An In-Depth Infrared Filter Comparison

For a long time, I wanted to do an infrared filter comparison, but never found the time for it. Finally, on a day with good infrared shooting conditions, I took one of my converted cameras and took shots of my backyard, using all the filters available to me.

This comparison is supposed to give you an idea about the various types of infrared filters available on the market. The filters I used for the test can be seen at the top of this post. From left to right / top to bottom: 850nm IR, 715nm IR, 610nm IR, UV & IR Blocker, IR Chrome.

1.Infrared filters compared

For this infrared filter comparison, I have used my Olympus OMD-EM1, which I had converted to full spectrum in 2016. If you don’t know what that means, I recommend reading my introduction into IR Photography first. In addition to three different standard IR filters, I have also tested a special IR filter and an IR Neutralizer. More on the filters below.

The camera was mounted on a tripod and set to aperture priority, with an aperture of f/5.6 and a fixed ISO value of 200. The lens I used was my Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 PRO at 18mm – a full frame equivalent of about 35mm.

Introduction, test setup and disclaimer

Please note that this is not about infrared lens performance, I have a separate article comparing the infrared performance of Olympus MFT lenses. Also, if you are interested in how your choice of aperture can influence the quality of your infrared pictures, I have an article about diffraction in infrared photography and how you can avoid it.

For each filter, I have listed the technical details and some general comments on its usage scenario. Then you will see three different white balance examples: auto white balance, white balance on foliage / green and white balance using a grey card. All the white balance examples shown are directly out-of-camera, without any further processing.

Disclaimer: While I mention the brands I use myself, please note that this is not an endorsement. I do not receive any compensation from these companies, they are listed for informational purposes only. In general, I recommend known high-quality brands when you want to purchase a good IR filter. Just stay away from any cheap offers, they will likely not produce the result you expected.

1a.830nm infrared filter

• Manufacturer: Heliopan
• Type: RG 830
• Cut-off frequency: 830nm
• Also known as: Deep Black & White filter (800-850nm)

This is the filter to use when you are looking for the dreamy Black & White infrared look. With this filter, there is no color information left in the picture. Out of the camera, this filter will give you strong contrasts with dark skies and white foliage.

White balance examples

There is not a lot of difference between using foliage and using a grey card for white balance. However, I do like the grey card version a little bit better, it appears to produce a wider tonal range.

1b.715nm infrared filter

• Manufacturer: Heliopan
• Type: RG 715
• Cut-off frequency: 715nm
• Also known as: Standard IR filter (700-720nm)

This filter is called Standard IR filter for a reason. If you are unsure about which filter to choose, take this one. It is a good compromise between false color and Black & White. For example, you can achieve the infrared blue sky effect, and you can achieve nice black and white conversions. This is the filter I used in most of my converted cameras.

White balance examples

There is not a lot of difference between using foliage and using a grey card for white balance. However, using the grey card results in more blue in the foliage, which will produce nicer results if you want to apply the blue sky effect.

1c.610nm infrared filter

• Manufacturer: Heliopan
• Type: RG 610 (no longer manufactured)
• Cut-off frequency: 610nm
• Also known as: Enhanced (650-665 nm) or Super Color (590-600 nm) IR filter

This specific IR filter is somewhat of a hybrid between what is known as Enhanced and Super Color filter. This is a filter where a lot of (false) color information is retained, compared to the other two standard IR filters. The Blue Sky effect is much more pronounced, compared to the 715nm filter. For Black & White, it is usable but the contrasts are less pronounced, especially when compared to the 830nm filter. Use this filter if you like infrared pictures with a lot of color in them.

White balance examples

The examples suggest to use foliage for white balance, for the lack of alternatives. For my taste, the foliage is still too blue, even after a manual white balance. But honestly – this is the perfect basis for a blue sky channel swap.

1d.IR Chrome filter

• Manufacturer: Kolari Vision
• Type: IR Chrome
• Cut-off frequency: unknown

Kolari Vision created this filter in order to replicate the look of the famous Kodak Aerochrome IR film. This film was famous for creating blue skies with vibrant reddish foliage – a look which is totally different from every other IR film (or even digital filter). This filter can produce stunning effects, if you don’t overuse it.

White balance examples

Okay, this is easy – a grey card is the recommended way to get correct color balance with an IR Chrome filter. The sky was not very blue on the day I took the test pictures, usually you can see more blue in the sky which makes the result a lot more attractive.

1e.UV & IR blocker

• Manufacturer: Optic Makario
• Type: EFO Filter
• Cut-off frequencies: unknown

The purpose of this filter is to use a full spectrum converted camera like you would an unmodified camera, by blocking both the UV and IR parts of the light – just like a regular filter in front of your sensor would do.

