Infragram Point & Shoot
infragram-point-shoot

The Infragram Point & Shoot is a handheld, battery powered mini camera (a modified Mobius Action Cam) for doing plant analysis. We [modify these](https://publiclab.org/notes/warren/10-19-2017/install-a-filter-or-change-the-lens-in-a-mobius-action-cam) to replace the infrared-blocking filter with a red filter, effectively exchanging its blue light channel for infrared light. (_Lead image by @mathew_) This is based on a great deal of [research by Public Lab contributors](http://publiclab.org/tag/infragram) and was initially pioneered in our community by @nedhorning and @cfastie. See especially [these](http://publiclab.org/notes/cfastie/04-22-2014/mobius-ir-conversion) [two](http://publiclab.org/notes/cfastie/04-18-2014/mobius-filter-o-matic) research notes. Also see [this page](/wiki/raspberry-pi-infragram) for how to do this with a [Raspberry Pi camera](/wiki/pi-camera). ## Why Vineyards, large farms, and NASA all use [near-infrared photography](http://publiclab.org/wiki/near-infrared-camera) for assessing plant health, usually by mounting expensive sensors on airplanes and satellites. At Public Lab, we've developed a Do-It-Yourself way to take these kinds of photos, enabling us to monitor our environment through quantifiable data. [Read more about the Infragram project here](/wiki/infragram). [![5412520298_93873f36d0_o.png](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/005/386/medium/5412520298_93873f36d0_o.png)](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/005/386/original/5412520298_93873f36d0_o.png) Our technique uses a modified digital camera to capture near-infrared and red light in the same image, but in **different color channels**. We then post-process the image (see Infragram.org, below) to attempt to infer how much plants are photosynthesizing. This allows us to better understand and quantify how much of the available light plants are using to produce sugar via photosynthesis. ### Basics Before you begin, to take useful plant analysis photos, **you'll have to modify your camera's white balance**, so that vegetation looks "bluish" but there is not an overall red tinge to the images. You can achieve this with a custom config file, as described below. Some cameras may require a firmware upgrade to v1.20. If you've gotten your Infragram Point & Shoot from the [Public Lab store](http://store.publiclab.org), both the config file and the v1.20 firmware should be on the SD card provided. However, you'll still have to load up the white balance configuration as described in the Activities section below. [![Infragram_Parts.jpg](https://publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/022/006/large/Infragram_Parts.jpg)](https://publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/022/006/original/Infragram_Parts.jpg) (_above image by @abdul_) ## Activities [activities:infragram-point-shoot] **** ## Questions These are questions just for the Infragram Point & Shoot, also known as the Mobius Action Cam. For questions about infrared imaging or the Infragram project more broadly, see [the Infragram page](/wiki/infragram#Questions). [questions:infragram-point-shoot] For any information, support, or troubleshooting not covered here, please look to [this epic thread about the Mobius Action Cam at RCGroups.com](http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1904559) which contains a great deal of information about using and modifying the camera. **** ## Upgrades Done something cool with your Mobius? Added to it or improved on it? Post your upgrade guides here: [upgrades:infragram-point-shoot] **** ### Software There is a variety of software available to process your images to calculate [NDVI](/wiki/ndvi) and better understand or compare plant health. See [Infrared software](/wiki/infrared-software) for options. To get started quickly, see our guide on [Getting started with Infragram.org](https://publiclab.org/notes/warren/10-20-2017/getting-started-with-infrared-photography-on-infragram-org). **** ### White balance One step you need to take to set up this camera is to configure the **white balance**; otherwise, your images will be flooded with infrared and will look pinkish -- and the NDVI post-processing steps (see above) won't work. To set the white balance on your Mobius, follow the steps in this activity: https://publiclab.org/notes/warren/10-23-2017/change-the-white-balance-or-other-configuration-on-a-mobius-camera Images should look roughly like the "GOOD" example below -- vegetation should appear generally pastel blue. An incorrectly white-balanced image such as the "BAD" example below may appear with an overall reddish tint. This means the camera probably has not accepted your config file, possibly due to misformatting or incorrect uploading. [![good-bad.png](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/005/383/medium/good-bad.png)](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/005/383/original/good-bad.png) For more on white balance, see: > [Infrablue white balance](/wiki/infrablue-white-balance) **** ### Resources Kit insert: infragram-ps-insert.pdf timelapse.svg modes.svg An official manual for the Mobius Action Cam can also be found here: https://www.mobius-actioncam.com/downloads-info// ...


