How To Make A Thermal Camera

In order to run yous through the process of building your own IR camera, I will use the steps taken to alter a Kodak EasyShare CX7330. It is a typical compact indicate-and-shoot digital photographic camera from several years ago.

The bones components we started off with, for the modified Kodak EasyShare CX7330. It has the same feel and office equally the CX6230. Notation the single moving element lens housing. This will permit fitment of a filter without the use of an extension tube.

Things to proceed in mind nigh our project requirements:

• We want the functionality of a basic IR camera at the everyman possible cost. ·
• We will practise ourselves, whatever nosotros can (to go on downwards costs and to learn as much as possible in the process.) ·
• Nosotros are non after flash product features, we are after functionality and utility value.

Step one

Acquire the photographic camera and check its workings. Cameras like the CX7330 can exist bought at Internet auctions, 2d hand shops, etc. Many thousands of these were produced, and very few of them were used to the point of failure. You will about likely be able to selection up one which has seen very niggling utilise. Chances are, it is in pristine condition with its best years withal to come. Try to get yourself a camera with a memory carte, charger for the bombardment (if applicable), and some software for downloading the photo files included in the deal. If they are non, you may have to shop around for these. A bear case is good to accept but non essential.

Once you lot take the photographic camera, check to see that it actually works. Start information technology up and take a few photos. Do this for close-up likewise as far-away objects. Shoot in different lighting weather and at dissimilar zoom settings (if a zoom function is included). Load the files up into a photograph manipulation or graphical software package and bank check the quality of the results. Read the handbook that came with the camera (or download such handbook from the Cyberspace, if bachelor). The better you lot know your photographic camera and its functions, the more than value you will get out of it, and the improve photos the two of you volition produce together. Pay attention to (and remember) the way in which the photographic camera "comes to life" when you lot switch it on. Besides note how user settings like exposure bounty are set up.

Step 2

Set up a suitable workplace. It need not be fancy but at that place are a few requirements. The workplace should exist clean and uncluttered, assuasive you to dismantle your camera, pack out the components, and do some basic tasks, like cleaning and fitting of parts. Y'all as well need a work infinite (preferably some altitude abroad from the photographic camera building site) where yous can practise "dirty jobs" such as the cutting and filing of glass. Running h2o at this 2d workplace will be overnice, but it is not essential. Your workplaces need to be well-lit (so you can encounter minor parts easily) and the building site should preferably be set up such that you can exit the project there indefinitely while searching for, constructing, or waiting for parts.

Step 3

Written report the outside of your camera to figure out how the trounce was constructed. If possible, see if y'all can find a website showing you how to dismantle your photographic camera. Almost digital compact cameras are housed in a two-part vanquish. The shell is fixed to itself and to the innards by means of screws. The screws volition near likely be of the Philips (or modified Philips) type.

Step 4

Assemble the tools needed for dismantling the photographic camera. You volition most likely need a set of jeweler'due south screwdrivers for the job. These are pocket-size screwdrivers with a range of shapes and sizes. The well-nigh useful of these will probable be a #00 or #0 Philips. Run into the photos earlier in this article for an analogy of some of the tools needed. You will most likely also need a apartment-caput screwdriver or two, tweezers, masking tape, blu tack, and ear bud cleaners. You will not be using the drinking glass cutter, file, and marker right away but you may get information technology at the gear up at present.

Footstep v

Remove the batteries and the memory card from the camera and store them somewhere prophylactic. Also remove the lanyard (if in that location is one) every bit information technology tends to go far the way.

Step 6

Carefully remove all the screws visible on the exterior of the shell. Please note that the screws may non all be alike in colour, size, and shape. It may be worth your while to make a crude drawing or take photos of the camera and note which screws were removed from where. Store the screws where they will non exist disturbed or lost. Be on the look-out for screws which may be hidden from sight. Sometimes screws can exist institute subconscious under stickers or inside the battery compartment or retention card compartment. Encounter photos showing the screws on the exterior of the CX7330.

