This is the tried-and-true classic IR filter. It allows for some great blue sky false color and provides great contrast and dynamic range for black and white. This is equivalent to the Hoya R72 and Wratten 89b.
When to use this filter: This filter is good if you are interested in shooting some mild color and black and white. This filter produces the traditional dark blue skies and can also be processed for color.
While not as high contrast as the 850nm, people prefer this filter over the 850nm for B&W work, as it allows a little more color for B&W processing. This filter requires post-processing and is compatible with a full spectrum camera or a lower cutoff IR converted camera. This filter can also be used with stock cameras with a long exposure.
This filter is suitable for a dedicated black and white infrared camera. It will produce bright whites and pronounced darks. With a custom white balance in camera, the picture is close to pure B&W without any processing. Equivalent to the Wratten 87c.
When to use this filter: This filter is the best for the highest contrast B&W, resembling traditional B&W IR film. Also good for forensics and other applications where the deep IR wavelengths are helpful. This filter is compatible with a full spectrum camera or a lower cutoff IR converted camera. This filter can also be used with some stock cameras with a long exposure.
The first thing to consider is whether you will shoot color or not.
If you plan to shoot only B&W, then the 850nm filter is the best choice. If you plan to shoot color even occasionally, you should go with the 720nm ir filter or below.
When choosing between 590nm, 665nm, and 720nm, the first consideration is your aesthetic preference. If you like the yellow leaf effect, you should choose the 590nm or 665nm option. If you want to shoot regular color shots with white leaves and blue skies, then the 720nm ir filter is probably right for you.
With these enhanced color filters, you will have an increased color range to work with. With processing, it is possible to desaturate photos from these two filters to look like the 720nm image.
This adds more flexibility when shooting and allows for good color results in some shooting situations that would not work so well with the standard 720nm filter.
Some cameras don’t have very good color results with the 720nm filter, such as the Nikon and some Canon PowerShots, but the 665nm filter can overcome this.
Another nice benefit of these filters is that you can use higher cutoff IR filters over them.
For example, with a 665nm conversion, you could use a 720nm or 850nm and still take handheld pictures that will look exactly like the higher cutoff filter.
However, you couldn’t use a lower filter, like the 590nm filter. If the camera you are converting has live view, this is an easy way to take advantage of both the color and B&W aspects of IR.
A downside to these two filters is that they have less contrast for B&W images.
These filters can be more unpredictable, yielding different results depending on the camera model and shooting conditions.
Cameras will also have a harder time setting a white balance with the enhanced color filters.
Another thing to watch out for is that the 590nm and 665nm filters can be a little less sharp than the 720nm and 850nm filters. Since they let in a broader light spectrum, there are more chromatic aberrations and a bit softer focus.
The replacement filters on most compact cameras need to be very thin and leak more visible light, so 590nm, 665nm, and 720nm filters can produce duller color.
The 850nm filter will also leak a little visible light. They will still be monochromatic but may be red or blue-tinged and require processing.
A custom white balance is crucial to achieving a good false color effect with the 590nm and 665nm filters. You should only order these filters if your camera has a custom white balance option.
Keep in mind that just because your camera has a custom white balance setting does not guarantee that you can achieve images like those above with these filters.
Camera white balances were not made to work in infrared, and the camera may not be able to measure a white balance correctly, leaving you with unexpected results. 590nm filters have the most trouble with this.
If your camera does not have a custom white balance option, the 850nm filter still works for B&W photography. The 720nm filter can still be used to get good false color results even with auto white balance, although the results are not quite as reliable.
For a long time, I wanted to do an infrared filter comparison, but never found the time for it. Finally, on a day with good infrared shooting conditions, I took one of my converted cameras and took shots of my backyard, using all the filters available to me.
This comparison is supposed to give you an idea about the various types of infrared filters available on the market. The filters I used for the test can be seen at the top of this post. From left to right / top to bottom: 850nm IR, 715nm IR, 610nm IR, UV & IR Blocker, IR Chrome.
For this infrared filter comparison, I have used my Olympus OMD-EM1, which I had converted to full spectrum in . If you don’t know what that means, I recommend reading my introduction into IR Photography first. In addition to three different standard IR filters, I have also tested a special IR filter and an IR Neutralizer. More on the filters below.
The camera was mounted on a tripod and set to aperture priority, with an aperture of f/5.6 and a fixed ISO value of 200. The lens I used was my Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 PRO at 18mm – a full frame equivalent of about 35mm.
Please note that this is not about infrared lens performance, I have a separate article comparing the infrared performance of Olympus MFT lenses. Also, if you are interested in how your choice of aperture can influence the quality of your infrared pictures, I have an article about diffraction in infrared photography and how you can avoid it.
IRLENS contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.
For each filter, I have listed the technical details and some general comments on its usage scenario. Then you will see three different white balance examples: auto white balance, white balance on foliage / green and white balance using a grey card. All the white balance examples shown are directly out-of-camera, without any further processing.
Disclaimer: While I mention the brands I use myself, please note that this is not an endorsement. I do not receive any compensation from these companies, they are listed for informational purposes only. In general, I recommend known high-quality brands when you want to purchase a good IR filter. Just stay away from any cheap offers, they will likely not produce the result you expected.
