My Nikon Df needs surgery.

I purchased my first Nikon Df camera in 2013. It’s provided me with a decade of fantastic photographs. Everything from sweeping star trails to breathtaking Milky Way shots, from sports action images to reflective contemplation captures. This little shooter has garnered more awards than any of my other cameras, including “triple blue” images like Washington County 2:30 a.m., After the Rain and The View From Screven County. Some of my Df‘s best images can be seen below.

And now my Df is getting some evolutionary surgery.

I shall explain.

I enjoy shooting infrared photography. However, the joy of shooting infrared film is tempered by the inability to find the film itself. The great color slide infrared films – Aerochrome and Kodak EIR – were discontinued years ago, and surviving stock is tremendously expensive, with some rolls costing more than $300 per roll on the secondary market. Think about it. You’d pay $300 for a roll of film that was listed as “best if used by” 2007, and then after you’ve shot the film, you’re trying to find a lab that will properly process it.

As for black and white infrared film, I still have some 35mm Kodak HIE in the freezer, as well as some 35mm and 120 efke 820 infrared film. And McGreevy Pro Lab – the Albany-based print company that is my pro lab of choice – can still do black-and-white infrared film. But once my frozen stash is done – I can’t purchase any more of it. Like infrared slide film, those rolls of infrared B&W film are also increasing in price. The efke factory in Germany stopped making film when one of their manufacturing machines broke, and it would cost more to repair the machine than the factory could financially afford. So, no more efke. And Kodak’s not making their HIE infrared stock. And while there are some boutique infrared film companies that can still make small batches of the stuff … their quality ranges from okay to not okay.

So I’m having my Nikon Df camera surgically adjusted to work as a dedicated “full spectrum” shooter. The camera is on its way to a company called Kolari Vision, who will remove the Df‘s UV/IR filter and replace it with clear glass. Once those adjustments are made, I can treat this camera as if it had an unlimited supply of Aerochrome inside it. And I can photograph whatever I want without spending $300 a roll on expired film that maybe three companies in the entire United States can still process.

Listen … Do not get me wrong. I still have plenty of efke 820 IR and Kodak HIE infrared film in the freezer. But I’m not purchasing any more of it. And those are B&W films, not color. So if I want to continue shooting in infrared and get those spectacular color images from it … this Nikon Df is getting a surgical transplant. Ha.

That’s right. I will now have the ability to shoot the same images as color slide infrared film and B&W infrared film, without spending huge dollars and waiting weeks to find out if the film I used was fresh enough for infrared imagery.

This will be a new step for my Df. Now I can shoot high-speed shots – horse races, for example – in infrared. I can shoot human models in infrared and see the results instantly. Covered bridges, forests, streams, architecture – oh man, that’ll look so incredible in infrared. And just imagine what nocturnal photos will look like. That means you, Milky Way Galaxy and meteor showers. That means you, CPKC Holiday Train as it goes chugging along at night …

Oh, I’m going to have SO much fun with this once it returns.

It’s like just spent a bunch of money on a new camera … with the controls that work just like a camera that’s been in my arsenal for the past ten years.

How swank is that?