Monday, October 19, 2009

Infrared Conversions - 715nm versus 830nm



Clients are asking us about our new Infrared conversion services and how we differ from other companies that are offering the conversions, or "do-it-yourself" kits.  DSI has partnered with Precision Camera Repair to provide this service at very competitive rates.  We offer two IR filters, 665nm and 715nm.  So, I asked Mark Soares, Professional Services Technical Representative from Precision Camera to explain this more clearly for our clients:

"The filter we use still allows a small amount of visible light to penetrate through the filter and expose the image. What this does is create an image that it ~95% IR and ~5% visible spectrum. Although this may seem like a disservice when you talk about shooting specifically in IR, we find that using the 715nm filter allows for better tonal range in the highlight areas (where there is a lot of IR, with all the foliage, etc), whereas the B&W filter the competition use is much higher contrast(and as such has less tonal range). The filter they call B&W is an ~830nm filter, which means that the exposed image is 100% IR and no visible light. The truth is that the difference between both is a matter of contrast in the image (which is a result of IR levels in the image). The 830nm will be more contrasty than the 715nm, however, with minimal post processing the 715nm can have the same contrasty B&W look as the 830nm with the added benefit of a better tonal range. What this means is that the 715nm overall ends up being a more versatile conversion capable of producing results as dramatic as the 830nm, and with more tonal range (not to mention it allows you to do low saturation color IR work, which is also nice.)"

For more details and info about our IR Conversions, please check our website for more details and information.

No comments: