Main: www.jr-worldwi.de/photo/

Modding and Repair of digital cameras

I welcome you to my modding pages which now includes repair hints as well. I am glad you are interested, but please consider this:
You are proceeding at your own risk! Nothing I do or write here is recommended to do. It is plain stupid, with a very high risk of ruining expensive electronic equipment and maybe even your health. It will also void your warranty!
If you do not know how to handle

screw driver
soldering iron
mini power drill

or how to keep

your workspace dust free
your fingers grease free

think twice if you really want a modded camera! For example, are you willing to live with the restrictions of a modified camera when shooting visible light? My filter page shows some examples what you can achieve.
But even if you can do/handle/want all of the above, I cannot and will not take any responsibility for anything that happens to you or anyone!
Here's what Andy wrote in a thread over at dpreview:

     I looked at your site and read your warning about touching the cap for the flash.
     I did that on an old Ricoh once. The flash had gone bad and while replacing it, yes,
     I discharged the cap and if it wasn't for the wrist strap,
     the camera would have smashed against the wall due to my leap and scream from the shock...

     That's nothing. Many years agao, I used to repair TVs.
     I discharged one of those babies that had been off and unplugged for days.
     It threw me back 6 feet and knocked one shoe off.
     It felt like I was kicked in the chest by a mule.
     I'm still here and normal.......except for this strange twitch. :]

Take this a warning. I am not making this up. You have been warned. Thanks to Andy for sharing his real-life experience.

The term modding comes from "to modify" and is today mostly related to the modding of PCs. People build lights, LEDs, windows into the cases of their PCs to set themselves apart from the rest. So if you think I was crazy, take a look here, for example:
www.coolcasegallery.net. The equivalent with cars would be called Customizing like here: www.rodandcustommagazine.com. Needless to say, many people modify their cameras. Amongst the most crazy are deep star photographers. They modify their cameras to be able to attach them to telescopes, take long exposures, take photos automatically, stack images or have them run cooler to reduce CCD noise. The first times I visited those sites, I was stunned but had no use for their technologies. Or so I thought.
When I got infected with IR photography I soon realized that the IR blocking filter is hindering hand-held IR photography even in older cameras and making it impossible in newer cameras. So I searched the www for people who were brave enough to remove the IR blocking filter from their digital cameras.
I'll list those I found here. If you know of others, please let me know!

I now also include my own instructions, to make this page "your one stop page" ;)

