Pentax IR Modding ( tutorial in deutscher sprache) -> How to remove the IR-Cut Filter from the CCD-Sensorchip of a PENTAX *ist DS for Infrared Photography this tutorial is about modding a pentax *istDS to shoot photos with infrared filters by disassembling the camera and removing the lowpass filter in front of the sensor-chip and adjusting the autofocus for IR photos by using the undocumented debug menu. - modded Pentax for IR-Photography at short exposure times and with perfect autofocusing with mounted ir-filter - after conversion the camera has a very high sensity for infrared light i.e.: with hoya IR 072 filter: before modding -> iso 200, f8, 20sec after modding -> iso 200, f8, 1/180sec - after adjusting the autofocus the camera can autofocus through the mounted ir-filter samples: these photos are shot in raw-mode with my modded pentax and a hoya ir 072 filter mounted and manual whitebalanced in camera unprocessed - out of the camera - internal whitebalanced 1/30s f16 iso2oo 1/60s f16 iso2oo 1/20s f16 iso2oo 1/60s f8 iso2oo 1/45s f16 iso2oo 1/30s f8 iso200 nightshoot 30s f8 iso200 1/15s f8 iso200 internal flash 1/30s f13 iso200 after a channelshift and some color-corrections more ir-photos can be found here: ./portfolio/INFRARED/ tutorial to process ir-photos: ./tutinfrared/ tutorial to create it-composite pictures: ./tutircomposite/ used hardware Pentax istDS Digital SLR Hoya Infrared Filter IR092 (58mm) small screwdriver pencil soldering iron balls result converted Pentax *ist DS for Infrared Photos with IR-Filters how to disassemble the Pentax *ist DS and remove the lowpass filter be aware of high voltage areas inside the camera. it can kill you and maybe your camera, too. 1) open the internal flash and remove the two screws at the top 2) open the battery case and remove the two screws inside (at the top) 3) remove 3 screws at the left and 3 at the right side of the camera 4) remove 2 screws at the back (left and right from the viewfinder) 5) remove all 8 screws at the bottom of the camera and remove the bottom cover 6) remove the 2 screws at the bottom for holding the two front pannels in position 7) now you can remove the front pannels and lift up the top cover 8) after lifting the top cover the back lcd-pannel can be removed. ATTN.: !!! do NOT touch the left side of the camera !!! in the condensator cap for the flash is always high voltage present !!! i accidently touched the caps twice. and is was no fun. belive me. 9) remove the 5 screws holding the platine in place 10)gently remove all connectors 11)now comes the difficult part: to remove the platine you need to cut some of the cables and solder them later again. i cut the 2 red and the 2 black and the blue cable at the top to remove the patine 12)remove the platine and take a look at the backside of the ccd-sensor 13)remove the 3 screws holding the ccd-chip in place 14)remove the chip and take a look at the sensor-side the blue IR-Cut filter is fixed in all 4 sides 15)now comes the very difficult part: remove the IR-Cut filter i used the sledgehammer method. i took two screwdrivers to remove the filter 16)as an option you can place an IR-Filter instead of the IR-Cut filter or leave the sensor as is and mount a IR-filter in front of your lens. the IR-Cut Filters dimensions are: 28mm x 22mm x 2.2mm 17)reassemble the camera and have fun with a high sensitive ir-camera it took me 6 hours total. (and 2 funny high voltage releases in my left hand) how to adjust the autofocus in the undocumented debug menu in firmware version v.2.00 1) switch off the camera 2) hold AE-L and INFO button while switching on the camera -> firmware version appears on LCD 3) release the AE-L and INFO button 4) press MENU, MENU, INFO button within 5 seconds -> debug menu appears on the LCD-screen 5) change DEBUG MODE: DIS to DEBUG MODE: EN by pressing the right cursor 6) press the OK-button 7) press MENU and switch to SETTINGS-Menu 8) go to AF TEST? and press right cursor 9) go to FOCUS CORR. by pressing down cursor ATTN: do not change the AF AREA TEST value 10)shift the FOCUS CORR. Value and press OK 11)shoot a picture with mounted IR-Filter and autofocus and check the sharpness 12)if autofocus is incorrect repeat steps 7) to 11) until focus is correct in my camera the FOCUS CORR. default value was set to 0 [um] in various tests i changed the value to -800 [um] with -800um my camera autofocuses perfect with mounted hoya 072 ir filter for you the value may be different 13)to disable debug mode switch off the camera 14)hold AE-L and INFO button while switching on the camera -> DSP and CPU version appears on LCD 15)release the AE-L and INFO button 16)press MENU, MENU, INFO button within 5 seconds -> debug menu appears on the LCD-screen 17)change DEBUG MODE: EN to DEBUG MODE: DIS by pressing the right cursor 18)press the OK-button thats it. your camera uses now the changed autofocus configuration some photos from my modded camera and from the removed lowpassfilter shot with normal camera (pentax k10d) with converted pentax *ist DS and with in front of the lens mounted Hoya IR 072 filter with converted pentax *ist DS without Hoya IR 072 filter with Hoya IR 072 filter with converted pentax *ist DS left side of the picture: with (removed) IR-cutfilter in front of the lens right side of the picture: without filter {hot link to this tutorial: http://www.xdeltax.com/tutirmodding/index.html}