Pace vii

Carefully pry open the shell of the camera. The symmetry of the shell sometimes gives away the undercover every bit to which part should exist removed first.

The lesser of the CX7330. There are v screws which need to be carefully removed. A #0 Philips screwdriver works well for the removal of all the screws on the shell of the CX7330.

With the CX7330 the back of the camera gives way. For the CX7330 there are no ribbon cables or wires joining the back to the main body. Run into photo.

The right hand side of the CX7330. (As seen from the side with the operator interface.) At that place are 2 screws which need to be advisedly removed.

Be aware that some of the parts inside the shell may come adrift once y'all open up the shell. With the CX7330, in that location is a silverish-colored metallic plate which breaks away from the area where the memory carte du jour slots into the photographic camera.

The left hand side of the CX7330. (As seen from the side with the operator interface.) There is just 1 screw which needs to exist removed.

Once within, yous demand to study the construction of the camera. Pay special attention to screws which obviously hold major parts together. Try non to touch the electronic components, the lens or any of the intricate mechanisms associated with moving parts. It is OK to grab hold of the camera past pressing confronting the sides of circuit boards. It is not OK to electrocute yourself by touching the camera flash capacitor or its excursion!

The CX7330 with its shell pried open up. Note how the doors to the battery compartment and camera compartment come adrift once the trounce has been split. Exist careful not to touch whatsoever of the electronic circuits of the main torso.

Stride 8

Notice the "hot filter". The aim of the whole exercise is to find (and if necessary) supervene upon the "hot filter". The "hot filter" sits between the lens and the CCD. The CCD is commonly mounted flat on a PC board within the camera—either the main board or an auxiliary one. The steps described below volition tell you how to get to and remove the "hot filter" on a CX7330. You lot may or may not be able to do the same for other cameras. The hot filter of the CX7330 is located on an auxiliary board beneath the LCD screen. Once you open the beat out of the CX7300, the LCD sits freely in its cradle on the back of the photographic camera associates. Gently swing the LCD out of the way to expose the cradle. Rather than go along with the LCD screen in this bad-mannered position, we are going to remove it. The screen is fastened to the photographic camera associates by two ribbon connectors. (Come across photo.)

The LCD has been swung out of position and reveals the slots the cablevision ribbons are plugged into. Both of the connectors (yellow pointed fingers icons) are equipped with slide-in plugs. Both ends of the plugs (blue pointed fingers) need to be pulled away from the connector just a millimeter or so. (Important = Pull in a direction parallel to the surface of the PC board, non away from the board!) Doing this opens up the connector and allows the cable to be pulled from the connector freely.

The ribbon cables are both connected to the board underneath, past means of slide-in connectors. Advisedly open up upwards the connectors by pulling back on the dark colored servant plugs until they give mode. (The plugs stay in place, a few millimeters from where they were before, only allowing the plug to release the end of the ribbon cable). Gently pull both ribbon cables from their corresponding connectors. Now remove the three screws holding down the cradle. (See photo below.)

To remove the LCD tray, offset remove the three screws shown here.

Place the screws in a safe place. Do as well for the cradle. The auxiliary lath is connected to the main board by means of a wire and a ribbon cablevision. The ribbon cable may now be asunder from the main board. It slots into a connector with a swing-type retainer. The servant opens up similar a door rather than through a sliding action. Simply elevator the stop of the retainer to expose the end of the cable and to get the connector to let go of information technology. Gently pull the ribbon cable from the connector.

The CCD is housed underneath the auxiliary PC board shown here. Start undo the ii screws pointed out past the blue pointed fingers. The yellowish pointed finger shows where the ribbon cable joins with the main board below. This connector uses a flip-up retainer to go along the ribbon cable in place. Of import = Notation the short length of black wire just under the view finder in the photo. Because of this wire, nosotros will not be able to completely remove the auxiliary board. Take care not to damage this wire or its connections when yous swing the auxiliary board out of position.

