Blak Ray 100 AP + Extension cord?

[Andrea B.]

I definitely would like to see the mushroom fotos posted in the UV Fluorescence section. Folks might not see them here.

 

Damon, Glowstalker of the Pineys, if you start a post in that section under your name, I'll copy these 'shrooms over for you.

 

And with your permission I would also like to put the fluor foto into the Visitors' Gallery. I just need your Copyright string.

 

****

[baffe]

Beautiful pictures damon!

 

LED's are not always what they should be. To say it the short way:

 

1.Shorter wavelength makes them more expensive.

2.Less vis makes them more expensive too.

 

I bought 3 deliveries of 50 each. They all should be 395nm. Perhaps one pack is around 395nm but the other 2 lots have emitted maximum at longer wavelength.

 

I bought a 365nm 1W Diode. That has much more vis than MTE.

 

Incidentally (and because of the fact 1) they are usually "longer". And if they are too long, "Baader U will not like them" I suppose.

[Damon]

Thanks for the kudos! And for the LED info baffe. I must say the Blak Ray seems the Godzilla of available and affordable UV lights (for Fluorescence anyway). I spotted a bald faced hornet nest 25 feet up in the eave of my house with this wonder. I am still working on a portability scheme--getting close. I am beginning to wonder if I should be using this during my daytime shots. :D I will try it.

 

Tonight I used a total of about 175 feet of extension cord and did not encounter any problems. Darn storms blew fall leaves over everything.

 

I just got another Blak Ray off of Fleabay. They are jacking the prices into the stratosphere. So I bought a B100 YP for cheap and a B100 AP filter (they appear to all be the same except for the glass/filter) and will be double the power shortly. Will have a double headed monster soon. Yeah I have a problem :)

 

Andrea--I will start a section there. I lament that I waited so long as the shrooms are getting less in number as the temps drop. But there are still many around and lots of other gems. © string would just be ©Damon Noe. Thanks so much!

 

I think though that I am at/near the 30 Mb limit. I have more to post so start me over if possible. :)

 

Got a cool pic of totally glowing "Death Cap" tonight. Purportedly responsible for more deaths than any other mushroom. Also purported to be the best tasting ever from people who have ingested it. Yikes. I have found it is safe to photograph though. I rarely eat my subjects. :)

 

One side note: I took a pic of a mushroom with my Nikon D70 UV setup while using the Blak Ray light at night. Yes I know, why would I try that?

First, I took a visible then one with Baader U flipped up in position and still got a picture. Now, why would I still be able to get a picture if the subject is supposed to be emitting visible light? The Baader supposed to block that. Somethin' fishy going on here.

 

-D

[Andrea B.]

Damon, I will add you to the Members+ list so that you have more posting space.

 

I'm trying to catch up on website work today so hope to get your and Timber's work placed in the Visitor's Gallery.

 

************************

 

One side note: I took a pic of a mushroom with my Nikon D70 UV setup while using the Blak Ray light at night. Yes I know, why would I try that?

First, I took a visible then one with Baader U flipped up in position and still got a picture. Now, why would I still be able to get a picture if the subject is supposed to be emitting visible light? The Baader supposed to block that. Somethin' fishy going on here.

 

I'm not quite sure I sorted your shooting parameters on that experiment to understand the question.

Is this correct?

 

Camera: Unconverted D70

Illumination: Blak Ray in the dark.

Shot 1, No Filter: Recorded visible fluorescence. [With Warning: see comment below.]

Shot 2, Baader-U UV-Pass Filter : Recorded reflected UV.

 

If I have your shooting parameters correct, then remember that a subject can both visibly fluoresce and UV reflect at the same time. You can only see the visible fluorescence. Our friend the Bee might be able to see both if the fluor is in the blue or green range.

 

BUT ==> Warning ==> Ideally when shooting for Visible fluorescence, you should always use a UV/IR block external-filter with a weak-filtered, unconverted camera such as the D70 to ensure that the fluorescence you are recording is really Visible. Remember that subjects can possibly fluoresce in UV and in IR also under UV excitation and the unconverted D70 might catch some of that, if present. [i doubt you are getting UV-fluor or IR-fluor but we, of course, cannot rule it entirely out without further experiment.]

 

To continue, shooting externally-unfiltered with the weak-filtered, unconverted D70, it is possible that you recorded some kind of mixed Visible-fluor and UV-reflect shot. In sunlight the predominance of Visible over UV would give us a Visible foto with perhaps a bit of "UV haze". But in the dark under Blak-Ray illumination of a mushroom subject, who knows whether Vis fluor predominates over UV reflect?

 

It would, of course, be useful to see the two shots you are mentioning. :D DId the two shots look similar or different?

 

If I comepletely misinterpreted that, well then, I'll have to try again.

 

********

 

Have you done a white balance step under that visible LED flashlight? Those leaves in the first foto look a bit purple.

[baffe]

>Tonight I used a total of about 175 feet of extension cord and did not encounter any problems.

