Getting my 500d modded, full spectrum or UV/IR

[that_guy]

Hi guys, I'll be heading back to my home country of south korea next week and was thinking about getting my 500d modded there from centrald which is about an hour train trip from where im staying. They quoted about $400 AUD ($300 USD or 330000KRW). Is this price worth it? If it is, should I get full spectrum with clear filter or the UV/IR. Ive been getting mixed information about bloated stars with full spectrum and refractors, if anyone has the mod done on their camera and uses a refractor that could comment on this, I would appreciate it.

[Merlin66]

Unless you want to do some spectroscopy, there's no real benefit in having the FULL full spectrum mod.

[Premordial]

I've imaged with an EOS M before and after IR filter removal. No bloated stars to speak of. Using an ED80.

[that_guy]

Is that with just the filter removed (no uv/ir filter replacent)? How noticeable was the difference?

[Merlin66]

the remaining front anti alias/ shake acts as an effective UV-IR filter in most applications.
See the illustration -filter#1

[glend]

I have modded several 450Ds, including a debayering to mono. I also paid CentralDS to do a debayering of one sensor -which was a disaster. I agree that for most imaging you want to retain a good UV/IR Cut filter but there are a couple of ways of doing that. Typically the filter 2 ( the darker blueish one closest to the sensor) is the one that opens up the camera to Ha. The removal of the front piezo shaker filter kills off the anti-dust shake feature (if wanted), but does also open up the camera in a full 'full spectrum' sense. For some people this is desirable, as it allows you to determine whether you want to replace it with a front glass with a better anti-reflection multicoat, or create access from the front for sensor coverglass cleaning, and dry gas purging of internally cooled cameras.. My colour 450D is full full spectrum, and i run a Baader UV/IR cut on the front of camera as a t-thread screw on filter, which provides good multi-coat anti reflection features, it also provides a sealed chamber ahead of the sensor which is important for cold finger cooled sensors (now or at a later date). I use Argon inside my cooled camera.
As to CentralDS, i found them difficult to deal with, in part because of the language barrier made discussions hard, but mostly because of poor workmanship on the debayering job they did for me. They claimed to have developed a chemical debayering process, but the result was a contaminated sensor surface which had many bayer matrix artifacts, which could not be easily removed, and a damaged pixel row. It took me a while ( 6 weeks) to get a refund from them. In the end i had to replace the sensor with a spare purchased online. I will not deal with them again.

[Premordial]

Just the filter removed. DIY job. Hard to quantify the difference as I've been shooting different targets before and after the mod. However, on the Lagoon for example, there's a lot more red showing through than other emission nebs I've imaged in the past at similar exposures. Still early days as I did the mod a few weeks ago.

[Camelopardalis]

Go for the UV/IR mod, it doesn't block the interesting astro wavelengths.

When I did my 1100D, the amount of extra light it was letting through was very noticeable, at least an f-stop towards the red end.

[that_guy]

I bought a uv/ir modded 450d instead of modding the 500d myself, is there any way to check if the camera has indeed been modded? When I tested it with my samyang 14mm, there was no difference to the 500d with and without custom white balance. I tired the IR tv remote test but both my 500d and 450d picked up the ir light.

[Camelopardalis]

White balance doesn't change what the sensor detects, it just shifts the colour balance of JPEG images it creates. If you shoot in RAW it's irrelevant as the data remains unchanged, the white balance profile is added in the file as addition data only.

[ChrisV]

Take a daytime pic. You'll soon see if it's been modded. Have a look at the Gary Honis website. I think glend put me on it. Its a great read.

[ChrisV]

I didn't realise the front filter had such a nice uv/ir cut.

[glend]

Absolutely it is a good cut filter and should be left alone, unless you are cold finger cooling and seeking to create a dry chamber in front of the sensor (where screw in or sealed clipins are a better option). Having a way to access the sensor cover glass from the front also makes cleaning the surface much easier. For standard non-cooled filter mods just leave #1 alone imho.

[that_guy]

I took some test shots with the same lense, iso, and exposure to my 500d, with no noticeable difference, I would try on a night sky but being in one of the most light polluted cities in the world isn't helping (vacation in Seoul)

[that_guy]

ok, back from my trip and got a single 10 min iso 400 exposure done just now. No processing at all just fresh from camera. To me it doesnt look any different from my 500d images (not THAT much redder, i think its just in my head that it looks even slightly redder). Can someone check for me on whether or not the camera is modded based on this image?

[that_guy]

processed it a bit in startools. didnt touch the saturation or the colour levels.