Infrared photography for kelp surveys

I was asked about whether it was possible to still do aerial kelp surveys now that infrared film was becoming obsolete. Luckily, digital camera sensors are quite sensitive to infrared wavelengths, but they usually ship with an infrared filter over the sensor to allow for normal light photography. This can be remedied by disassembling the camera and removing the filter. This website has a great detailed series of instructions on how to do this modification on a Canon Digital Rebel (the original 6mp version, not the newer RebelXT). This is especially nice since the Digital Rebel is the cheapest digitial SLR bodies available at the time of this writing (May 2005), at around $700 for the body, $750 for the body and the base model kit lens.

http://ghonis2.ho8.com/rebelmodnew.html