 

Damon this is not the danger! Problems may encounter in case of defective equipment.

 

Increasing the cablelength also increases the resistance of the current loop. As one result the current in case of a short circuit will be lower than without cord. But if the current is low, the fuse will take longer to trip and switch off the faulty equipment!

 

I am not experienced at all in such things for 110/115/120/125VAC. And further I do not know your local codes for protection against electric shoc and fire. Please ask your local electrician how to deal with this things. Please do this before adding further cablelength...

 

We are not talking about function of the lamp we talk about your safety! Even under dangerous conditions the lamp will operate!

[JCDowdy]

.............. I rarely eat my subjects. :)

 

The images you posted above seem to suggest otherwise! :D

[Damon]

Thanks Andrea for setting that up.

I guess I can eliminate any unwanted reflected UV while taking UV induced fluorescence shots by using my regular canon camera--which should block all that on it's own account right? I mean, modern cameras don't let in UV/IR do they? I was merely curious as to what I would see if I tried my UV setup while fluorescing some shrooms.

Your correct in your take on my setup with the Nikon. I am going to go do it again so I am totally sure of my method. It is fun experimenting. I will post the images in a bit. They looked similar.

 

The other night when I looked at a black-eyed susan with the Blak Ray, I saw the UV signature we are all aware of with my naked eye. So does it follow that if I had a UV source powerful enough, I would see that same signature during the day with my naked eye? Then I could see UV without special eye balls or special lenses/cameras/filters. Can anyone theorize how much UV it would take to expose a UV signature on a Rhudbekia in broad daylight? Probably cook the plant and me. :D

 

I have not done any WB with the LED in camera or any in post. I don't seem to have a setting for it either--in any of my cameras. I have a quite a few LED's and many look a tiny bit different in color of the light. I will make sure I keep using the same ones I have started with. So, is there a simple way to WB for my LED?

Andrea, now I know you have a sharp technical and mathematical mind and if the answer is two pages long and involves demonstrating Fermat's last theorem, I am going to start to fade. :)

I would imagine that Alex H has figured this out as his UV Induced Fluorescence shots are the best I have ever seen. If I use his images as my standard to shoot for, I am afraid I will never be happy!

 

Thanks Baffe--your cautions and warnings are duly noted!

 

John--Ha!

 

-D

[enricosavazzi]

In-camera custom WB is sometimes well hidden in the menus. It may help to check the user manual and/or google it for a specific camera model.

[Damon]

Thank Enrico.

I suppose I was getting lazy and looking for an LED white balance option in the camera. I suppose LED's are too variable for that to be a reliable one click setting. I went into the custom menu and tried settings. I did find that setting it to "flash" brought things very close to what the visible pics would look like in regular daylight. I didn't try a white card with the LED. Figure I don't need to now that it is so close.

 

-Damon

[Andrea B.]

I mean, modern cameras don't let in UV/IR do they?

 

Not enough to worry about. The purists amongst us sometimes filter with a Baader UV/IR cut or other IR blocker anyway.

Any leakage in recent strongly internally-filtered cameras would require a long exposure to affect a foto.

 

***********************

 

For the non-UV flashlight, you could just shine it on a piece of white paper in typical ambient lighting to set the in-camera white balance. (Typical ambient lighting = outdoors in the dark, I'm assuming.) Only has to be done once and saved in-camera.

 

***********************

 

The other night when I looked at a black-eyed susan with the Blak Ray, I saw the UV signature we are all aware of with my naked eye.

 

Somewhere sometime that was discussed, but I don't remember what the conclusion was, if any.

 

In ordinary sunlight you can often see a slightly different darker central colour around a Rudbeckia disc because of some underlying pigmentation difference between the distal and proximal ray areas. In some Rudbeckia cultivars that area has been further bred to appear as a visible dark brown bullseye. But note that visible bullseyes may or may not match the reflected UV bullseye we capture in our photos.

 

So you are seeing that pigmentation difference. But are you seeing it as absorbed UV or as some kind of visible response under black light? I think we would have to say that it is some kind of visible response. Probably that the ray tips are visibly responding under black light but the central area is not.

 

Discussion welcomed on this, of course.

I will try to dig out the old discussion. Might have been on the old Nikongear.

 

***********************

 

the answer is two pages long and involves demonstrating Fermat's last theorem,

I wish. :D :D :D :D :D

[Damon]

Andrea, thanks for the thoughtful response.

 

If it ever stops raining here, I think I will take a pic of it under the blak ray with my canon SX50. At least eliminate any/most UV/IR getting in. Perhaps it will end up looking like it does during the day with my Nikon UV setup.

If so, then I have found a way for me to take UV images with a regular camera! HA! I'm not that lucky--but I am going to try anyway...

Plus, I am sure someone has already tried this. Still pretty darn cool. Especially to a newbie.

 

-D

[Damon]

So I did a rough test and got some shroom caps together, let them sit overnight under glass on a black piece of card stock and got a few real nice spore prints. That's the good news. Turns out that even black card stock/construction paper fluoresces! From this point on I will test everything first under the UV...

