Nikon 420IR infrared

Discuss older Nikon-based Kodak digital SLRs, including DCS 100, DCS 200, NC2000, DCS 400/600/700-series, etc. Ask questions, post general comments, anecdotes, reviews and user tips.
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Wolfi
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Nikon 420IR infrared

Post by Wolfi »

Hi,

Just received a beautiful and rare DCS 420IR.

Who else has one like this or knows more about how to use it?

I have not tested it yet, but it seems that natural vegetal greens come much clearer than on my DCS420m.

Do I need to use it with an IR filter, or is it meant to be used without filters?
Ross_Alford
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Post by Ross_Alford »

You shoud be able to tell fairly easily when you start using it. If vegetation comes out as a lighter grey than with the 420m, but not near white, then the camera must have no IR cutoff filter but no visible light blocking filter either. If that is so, then If you want the real classic IR effect, you will have to use a cutoff filter to reduce or eliminate visible light. You might want to try to obtain a gel or high quality plastic filter you could put in front of the sensor, so that you can still see through the finder.

If it has a filter on the sensor that blocks visible light it should be obvious if you take the camera off--the sensor should look black, or there shoujld already be a black filter in the film gate of the camera--Kodak could have done it either way.

If you can, please post some sample images somwehere; I at any rate would certainly like to see some.

Cheers,
Ross
Wolfi
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Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:33 am
Location: german living in south France

Post by Wolfi »

Hi Ross,

I haven't had much time to investigate further.

Some natural greens are burnt, the sky is quite dark.

The pics come out in rgb in photoshop CS2 and in grayscale in photoshop 6.

In CS2 the pics appear in a sort of violet. There is a yellow, red and cyan (blue) curve it seems.

I have used a micro nikkor, and I have to focus somhow closer to get maximum sharpness which is not very good wide open. I can correct the unsharpness somehow in camera raw by superposing as much as possible the curves at a color temperature of 50000 and playing with the tint.

Then I desaturate before opening so the pic comes out b/w.

Exposure seems to be the same as with the dcs 420m (which also delivers these strange rbg curves in CS2 only).

I'll see if I can take it apart by tomorrow to find out if an ir filter is installed.

I would very much like to know which practical utilization this camera is made for.

Do you know more about these ir cameras and what can be done with them, what they were built for?

I'll try to host some pics by tomorrow, but how? Jpg or raw? Do the image hosters accept raw?

All the best

alex
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General info on Infrared Photography

Post by NikonWeb »

Wolfi wrote:I would very much like to know which practical utilization this camera is made for.

Do you know more about these ir cameras and what can be done with them, what they were built for?
For general information about infrared photography, search Google and take a look at this Wikipedia article (and the links below the article):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_photography

Also, see "Technology Backgrounder" in this article:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06080 ... rouvir.asp

" It is the visual equivalent of the dog whistle we humans cannot hear.

This uncanny ability to reveal the unseen is why technical professionals in fields ranging from law enforcement, to military surveillance, to medical research, to art history, to biology have long used UV and IR photography to discover crucial observational facts that would ordinarily elude the keenest human eye."

Have fun!

Jarle
Wolfi
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Location: german living in south France

Post by Wolfi »

Hi,

here's the first pic of the 420ir

Image

strange, I don't really know how to use the curves in camera raw.

it seems that my non ai micro nikkor is somehow sharper than the 50mm 1.8 at the same aperture.

greens are often strongly overexposed. I shot the pic at 1/800 at .22 which is pretty fast, otherwise it over exposes. I suspect that there's an ir filter in front of the sensor.

I haven't tried with an ir filter yet.
Wolfi
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Location: german living in south France

Post by Wolfi »

200 ISO, 1/320, 1:22 non ai micro nikkor, I have added a rodenstock ir filter which does not let visible light pass through.


speed seems the same, not much difference, I have de saturated.

how can I find out which CCD is used in this camera, as well as it's spectral response?

Image
NikonWeb
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Kodak CIR Digital Still Camera

Post by NikonWeb »

You may find this one interesting:

http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/techn ... paper.html

The article also includes some Photoshop examples, under "Mission Results".

Jarle
Wolfi
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Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:33 am
Location: german living in south France

Post by Wolfi »

this is the 420m

Image
Wolfi
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Location: german living in south France

Post by Wolfi »

420m with ir filter added

Image
Brian Sweeney
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Post by Brian Sweeney »

Looking at your first image, I am guessing that the Sensor needs to be cleaned. This is easy with a Kodak 420: the N90s comes off easily and you clean the glass cover over the CCD.

Kodak did not put Visible Blocking filters over the KAF-1600 CCD, but it is best to inspect it. Someone could have done the modification after the fact.

I use an R60 filter with my DCS200ir. I set the N8008s EV control to -3.7EV to compensate for the camera's SPD lack of sensitivity in the Infrared.

I use a 55mm F2.8 Micro-Nikkor with it; the IR focus is close enough to use close-up and wide-open without compensation.
Last edited by Brian Sweeney on Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Brian Sweeney
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Post by Brian Sweeney »

Did you find the technical data sheet for the KAF-1600?

Post back, I have the data sheet for the original KAF-1600 on a machine at work.
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