View the world through its heat, not its light.

 

WHAT YOU NEED
> Mac-compatible USB Webcam (we used a Logitech QuickCam Zoom, $79.95, www.logitech.com)
> Exposed 35mm film negative
> X-Acto knife or other slim blade

 

The Webcam craze is over, but you can still have plenty of fun with the hardware. For example, you can replace your camera's internal IR (for "infrared" or "infrared radiation," depending upon whom you ask) filter with one that blocks non-IR light instead, creating an IR-sensitive camera that will capture your world in a whole new way. Here's how. (This hack also works on Apple's iSight, but that camera's too pricey to gut just for fun.)

 

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Step 1: Cam Deconstruction

 

First you'll need to procure a Webcam that works with your Mac. Several of Logitech's QuickCam models fit the bill: The Zoom, Pro 4000, QuickCam for Notebooks Pro, and Orbit variants range from $79.95 to $129.95-but hopefully you have an old one in your closet. Opening the QuickCam is simple: Just remove the screw on the side, and then pry the body open at the seam. When the body splits, carefully pull the two halves straight apart to avoid bending or breaking the aligning pins inside. Set the screw and plastic body pieces aside for now, and carefully remove the circuit board, lens, and wires from the camera's body pieces.

 

Webcams all break down to a few basic elements: circuit board, image sensor, and lens.

 

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Step 2: Find the Filter

 

IR-ifying a Webcam relies on replacing the camera's original IR-blocking filter with an IR-enabling (that is, regular-light-blocking) filter, which you'll fashion out of two small pieces of film negative. But first you need to find your camera's filter. Unscrew the lens from the circuit board, and find the IR filter-it's usually wedged into the lens barrel. Carefully pry the filter out with an X-Acto knife or other slim blade, and hang onto it-just in case you want to undo this hack someday down the road.

 

Swapping the IR filter for a regular-light filter makes any Webcam an IRcam.

 

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Step 3: Filter Fabrication

 

Dig out the family photo album or shoebox, and find a fully exposed film negative (it'll look totally black). Carefully cut two pieces of film to match the filter you removed from the camera. If you're using a camera like ours with a recessed filter holder in the lens barrel, cut your film a skosh bigger than the original filter so you can easily wedge the new filter into place. If your camera lacks this convenience, you can sandwich the filter between the image sensor and the lens, or use an eensy bit of glue-just keep it off the lens and sensor.

 

Cut the film just right, and your new filter will wedge into position.

 

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Step 4: Go Nuts, IR Style

 

Carefully reassemble the camera, taking extra care not to jostle the lens too much and risk dislodging the new filter; also pay attention to the camera's USB cable, which will generally get in the way of your clean closure unless you position it just so between the two plastic shell pieces. Now that you have your badass IR cam, you can do stuff like study the veins under your skin or see what your patterned mousepad would look like sans pattern. Or you can get stealthy and buy some invisibile-to-the-human-eye IR lighting, which lets you capture a totally dark scene in glorious nightvision green.

 

D'oh! Mind the cable when closing up.