Infrared Photography Lenses Database

Lenses show hotspots when shooting infrared photography. Hotspots are caused mostly by the coatings inside the lens barrel and on the lens elements or by the interaction between the lens elements and the imaging sensor. Hotspots become more apparent at higher aperture numbers, while often disappear at the lowest numbers. Depending on the application and the task the infrared photo should be taken, low or high aperture numbers could be necessary. For the specific needs of infrared photography for art documentation it is helpful to have detailed information on lenses behavior at different aperture. This database reports on the test of Nikon lenses on the Nikon D800 modified for full spectrum (UV-VIS-IR). The evaluation method consists in shooting photos with different aperture numbers of the same target composed of a black and white cardboard with the AIC Photo Documentation target. Everybody with a Nikon DSLR camera modified for Infrared is welcomed to contribute to this database.