Infrared photography with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828
Before going into the details of how to tackle infrared photography with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828, let's start by looking at some infrared photographs. Note the high contrast, blue skies that appear very dar (often almost black) and green vegetation that appears whites and glowing.
What is infrared photography?
Infrared light is light with a wavelength beyond the red end of the range of colours in visible light. As such it's invisible to human vision, but it can have a pretty nasty effect on the results from digital cameras in normal photography, and for this reason pretty much every digital camera ever made has a so-called 'IR Cut' filter permanently positioned over the sensor inside the camera to filter out this infrared light. And there is usually no way to remove it. Because who wants nasty old infrared light spoiling their photographs, right?
Well, it turns out lots of people want to! Infrared is whole genre of photography about which whole books have been written! And people will spend a great deal of money to permanently convert their digital cameras for infrared photography. But vintage Sony digital cameras that feature a mode called 'Nightshot' offer a way to experiment with infrared that won't break the bank.
In the early to mid 2000s one of Sony's unique features on many of their mid to high end digicams was something they called "Nightshot" mode. In cameras with this mode the IR Cut filter can indeed be temporarily swung away from the sensor to allow photography in very dark conditions, for example, while sitting around a campfire. But Nightshot mode also sets a whole lot of other settings which give photographs a green 'blair witch project' look. Very atmospheric in it's place, but this renders Nightshot mode pretty ineffective for creative daylight infrared photography. So why am I even taking about this?!
The Sony infrared magnet hack
Well, it turns out that the IR Cut filter on Sony Nightshot cameras is moved away from the sensor using magnets, and you can force that to happen without activating Nightshot mode simply by moving a magent near to a particular spot on the camera body. The great thing is that this is a temporary effect that doesn't harm the camera in anyway. You can easily move the IR Cut filter back into place simply by turning the camera off and then on again. This is often referred to on the internet as the 'Sony infrared magnet hack'. If you've ever fancied experimenting with infrared photography without spending £100s or £1000s this is perhaps your best chance!
Now in theory the Sony infrared magnet hack works on any Sony camera with Nightshot mode, but in practice it's a bit more complicated than that. On some Sony Nightshot cameras have a lot of difficulty on focussing on anything more than a couple of metres away. But I can confirm that it works perfectly on the F828 at any focus distance… yay! And here's how:
The first thing to do is put an IR filter on your lens to filter out most visible light. I used a standard R72 Infrared filter which I bought for about £18 on Amazon (but note that this was quite a cheap filter with a plastic filter thread… if you don't mind doubling your budget you can get a better quality one with a more durable metal filter thread).
Now, at this point the IR Cut filter is still in place cutting out most infrared light from hitting the sensor, and the R72 filter you've just put over the lens is cutting out most infrared light, so very little light of any wavelength is hitting the sensor at all. So even though I point the camera at a fairly bright window, the shutter speed selected by the camera is a full 5 seconds! So let's move that IR cut filter out of the way:
The place on the camera you're looking for is to the right and just below the accessory port on the side of the lens barrel (it's labeled with the letters 'ACC'). I've put a small and discreet square of black electrical tape to remind myself of the location each time I want to do this trick. So all you have to do is move the end of your magnet (I got these Neodymium Bar Magnets, again from Amazon) over this point on the camera. You'll hear a soft click when the IR Cut filter swings away from the sensor. Note that you'll have to experiment with which end and side of the magnet has the right polarity to move the IR Cut filter. It took me quite a while to get this right, so don't give up. Once I had found the right end and side of the magnet I again used black electrical tape on the magnet to make it easy to find again.
When you've heard that soft click it's time to look at the camera's monitor again. You should see that the view has brightened considerably. In my case, the shutter speed selected by the camera went from 5 second to 1/30th of a second! While you're learning this technique you'll want to do it in a nice quiet room at home because that click when the IR Cut filter moves out of the way of the sensor is very quiet. Once your confident you can perform this trick without hearing the click (because of, let's say, traffic noise, if you're close to a road) it's time to go out into the field and try out some infrared photography!
Shooting infrared photographs with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828
I found that my Siny F828 worked perfectly with the infrared magnet hack. Focusing was accurate and reliable at all focussing distances and even with the ISO set to 64 I was getting perfectly hand-holdable shutter speeds in somewhat overcast conditions (just as well since the F828 doesn't have image stabilisation). The pink-toned images you see in the viewfinder wasn't a problem. In fact it serves as a useful reminder that you're shooting in infrared light. And some of the classic infrared effects, like bright white vegetation, twas visible in the viewfinder as I worked.
I had the camera set to record in RAW format as I'd read this was advisable when shooting infrared, but on the F828 there is a 7-8 second delay while the file gets written to the memory card every time you hit that shutter button, so next time I go out shooting infrared I might experiment with JPEG mode! But having said that, being forced to slow down is perhaps no bad.
Remember that every time you either turn the camera off, or if the camera goes to sleep automatically, the IR Cut filter is going to flip back into place. SO remember to keep you magnet hand when you're out shooting.
Processing infrared photographs from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828
I should point out at this stage that I am a total newbie when it comes to infrared photography! At first I just wanted to try getting that classic b&w infrared look with glowing white leaves and grass and fluffy white clouds agains a block sky, and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get the look I had imagined. The photographs below from my first every walk with my hacked F828 were all processed entirely within Adobe Lightroom. I shot these photographs in RAW mode and then imported them into Lightroom and let it apply it's usual default Adobe Color profile. At first this produced very disappointing purple images! So I just went to the basic panel in Lightroom's develop module, set B&W mode, and then stated browsing thought all the available profiles. I found applying the B&W 02 profile got me surprisingly close to the look I was after. It was then just a case of using all the usual sliders just as I would with any normal photographs to refine the look of the photograph.
There are of course lots of far more sophisticated ways of processing infrared photographs and I look forward to researching and experimenting with these techniques in due course. There also a variety of different infrared lens filters to try out too. But if, like me, you're a total beginner at infrared photographer, rest assured that getting the classic infrared look is nowhere near as hard as you might imagine.
Conclusion
Using the magnet hack on a Sony F828 camera is probably the cheapest way to experiment with reasonably high quality infrared photography. I spent about £85 on the camera, £18 on the filter (though in retrospect I do now wish I had bought a more durable one!) and £5 on the magnets for a total spend of £108. Plus you've not permanently changed you're camera, so you can go back to normal photography with your F828 at any time. Of course you have to remember you're using a 20+ year old camera so you have to be realistic when it comes to image quality. A DSLR or mirrorless camera with large sensor that has been permanently convert to IR will definitely reward you with higher quality results. But the F828 with the magnet hack will allow you to find your feet with infrared photography while you decide whether you want to splash out on a that permanently converted camera.