We test the Canon 300D for infrared photography use, unmodified, using a Hoya R72 filter.
The Canon 30D camera is a capable camera. But how does it go shooting infrared using a Hoya R72 filter.
To test it out we went out with the camera, the Hoya R72 filter, a Canon 17-35mm f2.8 L series lens and a good tripod and cable release. Weather was sunny but with high cloud.
This the RAW image straight from the camera.
With a bit of processing you can get this.
So let’s look in more detail at the images that result from using different ISO settings.
100SIO (30 seconds at f2.8)
Red
Green
Blue
3200ISO (1 second at f2.8)
Red
Green
Blue
As you can see, the IR blocking filter in the 30D is very efficient, so the green and blue channels (that have no visible light contribution) are quite under exposed. Only the Red, which the R72 filter allows some visible red to contribute to, is well exposed. This camera thus needs lots of exposure to shoot IR unmodified.
The images below look at the image noise in the Red channel at varying ISO settings:
100ISO 30 seconds at f2.8
200ISO 15 seconds at f2.8
400ISO 8 seconds at f2.8
800ISO 4 seconds at f2.8
1600ISO 2 seconds at f2.8
3200ISO 1 second at f2.8
You can see that even though the exposures are getting shorter as we raise ISO, the noise rises quickly
However, if you give plenty of exposure and keep off the higher ISO settings you can still get some great shots with this camera.
So if you have a 30D you should certainly give IR a go.