Introduction
This post is my attempt to outline the D70 to D70i conversion process. I know that there are various sites out there that have done this too but I noticed that most are quick outlines that do not go into details about possible issues that a modder might encounter and some are just pages of technical details comparing a converted camera against an unconverted one. I hope to outline the process in a way that will reassure anyone wishing convert their own camera that it is relatively easy and safe.

Disclaimer
I do not work for nor am I in anyway affiliated to Nikon. This conversion process is neither approved nor endorsed by Nikon.

You understand that:

• There is a risk of damage to your camera
• Your camera's warranty will be rendered void (no longer valid)
• I cannot be held responsible for any damage to your camera

Ok, with the necessay "un-pleasantries" out of the way, let's get down the the fun part...

What you will need

• A small Phillips screwdriver - the type used for adjusting the screws on spectacles
• A small pair of needle-nosed pliers
• A fine blue/red marker
• A suitable piece of IRP filter cut to size (29.59mm x 25.27mm)
• A steady hand and some courage

Suitable IRP filters

• Hoya R72
• Hoya R90
• B+W 092
• B+W 093
• Tiffen 87
• Edmund Long Pass (ELP)

Under no circumstances should you use a Cokin 007 filter as the filter has tiny air-bubbles embedded in it that are invisible to the naked eye but that will look like footballs on your photos.

Preparing for the conversion

• Get your filter cut to the correct size
• Clean your filter, it must be completely clean of dust and streaks and there must be NO SCRATCHES
• Clean your work place
• Clean your hands
• Remove the lens and replace it with the body cap
• Remove the CF card and battery
• Take a deep breath

The Conversion
Step 1
Flip the camera over and remove eight screws from the base of the camera, these are the ones circled in RED in the image below:

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672564/original.jpg)

DO NOT remove the three screws crossed-out in green.

Step 2
Carefully remove the base cover.

While holding the camera upside down with the LCD facing you, flip up the small, black holding-clip of the ribbon cable connector. Please refer to the image below:

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672565/original.jpg)

Gently pull the ribbon cable to disconnect it from its connector.

Step 3
Unscrew the pair of screws from both sides of the camera:

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672566/original.jpg)

and remove the back cover with the LCD. Do this slowly and take extra care when seperating the ribbon cable, that is still attached to the camera back, from the main body of the camera:

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49673586/original.jpg)

Step 4
You're a third of the way in...

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672567/original.jpg)

You'll need to flip up the black/grey/brown holding clip from this connector and carefully pull out the ribbon cable:

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672568/original.jpg)

Step 5
Before you proceed to remove the four screws holding down the sensor board, take a careful look at the next image:

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672569/original.jpg)

Note the three areas highlighted by the green circles.

Using your fine marker, draw a line from the shiny metal sensor board, all the way to the black plastic guide next to the board. Do this in all three points circled. This will serve as a guide when you replace the sensor board. Without this, you may find yourself with a slanted sensor, which will result in photos that always look tilted.

Once the lines have been drawn, remove the four screws, circled in red in the image below, and carefully lift up the sensor board.

Disconnect the white cable below this board. This is a simple plug-in cable.


(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672570/original.jpg)

Step 6
Unscrew the four screws holding down the filter-retaining frame:

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672571/original.jpg)

Seperate the retainer frames from the sensor.

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672572/original.jpg)

Step 7
Make sure your replacement filter is ABSOLUTELY CLEAN for this next step.

Very quickly, loosen the AA/IRC filter, (it may stick slightly to the rubber seals) and replace it with your replacement flter, making sure that it is seated properly in the rubber seal and that it completely covers the sensor.


Step 8
Start to work your way backwards.

First thing to do is to replace the ribbon cable connecting the sensor board. Take note that this cable needs to be inserted into its connector to a depth of approximately 3.5mm to 4mm. You may feel resistance after inserting it for only 2mm but this is not enough. If you are unable to insert it to its proper depth with just your fingers, gently grip the ribbon cable with the needle-nosed pliers and continue the insertion. You may also need to peel off the sticky tape holding down the square ferrite core to make things easier.

Once the ribbon cable is in place, replace the white plug-in cable too.

Step 9
Replace the sensor board, making sure to align the markings you made in Step 5 before tightening the screws.

Step 10
Replace the back-cover, taking care to insert the ribbon cable through the hole provided for it and drawing it up to the connector.

Insert the ribbon cable in the connector, making sure that it is inserted completely. You will find this cable easier to replace but should still take care to see that it is pushed in as far as it will go before you close the retaining clip.

Replace the four screws for the back-cover.

Step 11
Replace the camera base. Be sure to insert the rubber strip circled in the image below into the "gap" designed for it on the side of the camera:

(IMG:http://www.pbase.com/image/49672576/original.jpg)

Replace the remaining screws, being sure to place the two longer screws in their proper holes.

Step 12
With the White Balance set to Auto, take a test shot (in daylight or with a flash). If you see a red photo in the LCD, you're safe. If not, refer to the troubleshooting section.

That's it for first part of the conversion process. If you successfully changed the filter stack in your D70, than you will now be able to take IR photos with greatly increased shutter speeds. Note however that your auto-focusing will now not be reliable and you will need to learn to compensate for this. I am in the process of doing some focus calibration that will enable a converted D70 to auto-focus without compensation and once the results are firm, I will post the method here.

Cheers,
Matt

This post has been edited by deadpixel on Jul 11 2006, 10:19 PM

Troubleshooting My Modification Work

Here are some issues I encountered in the process of converting a few D70s. I am sure that there are others and I will update this post as I find them.

