Pentax K200D Digital Camera Infrared Performance

We test the K200D for infrared photography using a Hoya R-72 filter.
The K200D is a popular camera with a good range of features at a keen price. For infrared testing we used a heavy tripod (Manfrotto) and a Hoya R-72 infrared filter.

1.    When shot using Auto WB and an exposure of 100ISO, 30 seconds and f5.6, the resulting image (using default ACR settings) has a well exposed red channel, while green and blue are underexposed and a strongly red image.

2.    Adding a stop of exposure (100ISO, 30 seconds and f4) overexposes the red but has not brought the green up enough. There is thus roughly a two stop exposure difference between the red and green channels with the K200D

3.    The red channel of the first exposure has excellent tonality and, with a little work in ACR before taking it into Photoshop has no white clipping and a lovely tonal range.

4.    The green channel of the second image is not as well exposed but, as we will see, can be worked to produce a good image.

If we compare the above two you will the classic difference in tonal placement between the red and green channels because of the deep ir that is captured through the green channel. To understand this see the article Shooting Infrared Photography Step By Step.

The K200D is prone to light leakage through the eyepiece during long exposures. So you will need to cover the eyepiece fully when shooting IR.

Lastly, you can create false color images with the K200D by doing individual levels to each channel and then a red/blue channel swap.

The K200D is a quite capable IR camera, so long as you can handle the long exposures. Full sun exposure for the red channel is around 100ISO, 30 seconds and f5.6, whilst if you are exposing for the green channel you would probably want 100ISO, 30 seconds and f2.8 as a starting point for your experimentation.