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UltravioletPhotography

El Nikkor rough and ready test


Adrian

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After several eBay frustrations over the last few months I have finally manged to acquire a "set" of old El Nikkor lenses - 63mm, 80mm, 105mm and 135mm lenses. I tried them all on the same Marsh Marigold flower (Caltha palustris) at the same exposure, to see if they transmitted the same amount of UV. I have been asked a couple of time recently which is the "best" lens for a UV beginner to start with.

 

Nikon D300S, Baader U filter. Two "full spectrum converted" Metz 45 CL5 flash guns. All images at f/8, 400 ISO. Images roughly re-sized in Photoshop to match. This image is a screen shot from Photoshop.

From left: 63mm, 80mm, 105mm, 135mm.

 

Some initial thoughts/observations:

All lenses seem to transmit pretty much the same amount of UV (within half a stop of each other I would estimate) with the Baader U. This may be different with different filters of course.

Sharpness seems to be very similar for the four lenses.

 

I find the 63mm has too short a working distance for my set up, and the 80 and 105mm are the most practical to use in the studio, giving space for me to arrange lights, adjust the specimen etc. (and both were around a quarter of the price of the 63mm!)

 

Next test is to try them outside in the field!

 

Thanks for looking!

post-47-0-23456500-1491403289.jpg

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Quick note on the transmission of your four ELs from the Lens Sticky.

EL-Nikkor 63: reaches 340 nm. 50% transmission at approx 365 nm.

EL-Nikkor 80: reaches 320 nm. 50% transmission at approx 345 nm.

EL-Nikkor 105: reaches 320 nm. 50% transmission at approx 340 nm.

EL-Nikkor 135: reaches 340 nm. 50% transmission at approx 365 nm.

 

 

Looking forward to more tests with your set of ELs. This will be cool to see. Thanks!!!

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Thanks for your test Adrian. Do you think you could perform a pinhole test?

 

I really like the El NIkkor 80mm! But mine suffers from hotspot, reduced contrast and flares due to sideway light going through the lens and reflecting on the helicoïd and extension-rings interior. A lens-hood reduces these effects.

However things get worse if I try to use it for macro photography, even a lens-hood is no use.

 

I want to try the EL 105mm, it seems to perform better than his little brother but I never found the old chrome version at reasonable price on Ebay.

 

EDIT: I know their is a very rare and very expensive "APO" version of the El Nikkor 105, does anyone know something about its UV capabilities?

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Be patient Hornblende, good oportunities can happen.

I received this morning an EL-Nikkor 105mm old chrome version. The seller on ebay said that there was a bit of haze around the middle lens but it didn't affect pictures (and he was right !).

Being curious and little handyman, and as I have already succeeded in repairing a very cloudy balsam cementation on the rear group of an EL-Nikkor 50mm f/4 (I will do a detailed post with pictures on how I proceeded) I did not hesitate too long to invest 50 USD in the old chrome version of 105mm: that time just a good internal cleaning was necessary !

I was lucky on this one. This lens is now as clean and as sharp as my favorite one for UV: the EL-Nikkor 80mm f/5.6

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Andy Perrin
My first EL-Nikkor 80mm was badly hazy, but my second one is very nice! The difference was quite dramatic.
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EDIT: I know their is a very rare and very expensive "APO" version of the El Nikkor 105, does anyone know something about its UV capabilities?

 

It is a different design, and made for different purpose, does not transmit UV that well. There are at least two versions of it as well.

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Here's a down-loadable PDF for the APO-ELs. Might have more magnification? The APO-ELs seem to have been prized for colour separation work back in the day. (For prints made with separate printings of each R, G and B layer. Or CMYK layer.) They are corrected a bit further into the IR than the plain ELs.

 

When you read the specs, the corrected range of approx. 380-750 nm does not necessarily indicate the "reach" range. Although as Alex has pointed out, the APO-EL doesn't have much reach into the UV. Lots of coatings.

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Repaired.

On my Mac when you click that PDF link, it initiates a download. Not sure what happens with a Windows machine. (Although we have some around here somewhere......)

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