Converted Nikon D700 -- great results

[Christoph]

After a lot of work, my Nikon D700 Infrared is ready for action!

 

After several Nikon D70 as well as a Nikon D80, I have now converted a full frame camera to full spectrum for the first time: My old Nikon D700. It already has a few years under its belt, the rubber pads it has in several places came loose from the substrate. But overall it is still in tip-top condition.

 

Removing the IR cut filter is much more involved than the other models. Many more screws, many more cables. Much more concentration is required. According to instructions online, you have to desolder cables. But it can be done without. Just make sure that you can support the different layers of the camera somewhere without tearing out cables.

 

Important: To get a Nikon D700 Infrared, it is not enough to remove the cyan hot mirror. You also have to remove the glass plate to which the internal cleaning mechanism is attached. Because this also blocks out infrared (and also UV) light. However, this is not a problem. Just cut the cable, remove the glass completely, and good. Who needs that anyway.

 

As with other cameras, the Nikon D700 Infrared has problems with focusing, since glass layers have been removed (and thus distances are no longer calibrated) and IR has different focal planes anyway.

 

Fortunately, it has Liveview. That simplifies the whole thing a lot. And so I was able to shoot wonderful 720nm photos with the 50mm AF lens – from aperture 8, even objects further away are always sharp. With the Aerochrome variant with green and orange filters, it’s a bit more difficult. Here, you need at least aperture 16 to get distant mountains or trees in focus. But thanks to the excellent ISO properties of the Nikon D700, this is no problem either.

 

Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D, green and orange filters:

 

[Andy Perrin]

Looks fantastic

[Cadmium]

Christoph, Looks great!

[colinbm]

Excellent Christoph, I especially like the last with the different in the colours of the vegetation.

[Christoph]

Thank you! This variant/camera-lens combination has produced the best results so far. The trick is really to do the White Balance by eye, so in the Raw Converter adjust the temperature and tint so that the sky becomes a strong greenish-yellow and the trees achieve a variated, strong blue.

[colinbm]

I am getting much better results using Sigma's SPP.

What filter are you using now please ?

[Christoph]

Still Green X1 and Tiffen Orange 16… Yeah, the Foveon images are great, without a doubt. But you won‘t get the color shifts associated with Aerochrome. Getting great results with Sigma cameras in general was always very difficult for me…

[colinbm]

Still Green X1 and Tiffen Orange 16… Yeah, the Foveon images are great, without a doubt. But you won‘t get the color shifts associated with Aerochrome. Getting great results with Sigma cameras in general was always very difficult for me…

 

No no, I am using the Sigma fp, it is a Bayer CFA camera now & SPP is great with this, it now handles both Foveon & CFA.

I wasn't using SPP before but Photo Ninga as SPP was very slow. I now have faster computer & SPP is great.

I'll look at these filters thanks.

[Christoph]

Aha, ok! Never used SPP for Bayer files… Looking forward to your results! :-)

[Christoph]

Shot with the Nikon D700, with Green and Orange filters...

 

[colinbm]

Looks good

[Doug A]

Great results. Darn brave to diy convert such a sophisticated camera. Glad it worked out. I'm too chicken. Sent my FF to Kolari.

Thanks for sharing,

Doug A

[Christoph]

Thanks, Doug. The conversion wasn't that difficult. I just removed the blocking filter without replacing it with anything. With Live View it works without any problems...

[Andy Perrin]

Very nice, good photos also. 

[Christoph]

Was finally able to photograph autumn vegetation. This time with an older 50mm lens (f/2 AI). So far the best lens for Aerochrome emulation with Hoya X1 and Tiffen Orange 16.

[colinbm]

Fall at its best.