Infrared camera with B4 mount

Stephen de Vere · May 9th, 2012, 04:25 AM

The Panasonic GH2 would be a top candidate for me for conversion to IR for wildlife shooting.

It is very good HD quality (not good enough for full programme broadcast) at very low cost and importantly it has a crop sensor mode which gets you high magnification usually essential for wildlife subjects.

Hacked firmware will give 100mbps (or higher) I-frame codec quality. You can buy cheap adapters to mount just about any lens, including C-mount and professional B4 or PL. You will need to invest in a separate monitor/viewfinder like a Zacuto to achieve accurate focussing though.

Bob Hart · May 10th, 2012, 01:53 PM

There was a SI2K mini head customised for a client for shooting IR. I learned this whem I mentioned shooting an almost extinguished bushfire with a SI2K through a tube based IR night vision intensifier.

My vague recollection was that the Bayer mask was not on that camera's sensor and that the OLPF/IR filter was removed. The SI2K Mini head comes with an IMS-mount which has a optically corrected single-sensor B4-Mount option available. I don't know if they filtered out visible daylight.

As you would be aware, it is desirable not to mix near IR and visible artificial light sources due to a blurring effect from the different focal performance, either IR or visible light can be sharply focussed in the one image but not both.

The SI2K which signals out to a computer based recorder via LAN cable might be a bit expensive for your purposes. Without the OLPF it would be sharper than the bayered and OPLF visible light version.

If you are interested in following this up, Ari Presler at Silicon Imaging would be worth contacting.

Bo Skelmose · May 14th, 2012, 12:37 PM

Hi
Found these cameraes
SHANY ELECTRONIC CO.,LTD.
they work much better than the Everfocus camera I earlier recomended - unfortunately I bought one of the first 60P cameras - now they are produced in a 50P version that would be great for European production.
Datavideo now produces this one DATAVIDEO PTC-100 HD VIDEO CAMERA | Datavideo
It could have saved me a lot of money if it was there 2 years ago :(

May 9th, 2012, 04:25 AM	#16
Stephen de Vere Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: England UK Posts: 57	Re: Infrared camera with B4 mount The Panasonic GH2 would be a top candidate for me for conversion to IR for wildlife shooting. It is very good HD quality (not good enough for full programme broadcast) at very low cost and importantly it has a crop sensor mode which gets you high magnification usually essential for wildlife subjects. Hacked firmware will give 100mbps (or higher) I-frame codec quality. You can buy cheap adapters to mount just about any lens, including C-mount and professional B4 or PL. You will need to invest in a separate monitor/viewfinder like a Zacuto to achieve accurate focussing though.

May 10th, 2012, 01:53 PM	#17
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Re: Infrared camera with B4 mount There was a SI2K mini head customised for a client for shooting IR. I learned this whem I mentioned shooting an almost extinguished bushfire with a SI2K through a tube based IR night vision intensifier. My vague recollection was that the Bayer mask was not on that camera's sensor and that the OLPF/IR filter was removed. The SI2K Mini head comes with an IMS-mount which has a optically corrected single-sensor B4-Mount option available. I don't know if they filtered out visible daylight. As you would be aware, it is desirable not to mix near IR and visible artificial light sources due to a blurring effect from the different focal performance, either IR or visible light can be sharply focussed in the one image but not both. The SI2K which signals out to a computer based recorder via LAN cable might be a bit expensive for your purposes. Without the OLPF it would be sharper than the bayered and OPLF visible light version. If you are interested in following this up, Ari Presler at Silicon Imaging would be worth contacting.

May 14th, 2012, 12:37 PM	#18
Bo Skelmose Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Denmark Posts: 495	Re: Infrared camera with B4 mount Hi Found these cameraes SHANY ELECTRONIC CO.,LTD. they work much better than the Everfocus camera I earlier recomended - unfortunately I bought one of the first 60P cameras - now they are produced in a 50P version that would be great for European production. Datavideo now produces this one DATAVIDEO PTC-100 HD VIDEO CAMERA \| Datavideo It could have saved me a lot of money if it was there 2 years ago :(