There are two screws belongings the auxiliary board in place. Carefully remove these and place them in a safe place. If y'all at present carefully lift and swing open the auxiliary lath y'all will come across that the CCD is mounted underneath information technology and that the "hot filter" sits in a recess behind the lens, between the lens and CCD. Meet photo.

Here the auxiliary lath conveying the CCD has been swung out of position. The lens associates is revealed underneath the old position of the auxiliary lath. The "hot filter" is pointed out by the pointed finger. In that location is a rubber seal around and on meridian of the filter. Remove it and the filter itself carefully.

At that place will be a rectangular frame-like rubber seal pressing downward on the edges of the "hot filter". Carefully remove this seal with tweezers and place it in a rubber place. Using a piece of blu tack, stuck to the end of a wooden friction match (or similar object), press against the "hot filter" from above, and so elevator the "hot filter" out of its position within the recess. You may want to exit the partially disassembled photographic camera in its current state but where it is. Cover it with a cloth and make certain that information technology is not disturbed while y'all get to work on manufacturing a replacement filter chemical element.

Stride 9

Manufacturing a replacement for the hot filter. (Read Annotation 1 below before proceeding. It may be that you practice not need to supervene upon the "hot filter" at all.) The CX7330 has a "hot filter" that measures 8mm x 6.5mm x 1.1mm. If you have non previously done so, you now have to manufacture a replacement for the "hot filter" from your camera. (Read Note 2 earlier proceeding.) There are several sources of glass suited to the manufacture of replacement elements for the "hot filter". Have the measurements of the "hot filter". In some instances, where the "hot filter" floats on a rubber back up, the verbal dimensions are not that critical. A vernier caliper may be used to go the measures of the "hot filter" (Read Annotation 3).

You may use a vernier caliper to get the measurements of the "hot filter".

The filters are rather minor and easy to misplace; take care! For a replacement element to fit into the recess of the CX7330, it will have to be rather close in size to the original. You lot now take to mark the size of the "hot filter" onto a suitable piece of glass. You lot may use a marking meant for writing on CD and DVD disks. The slice of glass should have a thickness as close equally possible to that of the "hot filter". It so happens that the thickness of 1.1mm was pretty close to the thickness of a microscope slide. For the CX7330 I thus marked the shape of the "hot filter" on the edge of a microscope slide. The slice of glass is then cut ever so slightly over-size and its edges are filed to become it to the same size as the "hot filter".

Mark the size of the hot filter on a suitable piece of glass. You may use the filter itself equally template.

This process also ensures that the sides of the piece of glass will be nicely ground rather than jagged and irregular. (Read Notation 4 on the cutting of glass)

Stride 10

Replace the "hot filter". One time the replacement for the "hot filter" has been manufactured, information technology should be cleaned properly and put back where the "hot filter" used to be. Be conscientious not to leave finger marks on the replacement role, not to get dirt trapped in the infinite betwixt the element and the CCD and not to affect the CCD at all.

Step 11

Get together in the reverse social club of dis-assembly. Advisedly opposite the process by which the camera was taken autonomously. Make sure that the ribbon cables are plugged in properly and locked down by means of the servant plugs. Past sure to supersede every screw in the place where information technology came from.

Footstep 12

Supersede the batteries and the memory bill of fare. You are now ready for a start test run of your IR-capable camera. More well-nigh the process of converting your photographic camera, testing, and taking photos in Function 3. If you would like to fit an interchangeable filter ring to the camera you may try a modified filter ring as the interface betwixt the photographic camera and the interchangeable filter band.

A cheap UV filter can exist modified to serve at filter zipper. Remove the glass element from the original filter assembly. Then file abroad the male thread at the back of the filter ring. The pointed finger shows the flat surface which was created by filing away the threads. Finally sand the ring to a satin finish with fine sandpaper.

1 of these modified filter rings were glued to the front of the lens of the CX7330. The fit is virtually perfect and it produces a smashing interface suited to our needs.

