Hoya 52mm RM-72 Infrared Filter

by Hoya

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0000AI1FZ
• Item model number: 1107
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #10 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Filters > Infrared Filters
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

Used for photography with infrared films. R72 passes only infrared rays above 720nm. RM90 passes only that above 900nm. Often used in crime detection, medical photography, detection of distribution of vegetation, etc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Filter At A Low Price!, September 19, 2008

By 

Ron Budde "ronbud75" (Deshler, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hoya 52mm RM-72 Infrared Filter (Electronics)

I use this filter with my Nikon D60 and it does a super job on IR pics. If you are new to IR photography, this is the filter for you! FYI, I shoot it in bright daylight using the same 90 degree rule you would use with a polarizer. Generally, I set the camera on manual, close down the aperture to about F22, set the white balance to auto, set the shutter speed to 30 seconds ( yes, 30 seconds, so you need a tripod ), ISO to 1600, pre-focus with the IR lens off, lock the focus, then take the pic. At 30 seconds, you're going to want a less breezy day, but the long exposure gives you those wispy, eerie, clouds. You're going to get a REALLY red image, but that's ok, you can tweak it in PS or iPhoto or even the viewnx program that comes with the D60. You can manipulate the hues and saturations, contrasts and tints in these programs to get your desired effect. I don't think you really need a more expensive IR filter when this one works just fine..........

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Does its job well, September 30, 2009

By 

Craig Dickson (San Mateo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hoya 52mm RM-72 Infrared Filter (Electronics)

This filter blocks nearly all visible light. Consequently, it looks opaque and black to the naked eye, though if you hold it up to a strong light source, you will be able to see a dull, deep red image through it. The R72 is one of the most common filters used in infrared (IR) photography. If you get really serious about shooting in IR, you may want to look into having your camera modified to remove its built-in IR-blocking filter, but even with that filter in place, some cameras can be used for IR photography, given a suitably long exposure. (Incidentally, what we are talking about here is "near-infrared" light, which, although invisible to our eyes, behaves very much like normal light in the way it reflects off objects. This is not the same as seeing heat as light, which involves a deeper portion of the IR spectrum.)

I have used this filter with an unmodified Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR camera and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens (the original version from the 1980s, not the all-plastic one made now, which may or may not take the same size filters). The camera's auto-focus capability works perfectly with the filter in place. In direct sunlight, I have found that with the camera on a tripod, an exposure of about 15 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400 produces a good image. After that, what to do is a matter of creative judgment; the picture obviously won't be in natural colors (that's the whole point of shooting in IR), so you can adjust white balance however you like. I often exchange the red and blue channels, as well. Sometimes I reduce the end result to grayscale, sometimes not.

Now, one may ask at this point, if we are photographing infrared light, what is all this talk of red and blue and white? The answer is that the camera's sensor, though designed primarily to pick up visible light, is also somewhat sensitive to IR. However, the camera cannot distinguish between IR and visible light. The IR that it senses, it records (incorrectly) as shades of visible light (mostly red). This is what we see in digital IR photography. We are seeing, in colors we can see, an image made from light that we cannot see directly.

IR photography is a lot of fun and at times it provides a strange sense of discovery. It is strange and sometimes thrilling to see our familiar world in such an unfamiliar way. The Hoya R72 filter is a good choice for IR work.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A success for digital IR, November 26, 2006

By 

chromatic-aberration (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hoya 52mm RM-72 Infrared Filter (Electronics)

Works quite well for digital infrared photography, where more IR restrictive filters would result in insanely long exposure times - provided the camera is sensitive enough to use them at all. Haven't yet used it for film IR, but I can certainly recommend it without reservation for those thinking about it for digital IR.