This morning my camera stopped working in UV...

[Timber]

I wonder if this happened with anyone else, but let me share with you what happened to me this morning...

 

I just received a Soligor 35mm f3.5 enlarger lens and really excited, I put it on my NEX-6 to see how it performs in UV. First -without turning on the camera- I was very happy as it looks awesome on the NEX... with my 17-31 helicoid it's a real pancake! So let's see how it performs in in UV! I held my filterstack in front of it (as it does not have a real filter thread, but my 27->49 step up ring just fits... might glue it later) and as I held up to see what can I see in UV... it felt like a cold shower... I saw absolutely nothing. Well anyway the lens looks awesome on the NEX so I will just use it for VIS photography - I thougth. So I swapped it with my Autocrat Deluxe 50mm f3.5 and put the filterstack in front of it just to get shocked again... it didn't see through either! Now it's time to panic... I held it against the sky... and made a shot... 25 seconds at ISO1600 and f3.5 and NOTHING! The sun is out, it's shining bright and my camera can not make any photograph! I quickly checked the sensor, the lens, the adapter... nothing! All seems perfect! I was about to get a heart attack and break down in tears, weeping for my camera when I quickly checked my filterstack... It turned out I stacked my BG40 and my IR950. What a relief... so I swapped the IR950 with U360 and the little Soligor seems to me an amazing performer (I'd say very similar to the JML/Jessop/Dixons).

 

Ps.: Sorry for the dramatic title :D

[nfoto]

If there is a consolation, you're not the first one to do this :D

 

Combining UV and IR bandpass filters to check for IR leakage is a good idea anyway.

[Andrea B.]

oh la, me too !!!

I have done this very thing. Then sat there for way too long a time, scratching my head, trying to figure out why nothing is working. 

[Timber]

Andrea... yeah that feeling... when you do everything correctly, as your usual routine and all you have a black screen. Feeling so lost and hopeless... HAHAHA... I am so glad I am not the only one! :D

[bvf]

I've had a number of black-screen instances recently. In my case, down to a real schoolboy error - leaving the lens cap on the filter!. I usually have a lens hood screwed on to the filter so it's not obvious that there is a lens cap.

[enricosavazzi]

I've had a number of black-screen instances recently. In my case, down to a real schoolboy error - leaving the lens cap on the filter!. I usually have a lens hood screwed on to the filter so it's not obvious that there is a lens cap.

I am probably digressing, but I always have a rigid (metal) lens hood mounted on some of my UV lenses. In these cases, I prefer to use a lens cap that fits at the wide end of the lens shade. It makes it easier and faster to cap and uncap the lens (with or without a filter mounted between lens and lens shade), and all I need to do when putting the lens back in the camera bag is put on the front and rear cap - no need to remove the lens shade.

 

I do something similar to Bernard with the Jenoptik 60 mm, which is my UV workhorse. I keep each frequently-used front-mounted filter permanently assembled in a stack of filter adapter ring + filter + lens shade adapter ring + lens shade + front cap fitting the wide end of the lens shade. I swap stacks instead of swapping filters. Takes more space than a stack of just filters, but it is faster to handle and lessens the risk of putting my fingers on the filter surface.