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Infrared photography used to be dead easy. You’d buy some IR film and put a dark, dark red filter on the front of your lens. Then you’d turn the focus ring a notch to the left to compensate for the fact that the IR light focuses differently. Apart from not actually being able to see anything through the viewfinder thanks to the IR filter, it was simple.

To do the same thing with your digital SLR you have to start by removing the IR filter over the sensor. If that sounds dangerous and hard to reverse, it is.

So you might consider the Midnight Shot NV-1, a night-vision camera made for infrared photography. The camera is as simple as it gets: 5MP sensor, fixed focus, a three-inch LCD and 640 x 480 AVI video capture. But switch it into night mode and things get interesting.

IR mode puts an IR filter in front of the lens to block all but IR light, and if it is already dark outside then you can switch on an IR LED lamp, invisible to human eyes but burning bright to the camera’s sensor. This gets some cool, night-vision effects, and lets you shoot in the dark without anybody knowing.

More creative, though, is to let the natural light. Shooting in daylight with the IR filter on will cause some weird color shifts. In B&W, blue skies will darken to black and foliage will take on an ethereal glow. In short, you’ll be able to snap some creepy pictures.

The Midnight Shot camera comes from ThinkGeek, and costs just $150. It is currently out of stock, but more should be available soon.

 

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