Is my DSLR (nikon d90) capable of taking Infrared photos?
Hoya R72 is kinda expensive compared to other filters, so I just want to make sure if NIkon d90 is sensitive to infrared.
READ the owners manual.
It's not very sensitive but with a good infrared filter you can get decent results, seen those often enough. If you are serious about infrared you'd get the best results by modifying the camera. Remove the standard filter that's in front of the sensor and replace it with a special one for infrared photography. However, that's major surgery and perhaps it's best to have it done.
You can get the camera modified for infra red by having The hot mirror filter removed and replaced with a clear infra red filter.
The hot mirror filter is what stops infra red light getting to the sensor.
Just using a screw on filter means very slow shutter speeds.
Many astrophotographers use modded dslr's for deep space images.
The D90, like most modern DSLRs is fitted with a low pass filter (right in front of the sensor). This blocks out a lot of the infrared light, this is to prevent funny effects from photographing in normal conditions.
Adding an R72 filter will remove the visible spectrum leaving only the IR portion. Due to the low pass filter, very little IR will actually be recording, and thus you would be restricted to long exposures from a tripod.
Now fortunately a lot of photographers find a good use for IR photography. Therefore it's relatively easy to have a camera modified to work in IR only, by replacing the low pass filter, with an IR-only filter. The problem is that while exposures are normal, you can only use the camera as an IR camera.
Thus for practical IR photography, you will require a second camera. Even something simple such as a Nikon D40 is inexpensive and can be converted to be an IR camera, and there are plenty of professional engineers offering this service.
Yes it is, I have done many myself with this body. It just takes a longer exposure.
The D40 is a much better choice due to the passivity of the filter to IR; on a D90, an image capture might take an IR image in 60 seconds while the D40 can do it in one second (same settings, filter and lighting conditions).
Lots of examples on the net for unmodified D90 IR images.
Here's the same answer I just wrote for another asker a day or two ago. It's for Canon but you'll find a site for how to strip down a Nikon D90. Look at the Canon procedure because the Nikon will need all that too.
search for… Nikon D90 infrared conversion
For the real IR stuff you strip the camera down and remove the filter that covers the sensor. Then you can get true IR.
Astrophotographers do it but you need another camera for normal photographs or find a suitable filter for the lens.
http://ghonis2.ho8.com/rebelmod450d1.html
Otherwise buy IR 35mm film and use any 35mm film camera with a front-of-lens filter.
Home developing is best because commercial machines can have IR controls etc and mess up IR film.
Here's an example using 35mm film