Hello,

first of all I want to say hello to everyone here in this forum.
My name is Wolfgang, I am from Austria Vienna, male, 38 years old and my friend Chips (from Singapore for sure) sended me the link to this interesting IR forum yesterday.

Because I just modified my Nikon D1 last week I want to ask if anyone here uses this camera for IR?

All the postings I read until now were mostly about the D70, right?
And nearly all of you are using the 18-70mm zoom lens, right?

Thats very interesting for me because I think about taking IR pics for a long time now and if always heard that the sensitivity for IR from the ccd sensor from the D70 is too low...

Isn´t that true?
I mean for true IR pics with the B&W 093 filter not with the Hoya R72.

Best regards

Wolfgang

PS.: I will come to singapore next month for 5 days and my visit purpose is.... what you guess.... taking pics, what else

Hi Wolfgang,

Welcome!

When you said you modified your Nikon D1, do you mean that you removed the internal AA/IRC filter and replaced it with a IRP filter like the Hoya R90?

If that is what you did, then you are doubly welcomed because I'm also using a modified camera, but mine is a modified D70 using an internal Hoya R72.

The D70 is currently one of the most popular cameras, so that explains why so many of us use it.

The issue isn't so much with the D70's CCD but with the internal IR (cut) filter that Nikkon placed in the camera. The purpose is to prevent the oversaturation of reds and to "sharpen" the photos by removing the NIR (near infrared) glow. Once this IRC filter is removed, the camera becomes a very, very good IR camera.

With the replacement Hoya R72 filter covering my CCD, I can get exposure times of 1/500s - 1/2000s at f/8 on bright days. If I was to install a B+W 093 or Hoya R90 instead of the R72, I would be getting exposure times of 1/250s - 1/500s at f/8 on bright days.

Even unmodified, the D70 is still quite capable, if you check out the photos taken by the members of this forum, you'd see that even with the long exposure times needed, they are still very nice.

If you contact us, I'm sure we would be more than happy to take you on an IR shooting spree of Singapore.

Cheers,
Matt

Hi Matt,

yes the nikon service removed the AA/IRC Filter from my D1, thats right.

But I don´t want to replace it because I also shoot UV pics with this cam, and I either want to be able to shoot
pics under normal conditons with an B&W 486 for I can mix up whatever I want.

It would be a pleasure for me to do some shootings ....

Do you know this page:
http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html

Mr.Bjørn Rørslett is maybe on of the most famous photographers in IR and sepcially in UV.

I talked a lot with him on the phone befor I dicided to choose the D1 instead of the D70 for IR.


Regards

Wolfgang

Yeah! A UV shooter! Do you use a dedicated lens like the UV Nikkor 105? Or do you grind off the UVC coating off old lenses and use them with UVP filters? I've been thinking about moving into UV photography for some time but just can't find the time to do the learning.

Is the B+W 486 good in cutting out IR? I've read that when used for normal photography, it helps to eliminate more NIR, so that blues and greens are purer. The other thing I am curious about is whether the complete removal of the AA/IRC filter has in anyway affected your camera's focusing? There has been some talks that the camera's focusing has to be adjusted if the filter is removed and not replaced.

Yep! I'm a big fan of Bjørn Rørslett's work, especially his UV ones. It was during my first visit to his site that I decided to start trying IR.

Cheers,
Matt

Hi Wolfgang,
welcome to IR Photography

I'd suggest you to contact Teerex and ask him to be your tour guide while you are in Singapore

So your D1's CCD does not have any "protection" filter infront of it?

Matt,

no, I can´t afford dedicated lens like the UV Nikkor 105mm!!
The only one I knew is from Stephen Gandy from the UK, and he asks for 6500,00 USD for this lens

But here is exactly the point where I really don´t want to talk to much.
Look around with which lens everyone here trys to get good results in IR photography....
And then talk directly to Bjørn. You will be really surprised what he have to say about this thing.
Hotspots and something like that......

I say only:
no zoom ever can be used!

The B&W 486 is the only way to cut all the IR waves if you want to do normaly pics and the AA/IRC filter is removed.

You are right, without an B&W 093 or an Hoya R72 the focus is little bit different then normal, but with the filter it´s quite the same.

ark19,

thanks a lot, I am very happy that I found this very interting page.

About the guide:
For the first day I have already a guide, and to be ownest I am not the one how can take care somebody all the time.
My visit is planned from the first until the last hour. In this 5 days I have a lot to do in singapore. You have to know that I fly from europe to singapore just for bird photography. Only in the nighttime I still don´t know what to do. Not true at all, because at the first day, on the 25.09.2005 I made a reservation for the Long Bar Steakhouse already for 9pm. After that everyone can meet me at the Long Bar.

Regards

Wolfgang

PS.: If you are interested you can see some of my pics in here:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=672713

Hi NikkorAT (Wolfgang),

Welcome to the club. I checked out your photo's ....

I look forward to your posts.

I know you will have a great time in Singapore.

