I hope you all had a great weekend!
I taught my long-exposure BW workshop, and had a great time playing with an Infrared converted Canon 20D that one of the students from the US brought with her. One of the great joys of teaching is letting yourself be inspired by your students, and this group featured many very accomplished photographers. We shot for 2 full days and could not have picked a better weekend as the weather miraculously cooperated and gave us 2 days of sunshine and dramatic cloud formations.
The images I am posting for now are all taken with the infrared converted 20D Canon. I will talk more about this in-class this week, but couldn't wait to share some right away. The following images have received just minor processing, mostly contrast and selective tonal adjustments. They were taken with exposures of up to 12 minutes, which smoothes out the water and clouds as they are moving across the sky. Shooting locations were Point Roberts in the US, White Rock, and Stanley Park.
The conversion of the camera is permanent meaning you have to commit to the infrared look. The conversion of this particular model was done by Lifepixel and costs around $450. Check out their website for more info and to see lots of example images.
And now, onto the photographs:
1 comment:
Neat! I've been investigating infrared conversions on DSLRs for a little while now.
Certainly with the advancing age of the Canon EOS 10D and 20D cameras, a conversion like this seems a very cool way of getting some extra mileage out of a camera that wouldn't have been otherwise useful any more. Conversely, if you can pick up a 20D body for cheap and then modify it, then you have access to an infrared-capable camera at a fairly modest price.
The question I have is, what about noise? The EOS 20D wasn't exactly known for being a low-noise camera, either at high ISO or long exposure. Surely 12 minutes would be pushing the limits on that sensor, wouldn't it? I can't really tell from the small shots you posted.
I can see the advantages of the modified camera allowing for you to compose and meter your shot without having to look through an IR filter as being huge... But it seems to me that the cheaper way to go (and less limiting with regards to noise) would be to pick up an old $50 Canon film body, an IR filter, and some IR film, wouldn't it? You'd have to shoot through a *ton* of IR film that way before you come close to catching up to the cost of your modded 20D.
Or perhaps I'm missing something here...
Frank
Post a Comment