So I can't really tell if the spores are glowing or not. Mushroom spores are extremely small and range from dark to light.

Does anyone know of a good substrate I could put some caps on that I can also pick and move and above all does not fluoresce? Preferably something dark so I can see some light colored spore prints on.

 

Here is the visible pic

 

 

The UVIVFL pic

 

 

 

Since I failed at that test, I thought I should at least clump them all up and take a picture

Visible

 

 

The UVIVFL

 

-D

[colinbm]

Is that your heavily bandaged leg.....lower right, first two shots ?

 

The first shot...is that the spores after you have had the different mushies on some paper ? How long for this much to fall out ?

 

Just love the last two mushroom collection, Vis & Fluoro :D

Col

[Damon]

Thanks!

Yeah I tripped so many times over the Blak Ray cords that I got all scraped up. :D It's actually camo tape around my tripod legs...

 

 

-D

[Andrea B.]

An interesting and informative spore print experiment. If at first you don't succeed....

 

I have no advice to offer on the paper because of a sheer lack of knowledge of what paper might work best - and that is also easily found. But a question - the UViVF foto appears overexposed because some of the spore areas look blown. Is it overexposed? If so, it's possible that increasing the exposure time might show the spore fluor better even when the background is also fluor-ing? That Blak-Ray is a strong light.

 

Maybe just a piece of cardboard from a shipping box would work? I don't think they put brighteners in that stuff. And it's easily found. "-)

Damon, I hope you can continue this experiment, because it is very interesting.

 

Out of curiosity - are you able to ID any of these fungi? I've got a couple of field guides and attempt mushroom IDs from time-to-time, but it's tough imho !!! I can sometimes get to the genus level pretty easily, but have never felt confidant with going to the species level. Actually not all that confident at the genus level either. :D

 

The group fotos are terrific. :P Wonder if the fluor version would print up well?

[Damon]

Col, If you want to try this someday to just see some prints--

1. Grab a few fresh mushrooms (don't worry about touching them as this will not kill you even if it is the deadliest species known to man--they have to be ingested to have any effect.) Wear gloves for assurance & piece of mind if you want.

2. Cut the caps off flush so they will lay flat. Transport them upside down. Avoid the temptation to run with them as you are so excited to try this.

3. Lay them right side up as you see them in nature on some construction paper preferably half black, half white to get a look at both dark and light spores. So lay half the cap on black and the other half on white. (if you know the species then you can look it up and know whether the spores are dark or light and subsequently just use one color--or just wing it and use black).

4. Cover with glass bowl or similar and wait overnight

5. Enjoy cool prints the next morning!

 

I have often thought about making some really nice ones and framing them behind glass as they will last forever.

 

 

Andrea, I will find a better backing. Cardboard would be perfect. I will hit it with the B Ray tonight and see. I am not sure why there are brighteners in pitch black paper either.

 

I can ID many to Genus probably. Identifying shrooms is akin to Identifying grasses. There are a bunch that stand out and you become familiar with and the rest you occasionally spend time on but do a lot of shrugging and fist shaking. After the first 25 or so really common shrooms you need to begin looking at the spore shape, size and color. So you then breach the "regular person id'ing something" and enter "serious person entering shroom geekdom". I have both a stereo microscope and regular so I was eventually hoping to look at some spores themselves and fluoresce them. One thing at a time I have to tell myself. I get scattered onto too many projects quicker than you can imagine! :D But I will start trying to ID them to at least Genus if I can.

 

Regarding the Blak Ray:

Being a slave to the cords notwithstanding--

That paper fluoresce pic is typical for the Blak Ray. I can hold it a couple/few feet away and it still shines a nice broad swath of light. I have to be pretty darn close for it to have a hot spot. But at the same time--I can see a curtain fluorescing on the side of my house 50 feet away at least.

 

Eventually I will get a torch like Col & Alex (and many others) have (I am liking that term more and more) but I do see a benefit to these lights. I normally use them for a couple hours at a time and there are no batteries to charge or worry about. I just leave them running, even when I go inside for a bit to get another beer for ex. When I get an inside "studio" rolling (soon!), these lights attach to the ballast in a neat way and rotate 360 degrees. So if I had a table with a specimen. I could just set the 2 Blak Rays up and rotate them wherever and start shooting-for hours on end if I desire....and get a tan in winter. :P

 

-D

[baffe]

Thank you for your "how to do" list Damon. If the weather doesn't get too cold I will try this next weekend.

 

I had the same problem with fl on the cardboard. I use wood or metal plates now.

 

Colin told me about coating cardboard with metal primer (splendid idea) but I didn't test that yet.

[Damon]

Glad to help and good luck. It is pretty neat.

 

I am trying a piece of cardboard tonight to see for myself. Let me know how your shrooms turns out.

 

-D

[Damon]

Update: My generic cardboard did not fluoresce thus could be used as a backdrop...

 

-D