Make	Camera	URL	comment
All Cameras & Tools
	IRaw Mono	khromagery.com.au/	David Burren will offer a RAW converter dedicated to IR-modified cameras starting first quarter of 2007. Keep that in mind when shopping for RAW converters :)
	Almost all camera brands, SLR and compact	spencerscamera.com/default.aspx	Wide variety and different filter options.
	Almost all camera brands, SLR	Optik Makario.de	Conversion for various IR levels and Astrophotography.
Canon
	Canon D30 / Canon D60	www.photo-location.com/index.php...	Detailed step-by-step conversion instruction for Canon's first affordable dSLR(s). The D30 is relatively IR sensitive without modification!
	Canon EOS D30, EOS D60, EOS 10D, EOS 300D (Digital Rebel), EOS 350D (Digital Rebel XT), PowerShot G1, G2, G3, G5, G6, S30 S40, S45, S50, S60, S70	khromagery.com.au/	David Burren offers IR conversions of many digital cameras. He replaces the IR cut filter with a glass filter ( 87C, or 89B).
	Canon 300 Digital Rebel / Canon 300D	www.pbase.com/terrylovejoy/300d_mods http://www.pbase.com/terrylovejoy/iraamod	These Astro guys are the best! Terry Lovejoy's excellent and rather scientific pbase gallery on removing the internal IR cut filter! Detailed step-by-step disassembly instruction for Canon's affordable dSLR. Be warned, you have to de-solder/re-solder parts!
		ghonis2.ho8.com/rebelmodnew.html	Gary sets new standards with this description of converting a 300D. This is as good as it gets! I used some of the links he collected. So please visit his site - it includes links to great galleries :)
		www.pterzian.darkhorizons.org/...	More 300D madness!
		wnm.lamost.org/article/300dmod.htm	Modding the 300D and a comparison with an external IR cut filter (like the maxmax CC1 or Schott BG39)
	Canon 300D, 350XT, 300 Digital Rebel	www.maxmax.com	Maxmax now offers dSLR conversions. They come in two flavours: IR only (IR cut replaced with IR pass filter) or IR&vis (IR cut filter replaced with clear glass). Maxmax recalibrates(?) the camera's AF and meteringv system for IR.
	Canon 350XT, 20D	www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/irphoto/	Hutech offers the 20D and the 350Xt converted for IR use, both IR only and IR+Vis.
	Canon 20D	www.lrgb.com/20d.html	How to remove the IR cut filter from a Canon 20D - it's difficult!
	Canon dSLRs	www.irdigital.net/	This company offers IR conversions for various Canon dSLR: D30, D60, D1, 300D
	Canon G1	www.kleptography.com/notes-irconvert.htm	Don Ellis is not only an excellent photographer both in visible light and IR, he has some invaluable advise for potential modders - especially with a Canon G1- but his info about glass thickness is helpful for every camera.
	Canon G2	www.pbase.com/chunlo/modification_of_g2	Chun Lo shows how to convert a Canon G2 to infrared. Check his gallery for some good reasons why you want a modded camera!
Fuji
	Fuji Finepix S602Z	www.digsys.com.au/S602Y/S602Y.html	Not primarily aimed at IR filter removal, but very nice parts break-down. Don't be fooled by the seemingly pinkish filter. It is cyan, see the pictures at the bottom. The pink probably stems from the anti-reflective coatings!
	Fuji Finepix 3800 ( Fujifilm FinePix S304)	forums.dpreview.com... (text) donwright4687.fotopic.net/c250938.html (pics)	Detailed description of converting a Fuji 3800. Extremely thin IR cut filter. So thin that I think that the 3800 is already a good IR camera without modding.
	Fuji 4900Z	www.geocities.com/theolumens/uitelkaar.html	Aimed at removing dust from the CCD, but very helpful if you want to replace the internal IR cut-filter. (found on camerashed.co.uk)
	Fuji 6900Z	www.camerashed.co.uk/project12.asp	Aimed at removing dust from the CCD, but very helpful if you want to replace the internal IR cut-filter. (Tons of useful stuff for all camera types there, too!)
	Fuji S3Pro	www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/irphoto/	Hutech offers the S3Pro converted for IR use, IR only and IR+Vis (if I am reading their price list correctly).
Minolta
	Minolta D7	mod_dimage_dis.html	My own description of disassembling and converting a Dimage 7 into a D7IR. Probably useful for D7i, D7hi (Dimage 7i, Dimage 7hi) as well. Maybe even Dimage A1 and Dimage A2.
Nikon
	Nikon Coolpix 950/990	www.echeng.com/photo/infrared/wooten/ www.abe.msstate.edu/~jwooten/camera/lense.html	The 950 is legendary for rivalling the Olympus 2020 in being IR-sensitive. Apart from that, the 950's small but high-quality lens makes it an ideal camera to attach to other optical systems (like microscopes and telescopes). This site is a very good description of performing the IR filter removal on the 950 which pretty much also applies for the 990.
