Convert Your Digital Camera to Infared
All digital cameras, no matter how expensive or sophisticated, shoot pictures using the same visible wavelengths of light that people see. A special filter inside the camera blocks out the infrared (IR) light that is invisible to the human eye. Removing this filter and adding a special IR filter enables the digital camera to take picture using IR light, creating entirely different pictures than would be taken otherwise. Opening the digital camera and removing the lens assembly is not complicated, although the exact procedure varies slightly depending upon the digital camera's construction.
Instructions
1. Place the soft cloth on a table and put the digital camera down on the soft cloth with the lens facing up.
2. Remove all of the screws from the front, back, sides and bottom of the digital camera using the Phillips jeweler's screwdriver.
3. Use the needle-nose pliers to unscrew the lens from the front of the digital camera. Hold the lens up and shake it to dislodge any filter that might be inside. Retain any filter that shakes out if you want to restore the camera back to normal at a later time. Put the lens down on the soft cloth.
4. Insert the flat-edged jeweler's screwdriver into the seam on one side between the front and the back of the digital camera. Wiggle the screwdriver to separate the front from the back. Repeat this process on the other side and on the top and bottom of the camera.
5. Hold the back of the camera with one hand while pulling the front off with the other. Put the camera front aside.
6. Locate the lens assembly in the digital camera's back. Remove the screws from around the lens assembly with the Phillips jeweler's screwdriver.
7. Lift up on the lens assembly and release the small cable attached from it to the circuit board using the tweezers. Put the lens assembly down on the soft cloth.
8. Remove the screws holding the metal bracket over the IR filter. Remove the bracket. Remove the IR filter and put it aside in case you want to restore the digital camera to normal at a later time.
9. Use the utility knife to cut two pieces out of the Congo Blue IR filter sheet that are each the same size as the IR filter that you removed. Using two pieces of the blue IR filter ensures that the visible light does not pass through to the lens.
10. Blow out the lens assembly with the compressed air. Place both pieces of the Congo Blue IR filter in the position where the IR filter was on the lens assembly. Secure the metal bracket over the blue gel filters using the Phillips jeweler's screwdriver.
11. Reattach the cable and reassemble the lens assembly to the circuit board. Reassembly the front and back of the digital camera together. Blow out the lens with the compressed air. Screw the lens back onto the front of the digital camera.
Tags: lens assembly, digital camera, jeweler screwdriver, soft cloth, digital camera
