Ten Infra Reds

Greetings all... as I've mentioned on here a couple of times, having coveted an Infra Red Conversion for a while, I took the plunge at the end of October last year. I got a very low mileage ex display K 30 from SRS, and had it converted with ACS in Norfolk. I got a K30 done for a number of reasons: partly because it's essentially the same engine as a K5 (decent IQ, great dynamic range, excellent shadow recovery), partly because it's very light and I figured I'd be carrying it around a lot as a second body, and partly because there have been some really good deals on them over the last few months.

I've been using a combination of lenses: the Samyang 8mm fisheye, the Sigma 10 20, the Pentax 17 70, and the 18 55 kit lens. Best performers thus far are the Samyang 8mm and 18 55 kit lens, though the other 2 are definitely usable in the right conditions (not too bright). Definite non starter is the Pentax 12 24 - massive hot spot. Am still looking at the false colour thing at the moment (haven't yet managed to come up with anything that I really like), so I thought I'd share some b&w conversions first. All from the last couple of months or so...

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All thoughts/c&c gratefully received as ever...

Best

they are all bloody gorgeous

number 9 is right up there with some of the best IR stuff ive seen

Really nice. Like them all.

You obviously researched this, but in your view does it really matter which camera is the basis for the conversion?

You chose a K30, and you explained why, but was that because you needed to buy a body so that drove your choice?

I ask because I have an immaculate, low mileage, K20D, but no-one has shown any interest in my 'For Sale' post and I'd rather use it than 'give' it away. I've fancied trying infra-red for a while. Tried filters and in-camera effects, but definitely nowhere as good as what you've achieved here.

There all great ,but number 6 is my favourite

No.6 and No.1 for me..but I like most of them. What frequency range did you settle on for the conversion and was there a particular reason for that?

regards

Karlo

Excellent images. Can I ask how much it cost for a conversion?

Alistair

Hi all... thanks all for comments and thoughts thus far...

John: I got a K30 because I didn't have a spare body (I shoot with a K3, and have a K5 as back up, and I couldn't bare to chop the k5 up). Funnily enough, I used to have a K20, but I traded it in part exchange to get a K5 a couple of years ago. If I still had one, I'm pretty sure I'd have converted it, because I loved mine and was very sad to part with it. I spoke to Richard Gadd (link), who was very helpful. He used to convert k20s himself a few years ago, and I know he thinks they work well. I too tried filters etc (Hoya R72) which work pretty well, but as you say, not quite the same, and ties you down pretty much to the long exposure route (unless you use them on the ist ds, for example, which for some reason is very sensitive to ir, and which you can just about get away with hand held at high iso's). The dynamic range thing was important to my choice with the K30 though - I'd used the R72 filter a fair bit on the K3, and struggled recovering detail out of the shadows when I missed correct exposure (quite an easy thing to do with the R72).

Karlo: I did a straightforward 720nm conversion. I had a good think about it, particularly whether to go the "Goldie" false colour route, but in the end decided that the 720nm gave me the most options either way... this link is useful re sizing up options...

Alistair: The conversion cost £250 +vat (so £300) at ACS, which isn't cheap, but I'd watched and waited on ebay for 6 months for something/anything already converted to come up and nothing had (apart from US/Aus K01s, which aren't ideal because of the screen and bright sunlight). I found ACS fine by the way - took a couple of weeks...

Any other thoughts, do let me know...

Best

Impressive set of IR images! I have read in other posts that you have been shooting with a converted K-30 body, and have been looking foreward to seeing your IR images. My favourites are number 1,3 and 10. The last one (no. 10) is simply superb! It has the surrealistic, almost magical, quality that is a major attraction to IR photography.

I myself was fortunate enough to be able to purchase an IR converted Samsung GX-1L (Pentax ist DL2) from Richard Gadd some months ago. This camera is converted to 830nm, and although it is "only" 6 megapixels, I am enjoying the B&W IR output from this tiny camera immensly. I am probably becoming heavily addicted to digital IR, which must be a good thing...?

Looking foreward to more infrareds Bill!

All the best
Bjørn

Excellent work and presentation. Top class stuff here.

Best regards

Very impressive set of images. 😊

Staggeringly good.

Thanks all for the positive feedback on these... Bjorn, interested that you went the 830nm route... that would account for the super b&w contrast you achieve... have been enjoying your posts to the gallery very much...

Till the next time...

Best

These are a cracking set of images Bill - all of them. The composition of no 8 is superb and I imagine would look just as good in 'normal' colour!

Thanks for posting these images, up there with the very best IR in my view.

The technical information is also interesting, as I have an istDS, languishing in a cupboard. I think I might have to try a Hoya R72......

Thanks all for continued feedback on these... Steve, I had the ist ds and the R72 together a fair bit over the summer... from memory, in bright sunlight I was getting pretty useful results at around 800/1600 iso, with the lens wide open, and a shutter speed around the 1/40, 1/60 mark... not perfect, but quite workable... I tend to shoot a fair amount of icm too, so it suited me just fine...

Best