	Nikon D70, D70s, D100, Coolpix Coolpix 950, 990, 995, 4500, 5400	http://burren.cx/photo/ir_conversions.html	David Burren offers IR conversions of many digital cameras. He replaces the IR cut filter with a glass filter ( 87C, or 89B).
	Nikon D70	www.astrosurf.com/buil/d70/ircut.htm	Excellent page describing in detail and very nice photos how to remove the internal IR cut filter from your Nikon D70 dSLR. Very recommended also for all the other info on this site.
		hwww.ebb.ns.ca/general/tech/infra-red.htm	Fine art photographer Eric Boutilier-Brown had his D70 converted by Nikon Canada! Read his interesting report of using the D70 and adjusting focus for IR work.
		www.digitalweddingforum.com/...	Excellent article describing the modding in detail. Smart detail: Use an Edmunds Optic plastic IR pass filter!
	Nikon 990, 995, 5400, D50, D70, D70s, D100, D200, D1, D1h, D1x, D2h, D2x Canon 5D, D60, 10D, 20D, Rebel XT (350D), Rebel (300D), PowerShot G6, G3, G5	www.lifepixel.com/IR.htm	This company replaces the IR-cut filter with a Hoya R72 IR-pass filter. They also offer DIY instructions for the courageous!
	Nikon D100	www.irdigital.net/	This company offers an IR conversion for the Nikon D100 dSLR.
	Nikon D100	http://www.maxmax.com	Maxmax now offers dSLR conversions. They come in two flavours: IR only (IR cut replaced with IR pass filter) or IR&vis (IR cut filter replaced with clear glass). Maxmax recalibrates(?) the camera's AF and meteringv system for IR.
Olympus
	Olympus C-2000	www.hostultra.com/~ghonis/c2020zdeep6.htm	Gary Honis' converts an Olympus 2000 for astro use - worth a read for any modder of the C-x0y0 Camedias up to the 4040, maybe even 5050.
	Olympus C-2040	mod_oly_dis.html	My own description of converting a humble 2040 into the 2040IR "Monster" ;) Useful for probably any of the C-x0y0 Camedias up to the 4040, maybe even 5050.
	Olympus C-2100 UZ UZi and Olympus E-100RS EZi	forums.dpreview.com....	Not a complete disassembly, but a very welcome help for those who either want to repair or convert their UZi.
		forums.dpreview.com....	More info about repairing the UZi and swapping parts with the "EZi".
		www.pbase.com/rrawzz/lensbarrelstressed	If you are interested in differences between the mechanical construction of the 2100 and 100RS!
		www.pbase.com/rrawzz/2100100x17	Various DiY eyepieces for the E-100RS and C-2100UZ.
		http://www.pbase.com/358norma/thread_repair forums.dpreview.com/forums	Repair the tripod socket on the 2100 (and similar sockets).
Pentax
	Pentax *ist D	Vincenzo Miceli	DiY modification for Astrophotography (Baader filter). Also very useful for other modifications.
	Pentax *ist D/DS/DL/DL2/DS2	Pentax Europe	Pentax Europe offers the conversion of the digital *ist cameras to an IR-enabled camera on a case-by-case basis. Maybe read my report about it?
	Pentax *ist DS	forums.dpreview.com/forums/...	How to repair the viewfinder by replacing the rear eyepiece lens of the Pentax *ist DS.
	Pentax *ist DS	www.xdeltax.com/tutirmodding/index.html	Modding the Pentax *ist DS to an IR+Vis camera. Not for weak nerves!
	Pentax *ist DS/DL	www.pentaxforums.com/forums/... http://forum.manualfocus.org/... pictures	Following the xdeltax.com example, but without soldering and only IR!
	Pentax	spencerscamera.com/default.aspx	Not only for Pentax, but the first professional service to offer a variety of Pentax IR conversions
Sigma
	Sigma SD10	heim.ifi.uio.no/~gisle/photo/ir4.html	Not really modding - the Sigma allows users to remove the dust protector which doubles as the internal IR cut filter - suhweet!
Sony
	Sony 828/717/707... Sony P200 Camcorders	http://www.maxmax.com	This company sells IR enabled Sony cameras and camcorders. They state that the modified camera sees from "330nm to 1200nm versus a stock camera which can see from about 380nm to 750nm". As far as I understand, they replace the IR cut filter with another piece of optical glass which lets IR light through. Most types of glass do that, by the way.
	Sony 717/707	web.archive.org.../sony/index.htm (text) http://217.33.73.68/private/html/sony/ (pics) http://217.33.73.68/private/sony/index.htm deactivated	Detailed step-by-step instruction to make your 717 see the light!

These pages show how different the disassembly of different cameras is. However, they also show that

the IR cut filter is a glass of cyan colour
the IR cut filter is a plan parallel plate essential for correct images
you don't have to be nuts to try it, but it helps
While length and height are fairly similar within one size of CCD chip, the thickness varies very much. Sadly, this is the hardest dimension to modify when you have a plate of glass.

Seriously: Think about buying a defect camera that you want to modd. Learn from the broken example how to modd your intact camera. Maybe you even end up with a repaired camera, just as I did! But don't be surprised how expensive some of these defect cameras are on ebay.