This photographer converted his Sony A7R to full spectrum for infrared photography
Jul 1, 2019
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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There are two things common to many photographers. We’d like to be able to shoot infrared – because why not? It’s a lot of fun – and we probably have an old DSLR or mirrorless camera or six laying around somewhere just gathering dust. Photographer Davin Lavikka fell into those categories, so he decided to do something about
While there are many conversion services out there around hte world now, Davin decided to convert his old Sony A7R into a full spectrum camera all by himself. If you want to follow Davin’s lead and try the same, you do so at your own risk!
Davin utilised a clear filter from Kolari Vision. You might recognise that name as we’ve featured a bunch of Kolari Vision’s camera teardowns here on DIYP. They convert cameras all the time, so whenever they come across a new model, they let us take a peek at what’s inside. But they don’t just have a conversion service.
You can also buy the filters and install them yourself if you’re feeling brave enough – which Davin obviously did, although he doesn’t recommend people try this themselves.
It’s certainly a little more stressful of a process than having somebody else do it for you. But doing the conversion yourself can be a great way to breathe some new life into an old camera and save a little money in the process (assuming you don’t kill your camera).
While the clear filter offers a full spectrum view covering everything from infrared, through the visible spectrum and up into ultraviolet, Davin’s goal is to be able to shoot black & white infrared as well as 590nm “colour” infrared video and photographs.
Again, don’t try this at home, folks. You’re more than likely going to kill your camera if you’re not completely sure what you’re doing.
[via ISO1200]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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4 responses to “This photographer converted his Sony A7R to full spectrum for infrared photography”
I did it to a 60d its not hard really
Pre-2010 DSLRs are going for peanuts these days. When you can pick up a Nikon D80 for under £100, there’s no reason not to give it a go.
Lifepixel has how-to instructions: it requires a bunch of hours of fiddly work, occasionally soldering, and you need a replacement for the filter you’re removing.
That was a fun video, but I might skip converting any of my Sony cameras.