Notation 1: When I modified the Kodak EasyShare CX6230, I found that no replacement element was needed for the photographic camera to still accept decent pictures. I can only assume that the absence of the "hot filter" of 0.5mm thickness did not prevent the camera from applying its car focus function successfully. With the Nikon it was another story. The camera was not able to focus at all. After I replaced the i.8mm thick "hot filter" with a glass chemical element of similar size, the camera focused just fine. The CX7330 was fitted with a glass element of 1.2mm thickness. This was slightly more that the ane.1mm called for. The photographic camera however performed quite satisfactorily.

Left: A photo taken with the Nikon Coolpix afterward removal of the "hot filter" just before a replacement was fitted. The photographic camera was not able to focus at all. No IR loftier-pass filter had been fitted in front of the lens at this time. Right: Another photograph taken from the same vantage point later that mean solar day. This was after a replacement chemical element was fitted. The camera was at present able to focus satisfactorily. No IR high-pass filter had been fitted in forepart of the lens at this fourth dimension

Annotation 2: Manufacturing the glass element as replacement to the "hot filter" is by far the most difficult part of the conversion process. If you have difficulty in doing this, you may have to ask a local glass merchant or glazier to help you. They may not be used to working with such small pieces of glass merely they volition have glass cutters and grinders at hand. These will assistance immensely with the sizing and finishing of the glass element. Every bit far as sources of glass go: the 1.8mm thick glass used for the replacement element for the Nikon, was a glass pane from a small, $2 photograph frame bought at a local retailer. Net traders sell protective covers for devices with pocket-size LCD screens. Enter "glass lens protector" as a search term and come across what you lot get. Many of these "protectors" are drinking glass sheets 0.5mm in thickness. These protector sheets sell for a few dollars. Microscope slides are between 1 and i.2mm thick and easy to find through Internet trading. Yous tin buy them past the hundred for a few dollars.

Note 3: Mention was fabricated that y'all may want to utilize a vernier caliper to mensurate the size of the "hot filter". While this may help you make up one's mind the exact measurements of the element, there is no need to invest in such calipers if you practice non run into yourself using them for other jobs in time to come. Comparative measurements will do us simply fine. Await for a piece of glass "as thick as" the chemical element from the camera (using the element itself every bit gauge). Then mark the outline of the element on the piece of glass by tracing information technology. Once cut, the piece of glass has to exist shaped and brought to size. You can quite easily exercise this by putting the ii pieces adjacent to i some other and "eyeballing" them for a fit. With the two pieces in contact with one some other, your eye will easily tell you when the new piece of glass is the same size and shape as the original element.

Note four: How to cut glass. Cutting drinking glass is an art form of itself. It can even so exist mastered by the novice if you lot retrieve the following:

• Identify the piece of glass on a sturdy apartment surface. Cover the work surface with a clean piece of newspaper to protect the glass.
• Tape the piece of drinking glass to the work surface. This is especially helpful for minor pieces of glass. Information technology protects the glass and prevents it from slipping during the cutting action.
• Mark the profile of the slice of glass you lot need, against one of the existing corners of the piece of glass. This leaves you with only 2 cuts to make. A cut should always extend all the way across the slice of glass you are working with.

The slice of glass resting on the work surface. The intended cut line is extended across the piece of glass.

• For our purposes, we demand only cutting straight lines. Utilize a ruler to keep the line of the cutter direct.

• Cut slightly bigger than yous intend the piece to be. Breaks are never as straight as an arrow and edges are never clean cut and perpendicular to the surface of the glass element. You will demand some surplus to let for this.
• Utilize even pressure level and "listen to the cutting" when scribing the surface of the glass. The cutter or scribe makes a distinctive audio when it is cutting properly just information technology runs silent if it is not. A cut needs to be complete and unbroken for it to lead to a clean and straight suspension.
• One time you accept made the cut (it is more than a score than a cut), remove the piece from the work surface and place it on the superlative the ruler. Now line upwardly the line of the intended cutting with the edge of the ruler. Slight pressure on the piece overhanging the edge of the ruler will pb to a straight clean break forth the line. Echo this process for the next cutting too.
• Once you accept obtained a piece with dimensions close to the required, file it to shape and size.

Utilise a ruler or other directly border to guide the cut. Use even pressure. Pushing the cutter away from you is better than pulling it.

• The best files are synthetic of metal with embedded diamond dust. They are pricier than ordinary metallic files but suited to glass filing whereas metallic files are not. If you practise not have access to such a file, a fine sharpening rock may be used. When using a rock it works best to have the rock stationary and move about the piece of glass. ·

• Proceed the surface you are filing wet (running h2o is best) and turn the slice of glass frequently to ensure that the angle on the edge stays perpendicular to the surface. If you practise not use running water, dunk the work piece often, submerging it completely and giving it a good shake each time you take if from the water.·
• Test confronting the original often to ensure that yous do not go nether size. Pocket-sized pieces of glass similar the ones we are working with here, are best held in the manus while filing. (Encounter photo) Exercise not try to clamp a slice of glass. ·

Properly scored drinking glass will break under the lightest of pressure

• Be careful when cutting and shaping glass. Glass shards (even very minor ones) are dangerous and can lead to ugly cuts, skin irritations, and injuries to the eye. Flying shards are very hazardous and y'all should always vesture protective spectacles when cutting or shaping drinking glass. Make clean the work expanse carefully later working with drinking glass and dispose of unused pieces of drinking glass responsibly.

• Practice non be discouraged if your first attempt fails. Working with glass is like that. You may have to go through several attempts to get a suitable piece of glass. ·

• Watch out non to scratch or otherwise damage the flat surfaces of the replacement element. The element is, afterward all, destined to serve as an optical chemical element in your camera and will just produce acceptable results if it is kept articulate of scratches and other blemishes.

Once yous have cut a slightly oversized replacement glass element, you need to file it down to size. This is the most laborious office of the whole modification ! Use h2o to cool the piece of glass and to wash away droppings. (In this staged photo the ground glass particles had been immune to dry. Effort to avoid this during the actual filing process).

Part three – How to build your own IR camera – Selecting the IR part of the calorie-free spectrum

Part three of the article assumes that yous have completed office 2 and have produced an IR ready photographic camera. By this we mean that your camera at present is capable of registering light in both the visible and most infrared spectrum. (Up to and even exceeding 1000nm)

Stride 13

Checking the basic functionality of our camera. (The rest of this article assumes that you have, at the ready, a camera that has had its "hot filter" removed and replaced with a glass element similar to the filter which was removed. It assumes this camera to accept auto focus and the ability to set different exposure levels or modes.)

Switch on your camera and check the basic functions. Does it "come to life" the way information technology used to. (It may ask you to gear up a date and fourth dimension. That is an badgerer just quite normal for cameras which have been without batteries for a certain period of fourth dimension.) If the photographic camera does not "come up to life" the way it is meant to:

• You may have to supersede the batteries.
• You lot may have to check and change settings in the ready-up menu to get it to become properly.
• You may have to open it up and cheque to meet that all mechanical as well as electronic functions are notwithstanding intact. Did you properly plug in all the cables which were asunder? Are all components back in identify where they were meant to have gone?
• The camera may have been damaged or may have failed in another way.

If your camera fails to fire up properly after the conversion, do what yous can to get the trouble resolved. If unable to do then, the projection has unfortunately failed for you. Either attempt again with another camera or walk abroad with the knowledge that at least you learned a few things and at least you lot tried.

Step 14

Confirming the ability to take useful photos. Now try to take photos the same way you did when commencement you checked the camera. Take a few photos of close-upwardly also as far-away objects. Do it in unlike lighting conditions and at different zoom settings (if a zoom function is included).