Cheers

Hi Wolfgang,
just browsed thru your photos.... wow
Very beautiful photos

Hope you have a good shoot in SG

Wolfgang,

WELCOME

Your gallery, one of the best I've seen

Enjoy your shoot in Singapore. Let us know when you arrive and when you have the time for a meet up with any of us.

Cheers

Welcome.

Great to have another person to add more inputs into this IR world.

Nisa

Pablo, teerex, Nisa,

thanks a lot for this very friendly welcome here at your page and for the flowers.

Same I said.... everyone can meet me on Sunday the 25.September at about 10pm in the Long Bar.
Then we can discuss about what to do on Monday.

I would love to go to Sentosa in the morning to do some Butterfly shoots and after that I plan to visit the Zoo.
Dinner at the night safari and after that a special IR nightshooting in the nightsafari on the walking trails.

Anyone here who want to guide me...?

Regards from vienna

Wolfgang

Welcome to irphotography, Wolfgang. u have such lovely photos, though most of them are not IR/UV.

hope u'll enjoy your time in singapore next month. hopefully we can meet up on sun nite for a drink and chitchat

Wolfgang,

I know what you mean. There was this guy in the US who wanted to sell a complete second hand set for US$5000. However, for the same price it is possible to get a brand new set (without the filters) from Coastal Optics, who still make this quartz lens.

I found this out the hard way after a few months of testing. You're right, zooms, especially wide and ultra-wide ones are not suitable for IR Looks like I'm going to have to go ahead and spend on an ultra-wide prime, but it needs to have as few elements as possible.

Birds eh? Looks like you'll be pretty busy in the nature reserves and parks. Herons, egrets or weavers?

Do you know this guy http://pbase.com/chngpe01/? He's definitely one of the better bird shooters here.

Cheers,
Matt

Matt,


the problem about the useable lens with IR is, that all of them are Ai or Ais MF Nikkor lens with only 4 or 5 glass elements in a few groups.
And they are all from the mid to the late 70´s. Very difficult to get in a perfect shape.

Another reason why I work with the old D1 in IR and not with the D70 is that the MF lens from the Ais generation doesn´t really work together, right?

And now the good news....

I have all the perfect IR Ais lens, and if someone wants to try them, ..... here we go.
Just come with me and you can try them with your body.

No, I don´t now this guy, but his pictures are very good.
Will get in touch with him... thanks for the link Matt.

Cheers,

Wolfgang

PS.: Hope to see you too?

quekky,

thanks for the warm welcome here.

You are right, only "normal" pics in there this time.
I change my pictures in this page frequently, nearly every day there is an update there.

I hope so too, thanks.
Hope to see you, I´ll be there....

Cheers,

Wolfgang

This post has been edited by NikkorAT on Aug 22 2005, 12:45 AM

Hi Wolfgang,

AI and AI-S lenses can be used quite nicely with the D70. I have a few of them from the days when I shot in film with an F3 back in the '80s and still use them with my D70. I still love my "push-pull" 80-200mm, I shot a photo of a crow just to test it with the D70 and the photo is so sharp you can cut yourself on it . The ones I use have the round "rabbit ears" at the back of the lens. Of course focusing is fully manual and the D70 cannot meter with these lenses (unless you add a chip to them), but when we're shooting digital, metering isn't an issue. I understand that the D2H is able to meter with manual (non-cpu) lenses, is the D1 able to do that?

I will definitely try. It would be wonderful to meet you.

Cheers,
Matt

Hi,

I use an unmodified D1 for IR. How much did you pay to remove the AA/IR filter?

All shots from http://eawtan.spymac.com/2005_Jan_23_IR/ was using D1 w/18-70 kit lens.

eawtan,

you are really the first one I found on the hole www who takes IR pics with an D1.....

Nice pics, but you should not use this zoom lens. Buy an old MF Ai 28mm f3.5 instead, and you will get great results.

I can´t say how much it costs, because I let them do many things like renew the "leather" around, cleaning the mirrorbox,
checking the functions and so on. All together it costs me around 300,00 USD (250,00 Euro). But if you only want them to remove the AA/IRC filter it should be around 100,00 Euros which is equal to around 120 USD!

deadpixel,

that exactly why noone is trying the Ai-s lenses. Who wants to shoot without anything?
Its real hardcore, isn´t it?

Yes the D1 works fine with the old MF Ai lenses, no problem.

Don´t try, just come....

Cheers,

Wolfgang

Hi Wolfgang,

W E L C O M E ! ! ! ... to IRPhotography & Singapore.

Beautiful series of pictures in your portfolio. Great work!

Cheers!

I'm waiting for a "great sale" for one of those. I missed one a few months back. What exactly is the difference with the 28/3.5 AIS/AI ???

eawtan,

it´s one of the best protected secrets in IR photography and you want to knew it already in the first days from me.....

The small back lens makes the big difference.
You have to buy the 4th series lens from this 28mm f3.5.
Serialnumber starts with 195531 and the production at 1975.
At Ebay you can get a nice one around 75,00 USD if you are lucky.

But this is just one of the very good performer in IR.

Cheers,

Wolfgang