Saturday 7 May 2016

Infrared 'faux colour' video from an IR-converted (590 nm) DSLR and Final Cut Pro X

I do not have a video camera that has been converted for infrared with a 590 nm ('goldie') filter. I do though have a Nikon D80 so converted and could investigate the effect of channel swapping in Final Cut Pro X and the plugins described in my previous post using still photographs on the video timeline.

As you can see, as with my 720 nm-converted Nikon D7100, the process works very well, again proving just as easy, if not easier, than using the various methods available for still images only.

The Nikon D80 produces a noiser image than the D7100, so I also used the Neat Video noise reduction plugin for FCP X. The latter is excellent although rendering is very slow indeed.

Still image from 590 nm-infrared converted Nikon D80 processed in Final Cut Pro X as described in previous post. No noise reduction applied
As above with noise reduction (Neat Video) applied

I am not just planning to use the Nikon D80 with the 590 nm filter conversion for still photographs dropped into a video. Being able to produce the 'faux' colour effects in Final Cut Pro X means that I can take time lapse sequences and after making simple corrections, like dealing with dust spots, on all the images in Lightroom, and compiling the sequence into a video, I can do all colour channel swapping and colour grading in FCP X.