Infra red again

While I haven't given up on the idea of converting a camera for infra-red, it turns out that my main SLR, a Nikon D50, is actually moderately sensitive to infra-red. The test is simple - set the camera to manual and an exposure of a second or so, then point a video remote at the lens and hold a button down while the shutter is open. If you see a bright light at the end of the remote it's sensitive to infra-red, just how sensitive depends on the camera. The older the digital camera, the more likely this is to work.

So I should be able to take infra-red photos without actually modifying the camera if I use a filter to cut out the visible light. The snags, of course, are that exposures are long - a second or two - and you need the visible light to focus the camera, so this is very much a camera on tripod and manual operation scenario, with a lot of trial and error. But I'm going to give it a try - I've ordered a cheap infra-red filter on eBay, if I can get it to work and get interesting results I'll look at a better setup.

Vid rec - Hobbits of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

VERY silly but nicely done.

Exit one tree

The hawthorn tree in the front garden of the next house, which grew very close to my kitchen window, died earlier this year. Not sure of the cause, but it didn't grow many leaves or blossom much in the last couple of years, has been shedding rotten bits of branches, didn't blossom at all this year, and lost the few leaves that had appeared by June. We'd asked their landlord to sort it because there are often children visiting the lower flat here, and it wouldn't be good if a branch fell on someone. Yesterday there were very heavy winds in London, and while I didn't notice that tree being especially affected I'd imagine more bits fell off. I know a couple of people were hurt by falling trees elsewhere in London. I suspect that the landlord took note.

Today I woke to the sound of chainsaws, and by the time I got out of the house the tree was gone. It's a real shame because it was a very pretty tree - unfortunately I don't seem to have pictures but the blossom was like this:



Now I'm wondering if birds will continue to use the feeder outside my kitchen window - they used to perch on the tree before flying to the feeder, and it is now much more exposed to view and to the wind. If not I suppose it'll have to go to one of the back windows.