Comments on: Zomei IR filters 680nm 760nm 850nm comparison for B&W IR

By: Dave Kennard

Dave Kennard — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 21:12:24 +0000

Hi Cristina

Apologies for the very delayed reply.

If they’re shooting monochromatic IR film, then I imagine the filters should work pretty much the same as they do on digital. There will be some differences in the actual images due to the nature of IR film compared to a digital sensor, but not related to the filter. (I would think – I don’t have any experience shooting IR film, so can’t be 100% certain). One thing to make sure is that the filter is ‘weak’ enough for the film they are using. If they are using a film that’s only sensitive up to 800 nm, then an 850 nm filter wouldn’t be much use since it wouldn’t let through any light the film was sensitive to.

Dave

By: Dave Kennard

Dave Kennard — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 20:53:40 +0000

In reply to Antoine.

Hi Antoine

Apologies for the very delayed reply. I haven’t noticed any difference in the haze-cutting ability between 850nm and 760nm. I guess that in theory 850nm would be better. I’m generally a wide-angle photographer, possibly a difference would be more visible at longer focal lengths.

Dave

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 24 May 2017 22:37:46 +0000

Hi David,

I’m relatively new to photography. I’m looking to buy one of these filters as a gift for someone shooting with a 35mm SLR with infrared film. Do you think I can expect similar photo results in film? I know digital is much easier to get perfect results from, but do you have any advice?

By: Antoine

Antoine — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 17:33:10 +0000

Nice article, very useful !
I have a 1000nm filter, don’t know if it has a stronger effect than your 800nm or 700nm.
Do you know if your 850nm is better to see details on far away landscape than your 760nm ?

By: Dave Kennard

Dave Kennard — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 08:03:27 +0000

In reply to Pawel.

Hi Pawel

830nm filter will give you a slightly darker sky than the 695nm filter, but at the cost of longer exposure times.

Looking at my test images, the 850nm filter needed around 2.5 stops more exposure than the 680nm filter. The difference won’t be as big between a 695nm and 830nm filter, but I expect the 830nm filter would require about 2 stops more exposure than the 695nm filter.

So it depends on what’s more important for you – getting the best images straight out of camera, or keeping the shutter speed as fast as possible.

For me, I prefer shooting handheld, f/8 and at low ISO, so I’d go for the 695nm filter. Since I shoot RAW, it would be easy to apply a slightly stronger tone curve to all the images when processing them, to give an image very similar to what the 830nm filter would give.

Dave

By: Pawel

Pawel — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 19:04:15 +0000

Hi David,
I am going to have my Pentax K7 converted into infrared camera.
I am mostly into monochrome infrared photography with minimal post processing.
I have a choice between 695nm filter or 830nm filter installed.
What would you recommend? Will 830 filter give me better BW out of the camera pictures compared to 695 filter?
Or is the difference so little that it is better to have a choice of colour IR? It wouldn’t be used much I suppose but maybe could increase resell value in future.
Regards
Pawel