It is hard to believe, but this filter was the one which took me the longest to find a working example. I started with a Heliopan version, only to find out that it does not work with wide angle lenses. For anything wider than 35mm equivalent, the corners and borders started showing a blue / cyan color cast.

This was confirmed by Heliopan in an email, but is – until today – not mentioned on their website. To clarify, the reason seems to be that some manufacturers use two different optical layers in their UV & IR blocking filters to cut out both the UV and the IR parts. These versions – which can be produced cheaper – generate the wide angle effect I described above.

More expensive versions of this filter type use a single layer, which does not produce the wide angle effect. Before buying such a filter, ask the producer if the filter can be used with wide angle lenses. In short, for any filter of this type below 100$/€ you can assume that it is a dual layer type and will likely not work with wide angle lenses.

White balance examples

Auto white balance is not bad, but too “cool” for my taste. But using a grey card will give you the perfect result.

1f.Using no filter

Since we have a camera available with full spectrum capabilities, let’s see what the results look like, when we use the camera without any filter at all!

White balance examples

There seems to be a reason why the camera makers put a UV & IR blocking filter in front of their sensors. 😉 The only decent output is produced when using a grey card, but the result is still flat and somehow off color-wise. Only recommended for demonstration purposes!

1g.Other IR filter types

I will not claim that this is the ultimate infrared filter comparison, there are just too many variations on the market. But I believe I have covered the most important ones. For completeness, let’s quickly look at what else is currently offered by the usual conversion companies:

Super or Ultra Blue IR filter

Some companies offer what they call a “Super/Ultra Blue” filter. It is a Standard IR filter which also allows some blue light to pass through to the sensor. The only purpose of such a filter is to get the “Infrared Blue Sky” effect straight out of the camera.

If this is what gets you exited and all you ever plan to take pictures of, this is your choice. I would rather choose one of the other infrared filter types, as they provide a lot more flexibility. The Infrared Blue Sky effect is actually easy to create, I have described the process in my article How to Create the Infrared Blue Sky Effect in Lightroom.

Hyper Color IR filter

At least one company offers what they call a Hyper Color IR filter, the equivalent of a 470nm filter. This filter allows nearly all of the the visible light spectrum to reach the sensor. While it can create some different-looking false color IR pictures, I find the results rather disappointing. But you may have a special reason for using this filter type.

2.Influence on exposure

Even with a full spectrum converted camera, your choice of infrared filter will affect the exposure. Let’s have a look at the pictures I took above and see how the exposure differs. Since the ISO and the aperture was fixed, the only thing that changed between the exposures was the shutter speed:

Some comments regarding the above table:

• The UV & IR Blocker is the baseline – it is the equivalent to an unmodified camera, filtering out UV and IR light.
• Using no filter in front of a full spectrum converted camera gives you an additional stop of exposure. Not that this would be useful, by any means… 😉
• IR Filters up to approx. 720 nm have a minimal impact of about one exposure stop compared to an unmodified camera.
• IR Filters from approx. 830nm upwards can have a significant impact on your exposure.
• Setting white balance manually (vs. Auto white balance) does have an impact on the exposure, typically between 0.66 and 1.00 exposure stop. Why that is, I have no idea to be honest.

3.All you want is Black & White?

A reader of my Infrared Photography Tutorial asked if he should go with a 720nm or a 830nm permanent conversion, when all he wanted was Black & White pictures.

What speaks for the 830 nm filter is the stronger contrast out-of-camera. What speaks for the 720nm filter is the ability to create pictures with the Blue Sky effect, if that is what you like. At that time I recommended the 720nm filter, because you can always increase the contrast in post-processing.

Now we have evidence that the 830nm filter has a significant impact on your ability to handhold your camera, even in direct sunlight. With this additional piece of information, I no longer recommend using strong IR filters (800nm or higher), unless you have a specific need or reason for it.

4.Infrared filter comparison -conclusions

Doing the infrared filter comparison was a really interesting exercise for me. While I am using the filters all the time, there was still something new I learned from this comparison.

The first lesson was that the exposure impact of a Deep B&W IR filter was much greater than I had expected. Another learning lesson was that using a full spectrum camera without a filter does not make a lot of sense. 😄

I hope you found this comparison helpful and you were able to take away something from it. What is your favorite IR filter? Do you use a full spectrum camera or a permanent conversion? Let us know by leaving a comment! Also, if you know of a high quality UV & IR Blocker filter which does not create issues with wide-angle lenses, please leave a comment and let me know!