This is the filter to use when you are looking for the dreamy Black & White infrared look. With this filter, there is no color information left in the picture. Out of the camera, this filter will give you strong contrasts with dark skies and white foliage.
There is not a lot of difference between using foliage and using a grey card for white balance. However, I do like the grey card version a little bit better, it appears to produce a wider tonal range.
This filter is called Standard IR filter for a reason. If you are unsure about which filter to choose, take this one. It is a good compromise between false color and Black & White. For example, you can achieve the infrared blue sky effect, and you can achieve nice black and white conversions. This is the filter I used in most of my converted cameras.
There is not a lot of difference between using foliage and using a grey card for white balance. However, using the grey card results in more blue in the foliage, which will produce nicer results if you want to apply the blue sky effect.
This specific IR filter is somewhat of a hybrid between what is known as Enhanced and Super Color filter. This is a filter where a lot of (false) color information is retained, compared to the other two standard IR filters. The Blue Sky effect is much more pronounced, compared to the 715nm filter. For Black & White, it is usable but the contrasts are less pronounced, especially when compared to the 830nm filter. Use this filter if you like infrared pictures with a lot of color in them.
The examples suggest to use foliage for white balance, for the lack of alternatives. For my taste, the foliage is still too blue, even after a manual white balance. But honestly – this is the perfect basis for a blue sky channel swap.
Kolari Vision created this filter in order to replicate the look of the famous Kodak Aerochrome IR film. This film was famous for creating blue skies with vibrant reddish foliage – a look which is totally different from every other IR film (or even digital filter). This filter can produce stunning effects, if you don’t overuse it.
Okay, this is easy – a grey card is the recommended way to get correct color balance with an IR Chrome filter. The sky was not very blue on the day I took the test pictures, usually you can see more blue in the sky which makes the result a lot more attractive.
The purpose of this filter is to use a full spectrum converted camera like you would an unmodified camera, by blocking both the UV and IR parts of the light – just like a regular filter in front of your sensor would do.
It is hard to believe, but this filter was the one which took me the longest to find a working example. I started with a Heliopan version, only to find out that it does not work with wide angle lenses. For anything wider than 35mm equivalent, the corners and borders started showing a blue / cyan color cast.
This was confirmed by Heliopan in an , but is – until today – not mentioned on their website. To clarify, the reason seems to be that some manufacturers use two different optical layers in their UV & IR blocking filters to cut out both the UV and the IR parts. These versions – which can be produced cheaper – generate the wide angle effect I described above.
More expensive versions of this filter type use a single layer, which does not produce the wide angle effect. Before buying such a filter, ask the producer if the filter can be used with wide angle lenses. In short, for any filter of this type below 100$/€ you can assume that it is a dual layer type and will likely not work with wide angle lenses.
Auto white balance is not bad, but too “cool” for my taste. But using a grey card will give you the perfect result.
Since we have a camera available with full spectrum capabilities, let’s see what the results look like, when we use the camera without any filter at all!
There seems to be a reason why the camera makers put a UV & IR blocking filter in front of their sensors. ???? The only decent output is produced when using a grey card, but the result is still flat and somehow off color-wise. Only recommended for demonstration purposes!
I will not claim that this is the ultimate infrared filter comparison, there are just too many variations on the market. But I believe I have covered the most important ones. For completeness, let’s quickly look at what else is currently offered by the usual conversion companies:
Some companies offer what they call a “Super/Ultra Blue” filter. It is a Standard IR filter which also allows some blue light to pass through to the sensor. The only purpose of such a filter is to get the “Infrared Blue Sky” effect straight out of the camera.
If this is what gets you exited and all you ever plan to take pictures of, this is your choice. I would rather choose one of the other infrared filter types, as they provide a lot more flexibility. The Infrared Blue Sky effect is actually easy to create, I have described the process in my article How to Create the Infrared Blue Sky Effect in Lightroom.
At least one company offers what they call a Hyper Color IR filter, the equivalent of a 470nm filter. This filter allows nearly all of the the visible light spectrum to reach the sensor. While it can create some different-looking false color IR pictures, I find the results rather disappointing. But you may have a special reason for using this filter type.
Even with a full spectrum converted camera, your choice of infrared filter will affect the exposure. Let’s have a look at the pictures I took above and see how the exposure differs. Since the ISO and the aperture was fixed, the only thing that changed between the exposures was the shutter speed:
Some comments regarding the above table:
A reader of my Infrared Photography Tutorial asked if he should go with a 720nm or a 830nm permanent conversion, when all he wanted was Black & White pictures.
What speaks for the 830 nm filter is the stronger contrast out-of-camera. What speaks for the 720nm filter is the ability to create pictures with the Blue Sky effect, if that is what you like. At that time I recommended the 720nm filter, because you can always increase the contrast in post-processing.
Now we have evidence that the 830nm filter has a significant impact on your ability to handhold your camera, even in direct sunlight. With this additional piece of information, I no longer recommend using strong IR filters (800nm or higher), unless you have a specific need or reason for it.
Doing the infrared filter comparison was a really interesting exercise for me. While I am using the filters all the time, there was still something new I learned from this comparison.
The first lesson was that the exposure impact of a Deep B&W IR filter was much greater than I had expected. Another learning lesson was that using a full spectrum camera without a filter does not make a lot of sense. ????
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