Ages ago, just before Photo Competition Number 1, my camera's LCD cracked - it was in a case and such, and the surprise and bad timing made it very tragic. But within a week or so, it had been reborn as an infrared camera, with a mirror in place of the LCD. The idea came from this guy, who knows that digital camera sensors pick up infrared light, and that, to prevent this from skewing things pinkish-purpleish, they have a little bit of glass in them to serve as an IR filter. So what you do is reverse this - replace that little tinted plate of glass with something that only blocks visible light. As it turns out, a piece of exposed color negative is perfect for this.

The surgery wasn't too hard, although I managed to loose a very tiny spring, which I think is part of the reason the IR shots are a little out of focus. The other reason, I think, is that unless it's very bright, the infrared light isn't enough for the camera to find something to focus on - that, or it just can't find the orange glow of its (filtered-out) focus lamp.

SO, I also made an IR flashlight, out of a cheap-o shake-to-charge LED flashlight from Walgreen's and an IR LED from radioshack. You can see this in the last picture (of me) - the beem is unfortunately too tight, and not bright enough, so I'm afraid the voyeurism plans have to wait.

The best part may have been replacing the LCD with a mirror, though - it's subtly disturbing to bring your camera up to your face and watch your own eye approach, or to catch the reflection of your own neck in the viewscreen when you hold it at arm's length.