Practise non be surprised if the film on the LCD screen looks out of sorts. We expect this picture to take a red hue to it. The reason for that is that the red aqueduct in your photographic camera at present gets overloaded. If all has gone well during the modification, the camera now senses visible likewise as IR light at comparable levels. (Previously the IR component was seriously restricted by the "hot filter".)

One of the test photos taken with the CX7330. At that place was no IR high-laissez passer filter in front of the lens all the same. The photograph was taken in bright sunlight at loftier noon. The shutter speed is recorded at i/1024 sec. The tree is showing signs of the Woods issue even earlier the removal of the light in the visible spectrum. The 3 MP CCD is already showing its superior definition. Mayhap because of this, the photo started to show differences in the "focus" for centrally placed subject affair VS off-centrality subject matter.

Load the files upwardly into a photo editor and check the quality of the results. The colors may very well be out of whack (scarlet or pink or something similar) and yous may discover that the pictures are a scrap fuzzier than they were earlier. 1 of the reasons will be that the camera is trying to focus on a large range of wavelengths and can not do and then successfully. The ability to focus depends on the blazon of lens and the algorithm of the motorcar focus plan. There should be a sense of normality to the pictures and some attempt at focusing from the camera at to the lowest degree. (Mayhap not for all of the photos simply for some at least.) If the camera passes this test, we may keep to turning it into a proper IR camera.

A perceived difference in the sharpness of off-centrality field of study material may have to be investigated. It can be that the lens is not coping so well with off-axis imagery. Information technology may be that the IR filter is flawed or that the domicile-made replacement element for the "hot filter" is flawed. For the CX7300 the over-all quality of the photo was still quite acceptable.

Step 15

Limiting the spectrum of lite being captured.

Most photographers adopt their IR photos to capture a reasonable corporeality of the distinctive features of IR light. Nosotros want to see the Woods effect in foliage and we want to encounter dark skies. We want to have sharp contrast in our photos and we want the ghostly effects seen in classic IR photos. In order to accomplish those effects, nosotros need the power to cut down on the amount of visible light being captured in our photos. We thus either accept to build a filter into the photographic camera (I decided not to do that) or we accept to devise a way of supporting a high-pass filter in front of the lens.

For the Kodak CX6230 used in my projection, I just glued a 27mm threaded filter to the front of the lens. (See photograph before in this commodity.) This filter-and-filter-ring combination leaves us with a filter which is non-interchangeable. For the purposes of introductory IR photography this is quite sufficient. You may decide to do the same. If you lot do, the choice of filter is up to you. Higher numbered filters give more than IR outcome only they may limit the amount of light permit through the lens (and thus push us toward longer exposure times). Lower numbered filters will permit through more light only may show less of the IR furnishings we are after.

For the Nikon, I had to improvise a different filter holder. The Nikon extends its lens in two parts. I was unable to mount the 27mm filter band on the smaller inner tube of the lens associates. I did however manage to mount information technology on the second tube of the lens assembly. I had to allow some space for the inner tube to extend into. A brusque length of aluminum pipe was thus called for, connecting the filter ring to the front of the 2nd tube (See photo of the Coolpix.) Information technology leaves u.s. with a longer protrusion sticking out of the photographic camera. It also limits my field of view as it causes a small-scale amount of vignetting on my photos at certain zoom values.

For the CX7330 I decided on an interchangeable filter. Once more a filter ring was glued to the lens but the filter itself was removed from this band. Other filters can at present be screwed into this ring allowing us to alter filters. See photos showing the modified filter ring which was glued to the front of the lens (toward the front of this commodity) and photograph of completed camera with interchangeable filter fitted (photograph shown beneath).

The completed CX7300 IR. Note the fixed filter ring and the interchangeable filter band attached to the front of the lens. The lay-out is even so very bang-up, compact and applied.

Step xvi

Take the camera out on a photo shoot.

