc.) seen with converted cameras as simply desaturating the red has so far simply produced greyscale results with dark skies and selected foliage in white. Maybe other than a 720-nm filter would make a difference. I like some of the images but it's an adjustment--obviously thinking in IR is as different from thinking in B&W as B&W is from color and you always have to think long-exposure with the R72 (not a huge fan of that with visible light--it's been so overdone as to have become largely cliché but there are cases where it works). At this point, I have no plans to convert a camera, but I haven't ruled that out at some point. Certainly, IR can produce some interesting images, but I'll have to see what "staying power" it has.

Right now, I use 720nm and 950nm infrared filters. Your camera was converted to how many nm?

I was very curious about this… great work

But surely if you put a 720nm filter on a normal unconverted camera you have the situation that the 720 filter will only let IR thru, while that built into most cameras is there to stop any IR reaching the sensor. So the two filters are competing against each other, resulting in the longer shutter speeds. Best is a camera converted to Full Spectrum, removing the internal filter, combined with IR filters on the lens front, with values from 520 thru 850nm. You don't need tests to show this, it's basic optical technology. I use a cheap Panasonic G5 converted to Full Spectrum.

The filter shot seems hotter in the center.

Your just getting less light at 12 bits, you could always press Auto White Balance, Its really just so 8 bit monitors make things crisper, cleaner. Every commercial is a company, every company is a cleaning solution clearing house. If you go down to fundamentals, like "just buy a sony a6500, it costs less and you die younger."

A warning to photographers needing conversions (to infra-red, astro, etc.) or camera repair: Stay away from Spencer’s Camera in Utah, which bills itself as doing work for NASA; they have photographers recommending them on YT videos and so on. The are outright crooks; no other way to put it. Back in February I sent them two Canon T6s, both for sensor cleaning, one for conversion to Infra-red. I made it clear I needed it done quickly as I am on the road in my RV, etc. They said no problem, about $375. Okay. It took more than 6 weeks, with no answer on their phone (filled up voice mail). They finally returned my emails saying everyone was ‘at a workshop’ in Canada. Aggravating. The eventual package was so poorly wrapped that one T6 was sticking out of a ragged hole. There was no invoice or receipt or even an indication of which T6 was converted, which was merely cleaned. I went online to my bank to see that they ‘rounded up’ to $400.00 on my cc. No invoice indeed. Would have been iffy to round up. But the real reason was only one camera was actually worked on, the conversion. I assume they didn’t want to put a lie on paper since both cameras still had filthy sensors and are useless. I wanted to have it on record, so I used email to complain. My two emails went unanswered. This is a well-known company (NASA, etc) but they obviously do not care (in the extreme) about us peons. I have posted the first photos out of my cameras on my blog if you want to see what they… didn’t do and over-charged me for it after being 4 weeks late. I’m a well thought-of writer (3 books, many TV/feature scripts) named Allan Weisbecker; I have worked professionally as a photographer (including covers) for magazines like Smithsonian, Men’s Journal, Popular Photography, and so on. Google me and do a search for my blog if you want to verify what I’m saying (and see the dirty sensor pics). ‘Allan C Weisbecker + blog’. Look for the title ‘Spencer’s Cameras Are Crooks’.

I do wish you Americans would pronounce the letter Z properly, ZED and not ZEE !