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Hi I am upgrading my camera soon and at the moment I have an old 1DS and am thinking of getting it converted to infra red and wanted to know if anyone knows where and the best place to get it done, preferably near manchester.
Thanks in advance.
jon
Advances Camera Services (ACS) Norfolk are the only people I know, in this country that convert. They did my 30D. ACS might be at the Photovision road show in Manchester May 11th at Old Trafford, I think.
1Ds is a terrible infra-red camera, you are better off buying a more IR sensitive sensor to work with.
Many thanks for both of your replies especially the 1DS not being suitable.
jon
Quote: 1Ds is a terrible infra-red camera, you are better off buying a more IR sensitive sensor to work with.
Which Camera would be that then ?
Why does the 1Ds have a sensor that makes it terrible to convert to IR?
Sony, Pentax and Canon xxD's are far more sensitive DSLRS - but BY far the best performers are digital point and shoots ~ they give much more pleasing results - They are also easier (and cheaper) to convert.
The sensor in the 1Ds is the 11.4MP canon cmos type FF. - And only the last quarter 2002 (first round) batch are "decent" at IR. The 2003 onwards production models have different sensors that perform the same; but from what I gather have different IR properties.#. ~ My friend is very disappointed with the IR performance of his 1Ds that was made in 2003.
The decision to make is cost of conversion/vs result quality.
E.g the canon G6 is easy enough to convert yourself, as it can be done without replacing the diffusing glass to retain AF - but the results are non-comparable to say a G10 but that requires a precise thickness of glass to replace the now cut out IR high pass.
- I've seen a self converted 5D and that produces usable hand-held results at ISO 1000 and I would say that the 5D and XXD's are the only DSLRs I have seen that are worth the conversion.
Bottom line is that the 1Ds can do IR, but there are much better alternatives that are probably cheaper than the conversion cost of the 1DS.
Many thanks for your explanation and I think i will be leaving the 1DS as Is and look for a more suitable camera.
Thanks again.
jon
Quote:
Sony, Pentax and Canon xxD's are far more sensitive DSLRS - but BY far the best performers are digital point and shoots ~ they give much more pleasing results - They are also easier (and cheaper) to convert.
The file size on this little Sony isn't big but it produces nice easily hand-held results - with a bit of clumsy converting to B&W - I'll perfect that bit eventually 
Had my D70 converted to I/R by Protech Photographic in Sussex. Very happy with the results - or at least I am since yesterday afternoon when, with their help, I realised that I need to set the custom WB (I actually knew that all along but completely forgot that I needed to, so was getting very red and not very good piccies - oops !!!)
Nice images cattyal.
Glad you got it sorted out in the end Graham, Do they add something to the WB settings or do you have to set it yourself with one of the custom WB settings?
I have several shots in my portfolio taken using a converted Pentax *ist D. Since the conversion the camera actually produces much sharper shots and the infrared results can be really cool. Here's one that's not in the portfolio taken of model Heather in a Trash the Dress style shoot in Clumber Park
TheWanderer
No, they don't do anything with the WB. All you have to do is use the custom preset setting on your camera - just point the camera at a bit of foliage (which turns white in I/R) or grey card and set the custom WB preset to that yourself, then use that WB setting for the rest of your shoot that day or until you start shooting in different lighting conditions
Cheers
Graham
TheWanderer
Have quickly uploaded one of piccies I took this mornin to my profile - similar effect to, but not in the same league as, the ones above
G
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