If your camera has the adequacy to do manual white balancing you may want to prepare that before taking photos. (This is explained briefly later in the article.) In whatever consequence, you now need to accept your camera, complete with filter fastened to lens, out into the wild to accept your first photos.

Cull a sunny twenty-four hour period and see if y'all tin capture the following:

• Foliage and greenery. Try trees, shrubs and lawns.
• Water and heaven
• Stone and/or brick structures
• Steel or other metals
• People and household objects

Depending on whether the white residual on the camera has been adapted, the LCD screen may or may not testify a picture with a red hue. It does not matter correct now. Frame your pictures and get those shots. Once again have a few photos of shut-upwards besides as far-away objects. Do it in different lighting conditions and at different zoom settings (if a zoom function is included.) You may even try to adjust the exposure setting on some of the photos. If possible, make notes on which settings were used for which photos. This will help yous analyze the results at different settings and volition go toward your understanding of your camera and its capabilities.

Step 17

Download the photos to a estimator.

Do not be alarmed if the IR photos you download are colored red or royal or the similar. Go along in mind that there are no "colors" beyond the visible spectrum. What we transfer to the computer is simply data on light intensities captured in three channels. These channels happen to be colored red, green, and blueish to coincide with the chief colors used for visible light photography. In one case yous have downloaded this data into your photograph editor of choice, you tin can offset manipulating it to create a B/Due west photo or a false-colour photo of your liking.

1 of the first photos taken with the modified CX6230. The regal hue is not a problem at all. The photo contains mainly light with a wavelength longer than 850nm. Such light is not purple and your final IR photograph need not be purple ! It is left up to you brand something interesting out of the information independent in the .JPG-file.

Pace 18

Evaluate, learn, and apply. With any luck, you now have the tools and the knowledge to have your ain IR photos. You lot may have to refer to articles on the manipulation of digital images to become the final results you are after. If, nevertheless, you proceed, and practice so successfully, you may exist pleasantly surprised with the results. I will be pleased equally well. Together we take proven that it is possible to do IR photography on a low budget and that cheap homemade IR cameras are capable of producing stunning results.

Included in this article are just a few photos I accept taken with my cameras. They go some way to illustrate the point. I prefer to work in grayscale but my cameras are able to produce the raw picture data for grayscale as well as false-colour IR photos. You can try both.

Photograph taken with CX7330. 850nm loftier-pass filter fitted. Shutter speed recorded at ane/128.

Think the photos used to illustrate Note ane in Part 2 of the commodity? The photo shown hither was taken from the same vantage point. It was taken with the CX7330 after fitment of an 850nm high-pass filter. It was a sunny day but there was some high deject. The recorded shutter speed was 1/128. Note the night sky. The photo appears to exist slightly under exposed. Another photo taken with a 950nm high laissez passer showed even darker heaven and a more than pronounced Woods issue. For that photograph the recorded shutter speed dropped to 1/64. Details in both were quite satisfactory and the results were what I aimed for.

Photo taken with CX7330. 850nm high-pass filter fitted. Tardily afternoon sunday. Shutter speed recorded at one/256. Off-centrality focus non too good. Results quite useable.

At the time this article was written, I have non had the fourth dimension to properly utilize the CX7330. The photograph above was taken in a local park in late afternoon sun. A number of interesting elements are independent in the photo; trees, water sky and clouds are all visible. I am certain that with some experimentation and nether the correct weather condition this camera will serve all of my IR photography needs.

Photo taken with CX7330. 850nm high-laissez passer filter fitted. Direct late afternoon lord's day. Shutter speed recorded at i/362. Primal focus pretty astonishing. The artistic value of this photograph is very low. I am excited most this photograph for some other reason – to me it proves that pretty good photos tin be taken with this camera under the right circumstances!

Another experimental photo taken with the CX7330. In this photo the heaven came out nigh pitch black and the focus in the middle of the photograph was spot on. I can't wait to have this photographic camera on a proper photograph shoot!

Adept luck with your photographic camera conversion projects and may yous see the light—the infrared light!

Notes to be read with Role 3:

Note 5: The Nikon Coolpix allows the photographer to set the white remainder before the photo is taken. This is rather helpful to the IR lensman. A typical IR-modified photographic camera may non be able to set color balance correctly on its own. Due to this problem, the IR-modified camera may sometimes over-expose one channel (typically the ruby-red) and nether-expose another channel. If your camera allows for transmission white balancing this problem can to a great extent be overcome. The process is very easy. You start by selecting the calibrating option from the camera'due south bill of fare. With the desired IR filter in place in forepart of the lens, and in the same lighting weather condition you aim to take the photo, y'all simply aim the camera at a greyness surface and printing the shutter button. The photographic camera recognizes and measures the corporeality of light registered on each of the channels and balances information technology out. In one case this prepare point has been calculated and gear up on the photographic camera, the color reproduced in your photo's will be "neutral" (for the specific lighting weather we have now gear up). You lot will immediately notice that even the picture shown on the LCD screen now appears more than natural and very little manipulation will be needed during post product.

Other lessons learned and useful pieces of information:

• At the time of writing, the Kodak EasyShare CX7300 IR cost less than $lx all-up. I got a retentiveness card equally role of the original buy and the replacement glass element was manufactured from a microscope slide I was given for free by a guy I know from piece of work!
• Even though GIMP is free, it does some jobs better that the fancy software aimed at photo manipulation. If you use GIMP for the processing of your IR photos, you will detect that the EXIF information of the photo is preserved afterward. The EXIF information is valuable to the IR photographer, equally information technology helps you continue rails of some of the settings on your camera at the time the photograph was taken. You can read the EXIF information of a photo file when it has been downloaded onto your reckoner. To see the EXIF of the photo file, right-click on the file, go to Properties, and open up the tab labeled Summary.
• In my haste to get my cameras upwards and running I forgot to set the date and fourth dimension properly. An omission similar this may come back to haunt you lot later. Photos stored on line behave this.
• If you build up an IR camera with white balance capability yous will have the opportunity to gear up the white balance before each shoot. Practice so past all means.
• The pictures you go from your photographic camera volition not be perfect. I have had pocket-sized problems with vignetting and with poor focus of the picture for off-axis objects on some of my photos (come across examples). If you consider the complexity of optical systems and the physics of ray tracing, this was to be expected. The lenses in the cameras we use here were not designed for the long wave lengths we are using them at. The effects of diffraction and the fact that we have interfered with the optical elements within the lite path, all piece of work confronting us. IR photography nonetheless is about "capturing the magic of the hidden moving picture". It is nigh artful composition and about imaginative employ of what we have got. If yous desire actually good looking IR photos, you tin can always crop away the edges, y'all tin try a different angle during the shoot or you tin can requite information technology some other go tomorrow. Call up to always look out for those special IR photo moments and keep pressing that shutter button as many times as it takes!

Acknowledgements

I would like to admit two people who were instrumental in the success of my project and in getting this article "to press": ·

• My wife has in the past had to suffer a lot because of my projects. Our business firm is forever cluttered with one-half-finished projects, tools around every corner and weird parts (which may not be disturbed !) on every work surface. She even so remains my greatest supporter and needs special mention for the fact that she battles on, looking afterward me and the household, despite the fact that I make information technology very difficult for her. ·
• I have too had lots of support from Peter Holder. I know him from work and we sometimes share stories about the crazy projects we each have been involved in. Peter supplied some of the motivation and some of the components for this project.

Most the author:
Pieter Albertyn is a cocky-confessed "tinkerer" and amateur lensman. He lives in Napier, New Zealand. Pieter has previously been involved in production development and systems engineering. He loves to modify utility products, heighten their features and develop basic logistical back up systems for them. Though he works in an English dominated workplace, English language is his 2d language.

Source: https://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-build-your-own-infrared-camera/

Posted by: friersonjustitingich1966.blogspot.com

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