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 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 and was initially pioneered in our community by @nedhorning and @cfastie. See especially these two research notes.
Also see this page for how to do this with a Raspberry Pi camera.
Why
Vineyards, large farms, and NASA all use near-infrared photography 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.
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, 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.
(above image by @abdul)
Activities
| Purpose | Category | Status | Author | Time | Difficulty | Replications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remove lens distortion from photos with FisheyeGL | - | - | @warren | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Getting started with the Infragram Point and Shoot | - | - | @abdul | 1hr | medium | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Mobius IR conversion | - | - | @cfastie | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Getting started with infrared photography on Infragram.org | - | - | @warren | - | - | 3 replications: Try it » |
| Set up a Mobius Action Cam for timelapse | - | - | @warren | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Install a filter or change the lens in a Mobius Action Cam | - | - | @warren | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Change the white balance (or other configuration) on a Mobius camera | - | - | @warren | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Update firmware on the Mobius Action Cam | - | - | @warren | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.
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.
| Title | Author | Updated | Likes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Need help to reduce the Blue in mobius point and shoot camera | @Muneeswaran | over 5 years ago | 1 | 5 |
| Use of image in thesis | @petter_mansson1 | over 5 years ago | 0 | 2 |
| Question infragram kit | @marfisistemidroni | about 8 years ago | 0 | 5 |
| What is the ideal white balance for the Infragam Point and Shoot? | @abdul | about 8 years ago | 1 | 1 |
| Can anyone help me troubleshoot my NDVI imagery? | @abdul | about 8 years ago | 0 | 6 |
| How to process images using a mobius with an IR lens? | @miguel_rosas | about 8 years ago | 1 | 1 |
| Correct Config. File & Trobule shooting2 | @will123 | about 8 years ago | 1 | 1 |
| Infragram Point and Shoot Plant Cam | @alexrfholland | over 8 years ago | 0 | 3 |
| Question: Infragram point & shoot image | @ino | over 8 years ago | 1 | 2 |
| Initial results and resolution of timelapse mode issue: PL Mobius Infragram Point and Shoot | @patcoyle | about 10 years ago | 2 | 3 |
For any information, support, or troubleshooting not covered here, please look to this epic thread about the Mobius Action Cam at RCGroups.com 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:
| Purpose | Category | Status | Author | Time | Difficulty | Builds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobius Filter-O-Matic | - | - | @cfastie | - | - | 0 builds: Try it » |
Software
There is a variety of software available to process your images to calculate NDVI and better understand or compare plant health. See Infrared software for options.
To get started quickly, see our guide on Getting started with 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:
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.
For more on white balance, see:
Resources
Kit insert: infragram-ps-insert.pdf
An official manual for the Mobius Action Cam can also be found here: https://www.mobius-actioncam.com/downloads-info//