What is infrared photography?

The Ultra Color infrared conversion (590nm) The 590nm infrared conversion lets more visible light in, producing the most vibrant colors. Leaves are golden yellow, and skies are bright blue. B+W contrast is lower than the deeper infrared filters. When to get this IR conversion: This conversion is good for vibrant color IR landscapes, allowing the most flexibility in post processing. Also a good choice for portraits. The shallow IR shows less veins than the deeper IR filters while still creating a dreamy look. May not be as sharp as the deeper filters do to increased chromatic aberration. Cameras with this infrared conversion can also add the 665, 720, and 850 filter over the lens making it the most flexible infrared conversion option if you don't want to shoot normal color.

The Extra Color infrared conversion (665nm) The Extra color infrared conversion (665nm) has an effect between the 720nm and 590nm, producing more vibrant colors than the 720nm for pale yellow leaves and brighter blue skies. When to get this conversion: Our favorite filter, this filter is best suited for processing to a traditional blue sky and white leaves, by desaturating the yellow in the leaves. This produces a look like the 720nm filter, but providing a richer blue that comes out more reliably between different cameras and different shooting conditions. Also a good choice for portraits. The shallow IR shows less veins than the deeper IR filters while still creating a dreamy look. May not be as sharp as the deeper filters do to increased chromatic aberration. Cameras with this infrared conversion can also add the 720 and 850 filter over the lens.

The Standard IR Filter (720nm) This is the tried and true classic infrared conversion. It allows for good color for false color, and good contrast for black and white. This is equivalent to the Hoya R72 and Wratten 89b. When to get this infrared conversion: This IR conversion 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, some people prefer this filter over the 850nm for B+W work, as it allows a little more color for B+W processing. Cameras with this conversion can also add the 850nm filter over the lens.

The Deep Black and White filter (850nm) The 850nm infrared conversion is good for a dedicated black and white IR. The camera and 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 get this infrared conversion: This filter is the best for the highest contrast B+W, closest resembling traditional B+W IR film. Also good for forensics and other applications where the deep IR wavelengths are helpful.

The NDVI Blue IR filter (Blue +IR) Our newest filter transmits both blue and IR, making it ideal for NDVI crop analysis applications, allowing an NDVI to be generated from a single image using the blue and red channels of the image. This filter is also handy for landscape photography, as it produces a similar effect to the 590nm after a channel swap, right out of the camera. When to get this conversion: Good for crop analysis purposes and a false color IR without post processing. Due to the multiple bands the lens has to focus with this filter, the images are less sharp than they can be with the dedicated IR filters. Cameras with this infrared conversion can also add the 720 and 850 filter over the lens.

The Full Spectrum conversion (clear glass) makes the camera sensitive to UV, visible, and IR light, allowing switching between various external filters to achieve the desired effect, this allows going between infrared and regular shooting with one camera, however on DSLRs opaque infrared filters will block composition. The Two Spectrum conversion (IR + Visible) makes the camera sensitive to visible and IR light. It works the same way as the full spectrum, while filtering out UV for better color rendition in visible light shooting. When to get these conversions: Cameras with these infrared conversions offer the most flexibility to narrow down the specific spectrum at the lens level, allowing you to get the most out of one camera body. The only drawbacks are the requirement for addition filters, and a blocked viewfinder on DSLRs. These IR conversions require the use of live view and are perfect for mirrorless cameras.  

The Sony A7 system was the first full mirrorless camera outside of the Lieca rangefinders, and its short flange distance made it possible to almost universally adapt to any lens to it. This includs Leica rangefinder lenses, making it the only other camera that could use these high quality light lenses, and at a fraction of the price of a Lieca camera. It was quickly discovered, however, that rangefinder lenses did not perform well on the stock Sony A7's due to Sony's inclusion of a very thick sensor filter, which introduced significant blur on the corners when using rangefinder or even SLR film lenses. We have developed a service that replaces the Sony A7 series cameras' normally thick sensor glass with a thin-filter replacement that performs better with Leica lenses, film lenses, and non-Sony lenses, significantly improving corner sharpness.

Available now, our UV filter allows for photography of the ultraviolet band. Useful for assessing sun damage, document analysis, forensics, plant photography, and many others. Our filter is specially designed for no IR light leak at an affordable price. Shop here