*POLL* NOVEMBER PHOTO CONTEST Thread #2

[Major Nikon]

40. There's lots of ways to produce IR images

However, this is not the only way to do it and many people are producing stunning IR images with much less of an investment. You can buy in-camera IR filters and convert many types of cameras yourself. There's a lot of people out there who are buying cheap older digital cameras on the used market and converting them at home. You can also install a screw-on 720nm filter (the plastic ones are quite cheap) and convert any camera to IR (although this method has it's own disadvantages just like any other). You can also still get IR film for film cameras. For no more than I've been using my IR camera, I would have been money ahead buying IR film for my old FM2.

You are correct in that the route I went is out of the reach of many photographers. I bought a refurbished Nikon D5000 for about $400 and had it converted to IR which cost me another $300. This doesn't even cover the cost of a lens, although I already had many lenses I can use on this camera. However, it wouldn't surprise me at all if many of these other pictures were taken with camera and lens combinations which cost north of 2 or 3 thousand. So it's not as if the price of entry into some of these other images isn't high as well.

I'm not in this to win, and actually I hope I don't. There's lots of other great images here that I think are better than mine. I didn't even vote for my own.