Hey ya’ll… I know it been awhile. I’ve been kinda busy and also I’ve had very little internet where I’m at. That is soon changing.
The title of this little blurb is D-850 Infrared, and man am I excited to tell ya’ll about that! Yes I took one of the greatest sensors of all time and converted it to 590nm Infrared. The conversion was accomplished by Kolari Vision. I’ve had other conversions done before by LifePixel but I’ve found Kolari Vision to be a far better company for my uses.
Now you might ask why did I convert the Nikon D-850? Well… it’s really simple actually. It’s a great sensor… and since the advent of the Nikon Z-9, everyone was jumping on that bandwagon, so I’ve picked up a couple more D-850’s cheap.
My key reason for the conversion was to play more seriously with Infrared Photography, and also the D-850 allows for focus stacking so easily in camera and placing those images into a folder for me. So for me? A no brainer.
At the same time I sent in the D-850 I also sent in a Lumix GH4. I had that camera converted to full spectrum! Lots of choices there! I bought the camera when it first came out because it uses Leica glass and also at the time I was intrigued by it’s 4K video capabilities. ( I now do most of my video stuff with the iPhone 14 pro max. It’s always with me anyway, so why not?)
Honestly? I had used the camera VERY little since I bought it. On the used market it was worth very little, so I decided to increase it’s value to me and my clients as a teaching tool. Anyone who wants to try various forms of Infrared Photography in my classes will now have a camera they can try.
So what’s the big deal with Infrared Photography? Well a lot actually. I’ve always stated you need to set yourself apart, and Infrared definitely does that! It’s fun to play with light we can not see. Also? When the light is crap for standard photography, it’s perfect for infrared! So I can now shoot in any light at any time of day! Even more perfect!
Infrared Photography also allows for a LOT of experimentation in post processing. Another benefit! So! Watch the journey my friends. OR, even better? Come along on some classes and PhotoSafaris! I’ll be teaching a lot of Infrared in the future along with my other classes.
Meantime? Below is my first composition out of the D-850…
This is the first image out of the GH-4…
The cool part about this particular shot out of the GH-4 is that it has zero editing! Yes that is accomplished by using Kolari Vision’s IR Chrome filter on a full spectrum camera. Can I play with it more from here? Yes of course, but I thought I’d show it to you SOC.
Stay tuned for more! Next blog post I’ll show you some cool B&W Infrared images! Bye for now… thanks for reading! I’ll have better internet after the 24th of July, so I promise it won’t be so long to hear from me again…
