IR on X100 – Fujifilm Finepix X100 & Heliopan RG 715 IR Filter

My father recently gave me his Fuji X100. I had a Heliopan IR filter that fitted the 49mm diameter filter thread, so I gave it a go. This is some of my initial experience of IR on X100.

A with and without sample below…

Filter

The information on the filter says that it looses you 7 stops of light, or at least that is what I have understood. Indeed the settings for the images bare this out.

Ergonomics

Using the camera is a little tricky with this filter attached.

Firstly the viewfinder in EVF is virtually “black”. This makes it incredibly difficult to frame the subject. Manual focus does however manage to put the “white” around the edges of what is in focus. It is just about usable.

Secondly the exposure with spot metering is also tricky as the focussing “box” in the optical viewfinder disappears and means that the “spot” needs to be guessed.

Thirdly the focus issues with IR. Older manual lenses often had a “red dot” to represent the point that the focus scale is calibrated against when using IR film. This means that the internal autofocus may mess this up and focus on the wrong place. I’m still working on this point to establish what happens.

Finally don’t think that you can get away with a reasonable ISO/Shutter/Aperture combo. A shutter of at least 1/100 – 1/125 is needed for hand held and the ISO even on a good day will be forced up to the 1600 range.

X100 + IR Results

I’m not happy with my composition or settings with these tests, I haven’t established the workable environment yet. I am happy with the rather unusual and different effect to black and white. Always wanted to try, but never had the nerve to get the internal IR filter on my Canon G3 removed to do it properly.

I think the shutter speed I used and the high ISO that was essential caused a problem. But I will experiment further and hope to take this to Street Photography and see what I get.