Nikon D40 Infrared conversion, tutorial

[OdzBodkinz]

Whew...what a rush. It worked, and I couldn't be happier. I'm still on a bit of a high after putting it all back together and finding that it actually worked!

My D40 IR filter arrived from LifePixel today. I have previously only had experience dissecting a Nikon D70. That was pretty easy and straightforward. There were only a few ribbon cables, and no de-soldering involved. I had some hesitation about doing my D40 the same way after discovering that there would be some soldering/de-soldering involved.

I debated about getting a D70s (I sold the first conversion I did, last year. Yes, I missed it enough, I wanted another IR camera). However, there is some inherent noise that creeps in even at low ISO's, so I wanted a model that would handle noise pretty well. D50's are scarce, so I decided on a tried and true D40. I actually have an unmodified D40 as my travel cam and backup to my D300. So, I picked up a used D40 last week, which has been waiting patiently for the arrival of the new LifePixel IR filter. I chose the normal filter...not one of the enhanced filters. I have had good experience using the original, and I like to do false color as well as B/W IR.

So...now on with the pics...

I assembled my screwdrivers, soldering iron, tweezers, and sensor cleaner and got to work.





Remove all of the screws from the bottom and the bottom of the lens mount.



There is also a screw hidden in the battery compartment.



Leave this intact. Do not remove anymore screws after removing the bottom plate.



Remove 6 more screws: Two from each side (SD slot area and USB side), and two on either side of the viewfinder. Gently pull the back away, and disconnect the LCD ribbon cable.



The LCD cable is the one in the middle. Do not jerk the cable from its housing. Use a screwdriver, or sharp pointed object to gently flip the retention bar up, releasing the cable.



Seven ribbon cables to disconnect, and one large white cable, hidden under the PCB near the top four ribbon cables.



Now, before unscrewing the PCB from the camera, you must de-solder this pink wire. I touched the hot soldering iron to the blob, and it came free with no mess.







Everything is unseated, and the PCB is ready to be unscrewed to reveal....



...the back of the sensor board. Almost there...hang tight....not too much farther!



Three screws hold this baby down. Unscrew them and pull it out. How many here have seen the backside of their shutter curtain?



The heart of the image.



Two screws hold the spring loaded tension frame. Remove them, lift off the mount and gently lift off the black gasket.



AntiAliasing filter removed (thats the aqua colored filter), the sensor is covered by a Pecpad. I took this moment to clean the dark InfraRed filter with Eclipse fluid and PecPad.

I hope it's clean...no way to know really, until tomorrow. We'll see



Gently set the InfraRed filter into the rubberized gasket seat over the sensor.



Re-assemble the whole thing in reverse order. Lather. Rinse. Repeat as desired.

Some tips....

My big sausage fingers needed some delicate tweezers to re-seat the ribbon cables. I found that they re-seated rather easily and that the retention bars secured them just like it came from the factory. I do not recall the ribbon cables going back very smoothly in my D70 conversion....so this was a nice surprise.

Everything goes back together rather nicely, and certainly much quicker than the dis-assembly went. I popped in an SD card, a fresh battery, powered it up and fired off the shutter release. My hard work was rewarded with a functional menu screen and a decidedly pink picture!

Success!



Let's see how this baby handles tomorrow in the daylight! Stay tuned!


Note: I was lucky enough not to pop myself with the flash capacitor. I have no idea where it is on this camera, but be careful.


--
I've upped my ISO, now up yours.

[Eero Makela]

WOW this is an awesome tutorial. I have a D50 But is my backup currently. Can it be modified to be an astronomy camera. Canon sold one that was already made for astro photograhy I forget the model.

[Songman45]

Not a task I would take on myself but I appreciate the demonstration and the inside look at the DSLR. Its amazing how much the inside resembles a film camera once the sensor board and PCBs are out of the way. I can still visulize the film canister and take up reel.

Best wishes on the conversion, I hope it brings you many years of plelasure.

Steve

[Nikonfreak]

Whoa. I want to convert a camera to IR but I am not sure I'd try that. Holy cow!!!!!

Julio

[mort]

Nice tutorial and good photos of the inside of a D40. The one showing the shutter reminds me of one of the things I miss with my DSLR over my film camera is the opportunity to be both sides of the shutter.

[Latinbob]

I'm not brave enough to do that to my D70! I'll end up sending mine to them for conversion, but what a great tutorial.

Bob

[Eero Makela]

Here is how to do it on a cheap camera

how-to turn a digital camera into an IR-camera :: projects :: geek technique

Also shows how to make infrared flashlight

[OdzBodkinz]

Originally Posted by Latinbob

I'm not brave enough to do that to my D70! I'll end up sending mine to them for conversion, but what a great tutorial.

Bob

No...a D70 is even easier to do! Trust me, I've done both, now!

[OdzBodkinz]

Originally Posted by Nikonfreak

Whoa. I want to convert a camera to IR but I am not sure I'd try that. Holy cow!!!!!

Julio

It was easy , Julio...just a little time consuming.

[PhotoGuy74]

Very cool tutorial!!! If I ever get the "itch", I may just "volunteer" my D50 for the job

[maao]

looks awesome, but I'm not ready to do that just yet. I'mma have to get a backup camera first Which means I'mma get a new and better camera

[ramunsa]

I wonder if using 2 film negatives would work just as good or close to a infrared filter that you bought from LifePixel?

[OdzBodkinz]

Originally Posted by ramunsa

I wonder if using 2 film negatives would work just as good or close to a infrared filter that you bought from LifePixel?

Doubt it. As any sort of imperfection in alignment or register would throw off focus by a lot. You can probably get your own Hoya r72 filter, remove the ring and cut it down. Or check ebay for some of the cheaper Chinese AA filter replacements.