Digital infrared photography requires some homework to lead you to the perfect camera equipped for this purpose.

It is quite feasible to use digital imaging to simulate the look of an image shot on infrared-sensitive film. However, this is no match for real digital infrared photography, since you’ll be working with an image that was taken in the visible spectrum!

True digital infrared photography can even resolve one or two of the problems associated with traditional infrared film photography.

One of them is that loading the film had to be done in the dark, to avoid any stray infrared contamination. This is often impractical in the field.

Straightforward digital infrared photography can only be accomplished with older types of digital cameras, which were built without an infrared cut-off filter over the imaging sensor.

Infrared sensitivity is inherent in all digital cameras, due to the nature of the imaging sensors which they use to capture light.

This sensitivity can cause problems with their visible light images, and therefore a hot mirror filter is built over the sensor. This in turn makes it difficult to capture infrared light with such a standard camera.

To determine if your digital camera can detect infrared, you should place an infrared filter over the lens. Next take a source of infrared, such as your DVD or TV remote control, and point it toward the camera.

If you can see the light through your viewfinder or on your LED screen, your camera is infrared ready!

An older digital camera such as the Konica-Minolta D’image 7, can be used for digital infrared photography after adding a 49mm IR filter, and a cable release.

However, some cameras pass enough infrared light only through very long - and fairly impractical - exposures of between 2 and 30 seconds. This is done through infrared longpass filters over the lens.

For some photographers it makes sense to convert a suitable digital camera for digital infrared photography.

An example of a camera which can be effectively converted for digital infrared photography, is the Nikon D70. In this case the filter can be installed over the imaging sensor instead of over the lens, which makes it possible for the image to be seen clearly in the viewfinder for easy composition.

The ideal conditions for digital infrared photography present themselves on a bright day with blue sky and white cumulus clouds. The blue sky will turn dark and accentuate the white clouds. Green foliage are also useful, as the chlorophyll reflects infrared radiation, and therefore glows light gray.

Just remember that it makes sense to leave any camera conversions to professionals, to ensure it is done in a dust free situation. This is especially important if the camera you want to use for digital infrared photography is still covered by a warranty!

For more information visit Best-Digital-Photography.com

Rika Susan of Article-Alert.com researches, writes, and publishes full-time on the Web. Copyright of this article: 2006 Rika Susan. This article may be reprinted if the resource box and hyperlinks are left intact.

There are many different models and types of digital cameras available just as there are lots of different styles and skill levels of photography. Which digital camera you choose will often depend on what your individual needs are. If you want near professional results and lots of creative control over the photos that you take, then a digital single lens reflex camera can be what you need. But for most people, the choice of a compact or subcompact digital camera would be just fine. Here are some guidelines for choosing digital cameras:

Compact digital cameras are the most popular and common of the camera types. It’s still small enough to be very portable and is usually very easy to use with lots of automatic exposure features that produce great overall photos. Some can even have a few manual exposure controls too to help the photographer take charge of the image produced under certain circumstances.

The subcompact camera is even smaller than the compact and because of their small size can be put in a pocket or purse and taken almost anywhere, making them the most portable of all digital cameras. However, you also usually pay more for the smaller size, and will often have even less manual controls over exposure results than the compact cameras. You also have to be careful that the camera is not so small that it actually becomes hard to use.

The advanced digital camera is a step between the compact camera and a digital single lens reflex like that used by serious photography hobbyists and pros. It is larger in size and weight than the compacts and has a fixed lens, but also sports more advanced manual exposure controls and the ability to save in more and better file formats than just JPEG.

With that in mind, we have analyzed lots of independent reviews on digital cameras and have noticed a few models that seem to get universal acceptance and recommendation. Here are those models:

In the compact digital camera category the Fuji FinePix F10, the Canon PowerShot A510, the Kodak EasyShare Z700, and the Olympus Stylus 800 seem to consistently rank very well for their style, ease of use, price, and features. In the subcompact category the Kodak EasyShare V550, the Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital ELPH, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-L1, and the Pentax Optio SV were consistently rated at or near the top of most unbiased independant and consumer reviews.

It’s also noteworthy to mention that many reviewers felt that the gap between the best and poorest performing models has narrowed considerably and most cameras that were tested produced acceptable snapshot results overall. But the models mentioned above were often regarded as the cream of the crop and so would make the smartest consumer choices as the best rated digital cameras.

Thad Pickering writes on many consumer related topics including digital photography. You can find the best rated digital cameras and buy digital camera online by visiting our Digital Photography website.