What Filter is Equivalent to Hoya R72? (Explained)
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What Filter is Equivalent to Hoya R72? (Explained)

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Infrared photography is a cool artistry style that has an ethereal look where dark leaves turn bright and the sky gets darker. It is photography that uses a film or image sensor that uses sensitive infrared light. 

The range of wavelengths used in photography is roughly between 700 and 900 nm. This is the near-infrared spectrum used in this photography.

Hoya R72 is an infrared filter designed especially for infrared photography. It is a popular infrared filter that every photographer chooses. This is why it comes at a very high price. 

In this article, I will talk about some infrared filters that are alternatives to Hoya R72. So, stay with the article to know what filter is equivalent to Hoya R72.

What is Infrared Photography?

Infrared photography uses infrared light to expose photos. Humans cannot see infrared lights. It uses a form of electromagnetic radiation that lies below the visible spectrum. 

If a camera is not well equipped to chapter the infrared wavelengths then you cannot take any infrared photos with that camera. 

This is why you will need an infrared filter for infrared photography. 

The Infrared photos look like this:

After some post-processing and a bit of editing this picture turn into this:

You will need a good camera and an infrared filter to take this kind of photo. The Hoya R72 is a popular filter and has vast use by infrared photographers.

What Filter is Equivalent to Hoya R72? 

Some filters are good enough to take amazing infrared photography. The Coking Nuances Infrared Filter and ICE IR CUT Filter are some good alternatives for the Hoya R series.

Cokin Nuances Infrared Filter: 

It is a tempered mineral glass filter that cuts off lights in 720nm lengths. It is well equipped with digital cameras, DSLRs, and some mirrorless cameras.

If your camera doesn’t have any IR blocking filter Cokin Nuances Infrared filter has your back.

The filter costs around $200. This filter works great for modified black and white and color photography as well. And it is fully compatible with the NX system. 

So the Cokin Nuances Infrared filter is a great equivalent to the Hoya R72. 

If you are within the budget you can look after the next filter I will be talking about,

ICE IR cut Filter:

Before jumping into the description about the filter let’s look at how this filter works in hand,

Without Filter:

With ICE IR cut filter: 

This is one of the cheap IR filters you may find in a camera store. These filters aren’t designed for Infrared photography to be specific to you. 

But it works great against UV pollution and it is fully recommended to have one if you have a camera with no IR or UV filter. 

As I already mentioned earlier human eyes cannot see IR lights but camera sensors are fully capable of detecting the IR lights. That’s why you might have very shaded and meh images coming out from your camera. 

Having a good IR filter helps you reduce the excessive IR rays and gives you a great image.

The ICR IR cut filter is on the cheap side of the Infrared filters. It costs only $38.95.

FAQs.

Do infrared lens filters work?

Answer: When using an infrared filter, certain lenses respond well, while others are more prone to lens flares. If you use them correctly it works. And you will get amazing retro photography from it. After post-processing on editing the photos come out great. 

How many stops is an infrared filter?

The 720 filters have 10 stops or more light loss and often require a long exposure. The 850 filters are darker than the 720 ones. And there can be 15 or more stop differences. 

How do I choose an IR filter?

If you aim to shoot black and white photos the 850 filters are for you. If you are to shoot colored photos that are occasional then you will need to go with the 720 filters.

How do you get the blue sky in infrared photography? 

To obtain that you need to unload the infrared photo to editing software and the Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/ Saturation. 

Set the elements to perform a 180-degree Hue shift. And you will have the Blue sky effect.

How many stops is the R72 filter? 

Five stops. The Hoya R72 filter has an estimated + five stops of filter factor. 

Conclusion

You can create a fake infrared image by changing the saturation, brightness, and hue of the colors. But you won’t get the intensity of infrared photography. 

The Hoya R72 is by far the best Infrared filter in the market because of the quality image it produces. As it is very popular it doesn’t come cheap. That is why people now are looking for an equivalent filter to Hoya R72. 

I have researched all the data I got and discussed what filter is equivalent to Hoya R72. 

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