Author Comment Last activity Moderation
berkelha "Perfect, thanks for the quick response. Data looks great. " | Read more » about 8 years ago
cfastie "berkelha, Assuming your camera has a red filter, instead of RGB it will have RGN. The green channel will be mostly NIR, so it's really RNN, but th..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
berkelha "Hi. I recently purchased an "infragram plant cam" and am finding myself confused (a common phenomenon). So, I take an image and read it in to Octav..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
Parth "Hi Chris, I replaced IR filter with rosco fire filter#19 in OV5642 camera module to replicate infragram‘s point & shoot camera.I captured imag..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
cfastie "Hi Parth, The three methods of computing NDVI all do the same thing. They do the same math (NIR-VIS)/(NIR+VIS) on each pixel. They are equally rel..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
Parth "Hi Chris, Yes ,they are the castor beans. I converted previously discussed image into NDVI image using infragram 's web server utilities. usin..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
cfastie "The NDVI image looks good. Are they castor beans? The plants have higher NDVI values than soil or sky, but within the plants, variation in NDVI is ..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
Parth "Hi Chris, I captured the images using the infra gram's point & shoot camera.I converted these captured images into NDVI image using python scr..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
cfastie "Parth, The dual band dichroic filters are very expensive and seem to work best if installed inside the camera. They should provide better results ..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
Parth "Hi Chris, Thank you very much for elaborate me more about filter and also for clear up my confusion. I read your research note regard the Dual ba..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
cfastie "Parth, Good question. You might think that digital cameras were good examples of intelligent design, but they are more like living organisms which..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
Parth "Hi Chris, Thanks for your quick response. I am little confusing with the NIR light bandwidth because of NIR light's band width is 700 to 900 nm a..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
cfastie "Parth, Red filters like the Rosco #19 block most blue and green light, so the blue and green channels cannot receive the colors that they would no..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
Parth "Hi Chris, Thanks for your response. I read the data sheet of rosco fire filter #19 and i think this filter is block blue and green light upto 550..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
cfastie "Parth, Most photos taken by DIY NDVI cameras cannot be converted directly to NDVI because the ratio of the visible and NIR values does not compute..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
Parth "Hi Chris, Thank you very much for kind response. I converted various plant's images into NDVI index as per your suggestion for infragram standard..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
cfastie "Hi Parth, There are a lot of options at infragram.org, so it's not easy to find the most sensible way to process a photo. I made the NDVI image be..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
Monoxyde "Hi Parth, I agree with Chris, also it seems to me to see that the camera has a problem focusing. If you do not get images in focus, it could be th..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
cfastie "Hi Parth, The primary difference between your two photos is exposure. The bright one is overexposed. If there is software that allows you to contr..." | Read more » about 8 years ago
tonyc "Pat, we are going to be getting samples of Mobius cameras from the factory, preinstalled with 6mm and 8mm lenses. Hoping to be able to sell these t..." | Read more » over 8 years ago
tonyc "Pat, we have an option to have different lenses installed at the factory. They are asking for a sample lens, and specs on what we'd want to have in..." | Read more » over 8 years ago
patcoyle "Thanks Mathew, I didn't see this earlier. I'll pass. I'm happy with our as-shipped infragram plant cam filter material and the IR cut filters for t..." | Read more » over 8 years ago
mathew "Pat, this might ruin the lens focus, but I have a few of these filter-switchers sitting around: http://publiclab.org/notes/mathew/3-12-2013/ir-filt..." | Read more » over 8 years ago
warren "Oh wow, great find! " | Read more » over 8 years ago