Now I consider myself pretty handy. I like to think that I can do a lot of DIY projects and they turn out great. Of course this is only my opinion, if you ask my lovely wife she will tell you my DIY projects are about on par with a coin flip for rate of success. I have a mud room renovation that turned out great and yet my office is still lacking a ceiling. (she doesn’t buy the grunge exposed beam theory I’m currently pushing.)

    I took this same idea to photography. My first “studio” set up consisted of metal work lights and home made diffusers using fabric and pvc. Needless to say it was hot and I think only 1 diffuser did not melt. It was also a costly project and by the time it was finished i could have bought a nice entry level set of lights, I did that eventually but i never seemed to learn. I tried creating a hot shoe flash diffuser using a tennis ball tube and frosting spray, still trying that one…(As my wife was reading this she told that project is canceled sorry)

   

Now on to the happy subject my success story. I have always found infrared photography fascinating. It has kept my attention and i have always wanted to do it. I first got started by using a filter on my trusty Canon Rebel. This gave me good effects but my exposures were often 8-10 minutes and well it was time consuming. About a month ago I found this article while in the midst of editing some photos.

(http://www.instructables.com/id/infrared-digital-camera---the-real-way/step6/take-out-the-IR-filter/)

 

So I thought it sounded great and i knew just the camera to use. I have a Fuji FinePix s3100. I loved this camera and all it’s 4 megapixel glory. The best part was it had a filter adapter that took 55mm filters. The draw back was finding it as I have moved back from college and 3 more times after that since I stopped using it. Well last weekend my wife instructed me that I should probably clean out the garage. While in the bowel of the junk in there I found it.

On to the project, quite simple but i did not document the whole process, instructables did a great just and frankly i was just so excited to try it I was like a kid with a new toy.

    The old Girl With filter adapter installed

 

 

             Took the camera apart, this particular model is layered so I went down until I found the IR filter and removed it, buttoned it back up and tested and it worked great. To block the light I simply ordered a IR filter off Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TY574S/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Thank God I’m a prime member I hate waiting. Got the filter in and screwed it on and went to town.

 

Cameras IR filter after removal

 

 

IR Filter

 

Complete!

  

 

           From my usage of it the focusing is the only problem but that can be fixed by using a very contrasting part of the frame to focus on, like the sun or a tree trunk. I have had some success and I can’t wait to try it with different IR filters on it.

Results

In Camera

 

After Conversion and some tweaking

 

Enjoy!