a) False-color image of the N26 H ii region composed of J (blue), H (green), and K (red) bands obtained with the S54 camera. The very faint cluster enhanced by the DDP technique seen in the inset (top right) is located between component A and star 160 (see Fig. 3). The field size is 58″ × 53″ or 18 × 16 pc and the small area is shown in dashed lines. Star 207 is the IRSF source 0481111-73145210 used in the photometry calibration (Sect. 2.1.1). b) Image of N26 in the Ks band, obtained with the S27 camera, also processed with the same technique. The field size is 10′′ × 9.̋5 or 3.0 pc ×   2.7 pc. The inset of size 1.̋6 × 1.̋6 shows an enlarged view of component C. North is up and east left (see electronic edition of the journal for a color version of this figure).