Custom Infrared WB, Nikon D90

[xtjacob]

Hello, I'm new to infrared photography and I'm trying to set my white balance on my Nikon D90. I've read on various forums that you need to take a picture of a green patch of grass while in the custom WB menu. I've tried this many times at different shutter speeds, but it always displays "No Good". I'm using a Hoya R72 filter, my ISO is 400, and my F-stop is 11. What am I doing wrong?

[OsmosisStudios]

Getting the white balance should be fairly easy: attach filter, point the camera at the grass, set a custom white balance the same way you normally would. If that still doesnt work, I'd check out one of the many IR groups on Flickr.

Of course, shoot RAW!

[inkista]

Is your shutter speed long enough to actually have something other than a black frame? The R72 eats up about a dozen stops in my experience.

[xtjacob]

I'm shooting in RAW, also I've tried using shutterspeeds anywhere from 30'-1/10' and it still doesn't work. On my D70 I got it to work with the same exact settings on my first try.

[OsmosisStudios]

THe D70 is very responsive to IR: the D90 not so much. Every time Nikon (and other manufacturers) make a new camera, they increase the power of the IR filter on the sensor, which means it takes longer and longer to get enough light in. Its possible, but it might be hard to do.

For setting your WB, you might wanna use a larger aperture and higher ISo, then adjust down for the light.