Originally posted by newarts That's great! Much easier than converting a camera. A few Sony DSC-V1 cameras are listed on eBay now; I expect they'll sell for $60 or less.
The V1 is one of my all-time favorite cameras, along with the Olympus Pen-FT and XA, and Canon Dial-35. I'm on my third, having worn out (broken) the first two. My latest is always with me. I should get another, just in case I break this one too.
To use any filters on the V1, you need adapters. I found a set of 46.5-52mm tubes for the V1 pretty cheap on eBay a couple years ago. These are meant for using wide and tele strap-ons, and should still be available. I bought a set of four 37mm IR-pass filters (780, 900, 930, 1000nm) for another P&S, and I use a 52-37mm step-down ring to mount them on the V1. Nope, no vignetting. I also use various 52mm and 49mm B&W and CC (color correction) filters on the V1-- especially an 80C light blue filter or a darker 47B blue-violet filter, to emulate the 'actinic' light (UV-violet-blue) that early photo-emulsions saw. Combine various color-pass and -block filters for tonal effects, aka spectrum-slicing.
Quote: Do you know of any other cameras with a hot mirror that can be moved out of the optical path?
AFAIK only Sony NightShot still and video cams were so built. Gargle for NIGHTSHOT and you'll get a list.
NightShot was crippled and then canceled over concerns that it provided "X-ray vision" (and some eBay sellers tout their IR filters for seeing through clothes, ay yi yi)! The crippling on the V1 consists of 1) a green color cast for that sniperscope effect; 2) slow shutter and wide aperture, without manual control; and 3) high ISO. This cripple is to prevent you from shooting in daylight and peering through thin cotton fabric. Aha, but a dark B&W or ND or IR filter hacks that limitation!
Hacking the sniperscope-green is a job for PP. I use PSP9 (PaintShopPro9) to kill the color cast; then totally desaturate for B&W, or saturate and saturate until the colors become mild pastels; then use CLARIFY to pop the dynamics. Shifting to NightShot boosts the ISO so the resultant image is rather noisy. To me, that's just part of the drama. I also bought (CHEAP!) an IR light that mounts in the V1's flash shoe: Sony HVL-IRM for shooting in total darkness.
I should write a treatise about spectrum-slicing on the V1, yes I should...