If you get a blank, completely white image on your LCD
This indicates that the ribbon cable connecting the main body to the back cover has not been properly replaced. Release the cable and gently push it in as far as you can before securing it with the retaining clip. Please refer to Step 10 in the conversion procedures.

If you get a message saying "This card cannot be used"
This means that the ribbon cable connecting the sensor board to the main body has not been inserted properly. Refer to the instructions in Step 8 of the conversion procedures, paying close attention to the details on the depth that the ribbon cable has to be inserted.

If your camera's shutter does not open completely and the mirror is stuck
I've only encountered this issue once and the way to fix this is to go back to step 9, where you replace the sensor board, and loosen the screws slightly. Just tighten it enough to hold the board in place, there is no need to turn it until it is completely stuck.

If your replacement filter is too wide or tall
Get a piece of grade 80 silicon carbide sandpaper, wet it then gently sand down the edge that is too wide or tall. Don't over do it.[/u]



This post has been edited by deadpixel on Oct 2 2005, 10:02 AM

EXCELLENT! THough I got no chance of modifying my camera, it's a great and clear instructions.

Thanks for sharing, Matt! Well done!

Very detailed guide Deadpixel
Perhaps you can list down a simple guide to cut the glass filters to size

Wow good detail, maybe we can package it into a guide and sell it huh.
Money can split between deadpixel and irphotography site.

Its getting more tempting! But this is great! Maybe can tell us the size of the replacement filter(IR filter), so people who want to do it can cut before hand.

Also, I have been wanting to ask you this, I read in a post here(I think its by quekky) that you can actually adjust the focussing after converting so you dun have to compensate when shooting. Why didn't you try that since you have gone all the way? And if I just remove the hot mirror, without replacing it, does it work?

Hi Max,

The size of the filter is in the list of "What you will need" items in the procedures above. (29.59mm x 25.27mm)

Blame it on laziness.

But seriously, I'm just too tied up with work and am unable to find time to complete this last bit. Also, as I usually shoot at the compensated hyperfocal point, I don't really rely on the camera's AF. I'll have to do it though as I'll be starting on some experiments on children IR portraits and I'll really need the AF then. One thing to realise though is that even after the adjustment, you'd still need to know how to compensate when using manual lenses or when focusing manually without aid of the AF.

Yes it does. However there are two important things to note:

1. You will (of course) still need to put the IRP filter on the lens before shooting, so composition is still an issue. Unless you put the gel filter in front of the shutter.

2. If you plan to take normal photos, you will need a Tiffen Hot Mirror or the B+W 486 so as to cut out the IR. Otherwise your photos will have red channels that are completely blown.

Cheers,
Matt

Hey thanks for reply, deadpixel ... Its a hard decision to make....still considering....

So how did you do the hypefocus thing with compensation and how do you compensate the focus?

a thing to note:

Not all AA filters are the same size. Please measure your filter before you cut your IR filter. My AA filter is 29.49mm x 25.22mm, the retaining frames that I have could not fit Mattew's AA filter

First, you'd need to refer to the hyperfocal distance chart:

Hyperfocal Distance Chart at CS

Once you've determined the distance and f-stop to use, adjust your camera and lens accordingly, using the infrared marking on your lens instead of the normal focus mark in the centre. This compensation mark is present in almost all prime lenses and is usually seen as a red dot or red line to the left or right of the normal focus mark. In newer prime lenses, this mark may be a grey/white line/dot. In some cases, as with some Sigma Prime lenses, this mark will have the letter 'R' printed next to it. Some older zoom lenses have this marking too but the newer ones don't.

What you're doing in this compensation is shortening the focus distance.

Cheers,
Matt

This post has been edited by deadpixel on Oct 3 2005, 08:37 AM

Quekky is right on this. It seemed that his AA/IRC filter was 0.1mm narrower than the normal filter and his camera's retaining frame also less tolarant of the difference, resulting in an ill fit.

With mine own, Nisa's and two other cameras I did, this was not an issue.

thanks again for everything!

Hey guys :-)

Hoping one/some of you might be able to provide me with some information which will help me determine if my camera is completely fried and beyond repair after attempting this conversion...

A loose screw from the sensor board landed on the join from the blue wire on the flash capacitator during the conversion and after this, when I insert the battery I get absolutely nothing in the control panel on the camera, not even an error.

I'm supposing that the voltage from the capacitor has gone through the camera frying integral components, but maybe something else has happened and there's an easy fix for it that I'm unaware of...

Have any of you experienced this problem? Is it repairable? Did you have to send it off to Nikon for repair, and if so, how much did this cost you?

Your knowledge and assistance in this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

There was another user in the Clubsnap forum, "billitone", that experienced the same thing. You might want to try contacting him in that forum's Personal Messages to see if he can tell you how he finally got his camera fixed.

_

Hi! I bought an infrared filter from Life Pixel to convert my D70. But it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to do, i thought the conversion went fine. But when i try the camera it's something wrong. Everything seems just lika usual, the shutter sounds fine. But when i take a photo the image isn't saved to the CF. The camera just shows the picture who was taken before the conversion.

I would appreciate any help i can get!

Just wanted to say a big thanks to DeadPixel, just finished modding my D70s using Lifepixel's instructions. Put everything back together, everything seemed fine until I took a picture and then got the "the card cannot be used error". After taking it apart and checking everything I searched the web and found this discussion and it saved my camera. The ribbon cable from the sensor board was not inserted deep enough!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you...thought I was looking at a service call.

Radaradam, sounds like you may have the same issue I did, make sure the ribbon cable in step 8 is deep into the socket.


This post has been edited by Gryph66 on May 26 2007, 01:15 PM