Difference between a digital IR camera and film IR camera?

I'm thinking about getting a Infrared camera and was wondering which would be better for me. Film or Digital? What is the difference between shooting IR with a film vs digital? Other than the obvious please

thanks for the help

Digital is better by far. Photoshop is the big deal breaker.......

This place sells a Canon P&S converted to IR for $200.
www.opticsgeek.com/
Might be a good way to start.

Baydream wrote: This place sells a Canon P&S converted to IR for $200.
www.opticsgeek.com/
Might be a good way to start.

Thanks for the tip, any chance you know of anyone that sells out of box IR Nikon's?

This place used to, but if no more, you can get a good dslr and have them convert it......
www.lifepixel.com/

Digital is so much cheaper to shoot than film not to mention time spent changing film in a black bag[some ir film will fog in light].Costwise a roll of Ir film is expensive if you can get it,the 25 red to shoot Ir is cheaper than the R72 for Digital.I don`t know of any hotspot in film Ir as opposed to the terrible hotspot that some lenses produced using digital cameras.
Processing film is very time consuming,getting a perfect exposure is a nice dream whereas with digital shooting Raw it`s very easy.Printing will be another task I wouldn`t want to face,doing test strips,dodging and burning but if you send the negs out to a pro lab printing will be very expensive.
Processing digital images is very easy once you know what to do.Uploading your files to an on-line printer is commonplace as opposed to scanning your film negs to upload.
Costwise a 4gb card costs about $20 and you can shoot forever whereas a roll of film will run you about $15[just a guess] for a 24 exposure b/w or color[your choice].Color Ir film calls for a lab process
if you can find one to do it,the one hour labs won`t touch it!
I used to shoot film Ir,b/w and color but digital is so much easier.
Hope this helps.

I used to shoot Konica 750nm and Kodak HIE IR films. The Kodak HIE was said to be ISO 200, but once you got a #25 filter (or darker) on the camera that drops to ISO 50 or less. Even in medium format I found it much too grainy for my taste. The grain of the Konica 750nm was better, but with a #25 filter I was rating it ISO 6.

With my IR converted Canon 20D I get a 790nm filter, which is nicer than a #25, and I'm happily using ISOs up to 1600. Even that high the noise is pretty tame compared to IR film. And Photoshop makes all sorts of processing options a breeze.

I like IR because it's freaky and fun, and I usually find hand held photography more fun than using a tripod. So for me digital IR (a converted camera) has been a lot better than film IR.

On the other hand 35mm film SLRs are dirt cheap these days. It would be fairly cheap and easy to try IR film out.

Digital camera sensors are very sensitive to IR 'light' which is why they all have an IR stop filter bonded onto the sensor. To do true IR you would have to use a camera with no IR filter on the sensor and an IR pass filter on the lens ( blocks all visible light ). To use the camera for regular photography, you'd replace the IR pass filter with an IR stop filter.

FYI: if you're having trouble with over saturated reds, your sensor's IR filter may be a bit lacking. B+W makes a good IR stop filter.

One important aspect not mentioned so far is the 'custom WB' which is set on green vegetation
with the filter on,in Photoshop your image will be red but in some raw converter and using the 'eye dropper' you can select the custom WB by clicking anywhere in the image and the red will disappear.My 665nm D200 cannot set a 'custom WB' because that feature wasn`t built in the camera but a 'preset WB' was set by the man who converted it.The D200 with a filter on the lens is terrible for Ir,very noisy.Hotspot is another problem encountered,it`s lens related so if you are thinking of trying Ir
make sure your lens doesn`t give hotspots.
Most of the lower level Nikons are great for ir with the D70 the king,the Pro level Nikons are not good Ir cameras because they are built for visible light with a strong Ir blocking filter.
You will see the term 'channel swap' and wonder what`s the significance....It will cause the sky to turn blue and the vegetation white most of the time.
This is the 'channel swap' for Photoshop..
image/adjustment/channel mixture...
output channel....red 100 change to 0.......blue 0 change to 100 [don`t click,just select blue channel
output channel...red.....0 change to 100 blue 100 change to 0...click ok.
I used an 'action' which is...duplicate the image,auto levels.channel swap.
Auto levels will give your image more contrast and tonal range but be careful of blown highlights.
From there you can use plugins or play around in photoshop for more colors.
This is my Ir home.......
irphotocom.proboards.com/index.cgi ?
Feel free to browse.