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You can also install various hacked firmware if you're ever inclined. The mods are pretty interesting, including improved modes for astrophotography.

dylan604 4y ago
The best mod is ripping out that IR filter. Sadly, that's not going to happen via software. That's the firmest of firmware mods.
- JohnBooty 4y ago
  That was some kind of privacy thing, right? So you can't take voyeuristic revealing photos that see thru peoples' clothes to an extent?
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Nope. Not at all. Not sure where you got that info, but I would question that source. It's because the CMOS sensors are much more sensitive to IR than our eyes, so they expose in that frequency range which causes the images to not develop the way we expect them. For astrophotography, lots of very interesting data comes from the IR bands, so removing the filter gets a lot more details.
    - JohnBooty 4y ago
      Thought I was going crazy for a second. I was half-remembering this debacle: https://bettermarketing.pub/sonys-see-through-camera-disaster-cost-them-100-million-f277609b26a https://bettermarketing.pub/sonys-see-through-camera-disaste... It seems to me that this would be possible to achieve with any camera that captured near-IR wavelengths, with the appropriate filters or firmware hacks. In addition to what you posted, might this also be on camera makers' minds?
    - bliteben 4y ago
      Seems possible it could be for ITAR compliance.
      - myself248 4y ago
        No. "Infrared" isn't a very descriptive term, since it means "the entire electromagnetic spectrum with energies below the human visual range". Near-infrared is very close to the visible range and is sensed just fine by normal CCD/CMOS imagers, and they have to be specifically filtered to ignore it, otherwise it swamps the visible-color portion of the image. By removing the infrared filter, you lose color fidelity but gain sensitivity. Thermal infrared takes a vastly different sensor, which is fiendishly difficult to manufacture, which is why thermal cameras are so expensive. Thermal sensors with certain performance characteristics may fall under ITAR, but you'd know if you had one of those.
- failTide 4y ago
  Yeah I was tempted to do this on my D5100 that I've used for a decade+... as soon as I buy my next camera perhaps.

dylan604 4y ago

The best mod is ripping out that IR filter. Sadly, that's not going to happen via software. That's the firmest of firmware mods.

JohnBooty 4y ago
That was some kind of privacy thing, right? So you can't take voyeuristic revealing photos that see thru peoples' clothes to an extent?
- dylan604 4y ago
  Nope. Not at all. Not sure where you got that info, but I would question that source. It's because the CMOS sensors are much more sensitive to IR than our eyes, so they expose in that frequency range which causes the images to not develop the way we expect them. For astrophotography, lots of very interesting data comes from the IR bands, so removing the filter gets a lot more details.
  - JohnBooty 4y ago
    Thought I was going crazy for a second. I was half-remembering this debacle: https://bettermarketing.pub/sonys-see-through-camera-disaster-cost-them-100-million-f277609b26a https://bettermarketing.pub/sonys-see-through-camera-disaste... It seems to me that this would be possible to achieve with any camera that captured near-IR wavelengths, with the appropriate filters or firmware hacks. In addition to what you posted, might this also be on camera makers' minds?
  - bliteben 4y ago
    Seems possible it could be for ITAR compliance.
    - myself248 4y ago
      No. "Infrared" isn't a very descriptive term, since it means "the entire electromagnetic spectrum with energies below the human visual range". Near-infrared is very close to the visible range and is sensed just fine by normal CCD/CMOS imagers, and they have to be specifically filtered to ignore it, otherwise it swamps the visible-color portion of the image. By removing the infrared filter, you lose color fidelity but gain sensitivity. Thermal infrared takes a vastly different sensor, which is fiendishly difficult to manufacture, which is why thermal cameras are so expensive. Thermal sensors with certain performance characteristics may fall under ITAR, but you'd know if you had one of those.
failTide 4y ago
Yeah I was tempted to do this on my D5100 that I've used for a decade+... as soon as I buy my next camera perhaps.