Infrared digital cameras

We are considering the purchase of an infrared enabled digital SLR
camera, to photograph paintings when infrared reflectography mosaics
cannot be justified.

We currently have an old Phase One scanning back, which we use with
a 5x4 inch camera and this has reasonable IR sensitivity. However, it
is slow and complicated to use and is probably coming to the end of
its life.

Does anybody have experience of using a modified digital SLR? I
understand Nikon's service department in the UK will remove the IR
filtering from their cameras for around UKP300. Alternatively, a
firm in the USA, <URL:http://www.maxmax.com>, will modify most
popular cameras for $450. We would prefer to use Canon equipment,
unless there is a strong reason not to, as it would be compatible
with our other cameras.

Canon themselves offer a special version of the EOS 20D aimed at
astronomy, which has "some" IR sensitivity. However, I gather this
still has some filtering. Is this a possibility?

Ian McClure
Director
Hamilton Kerr Institute
Whittlesford
Cambridge CB2 4NE
+44 1223832040
Fax: +44 1223837595


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:28
                Distributed: Tuesday, November 29, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-19-28-018
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