S.R. Wild
A two color illustration of an old radio with two knobs and a dial in red and black surrounded in a red halftone pattern. The dial goes back and forth when hovered.

Raspberry Pi Infrared Camera

A rocky shore with patches of snow at the bottom of the frame curves to the right and then to the center of the frame. The trees along the shore are gray and inverted because they’re reflecting infrared light. Dark clouds are on the left of the sky, and on the right the sky looks bronze.

I’ve been working on building an infrared camera with a Raspberry Pi. I took it to the beach to take some test shots. A partially cloudy evening was not an ideal time, and the photos are still unedited DNGs, but I can see the potential. By spring, I will have all the kinks worked out in time for actual foliage and sunny days.

There are some issues. Focus is unpredictable; the capture script requires adjustment. The biggest issue is guessing what the composition is, so I need to add some sort of viewfinder. Unpredictability is fun and all, but….

Looking down a road toward a small covered bridge. A person is walking toward the bridge on the side of the road. A tree next to the bridge looks white because of the infrared view.

Eventually, when I get a good working prototype, I’ll house it in a wooden box to make it aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly. I’m imagining a wood box like early cameras.

I got the idea from this post where someone converted a camera into an infrared camera using a Raspberry Pi. I really liked the photos with vegetation. Looking at the parts and code, it seemed pretty straightforward to me. I used what they did as a starting point.

Sure, I could convert an old DSLR to infrared, and I probably will someday, but I like building things and doing things the hard way.

A grid of four images showing the camera in two small camera battery boxes taped together. Top left: the lens covered with a piece of film. Top right: lens covered with an infrared filter. Bottom left: boxes separated showing the internals of the camera. Bottom right: back of the camera with a small OLED that says “ready” and “photos: 0”

The parts

  • Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
  • Raspberry Pi Camera v3 NoIR
  • OLED display
  • Momentary on switch
  • USB battery pack. I’m looking for a better solution.
  • Cardboard boxes
  • 720nm infrared filter. It replaced the DIY filter: unexposed, developed film.

Notes of note

  • The script is written in Python.
  • Photos are saved as DNGs.
  • The sensor is 12 MP. The quality is better than I expected.
  • Total cost so far is about $75. The IR filter was a third of the cost!

Roadmap

  • Add a viewfinder.
  • An enclosure that is not a janky cardboard box.
  • Write files to an external SD card. Currently, I have to remotely connect to the camera over SSH in the command line to download the photos.
  • Battery that’s in the housing and not stuffed up my sleeve.
  • Manual control. It’s currently all automatic.
  • Add an intervalometer. I’d build that separately so I could use it on other cameras. That’s another rabbit hole.