New UV-Pass Filter from Kolari Vision

[Andrea B.]

I heard from Ilija at Kolari Vision about the new UV-pass filter that they will be offering. I'll pass the announcement along to our members. It's nice to see the interest in UV photography grow. :)

 

Kolari Vision Product Announcement:

 

The filter is absorption based and will have a 50% transmission peak at 365nm, and >25% transmission between 340-380 for high total light transmission. Average out of band rejection is >OD 4.3 (0.005%), with a minimum rejection of>3.5OD (0.025%) for high signal to noise ratio and no IR contamination. The filter will be coated for durability.

 

I am launching them in 52 and 58mm in size, they will retail at $250 and $300, respectively, but I am going to offer them for $50 off on pre-orders, I expect to have them in hand sometime in August.

 

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[uVP has no affiliation with any vendor. We do permit product announcements after approval by either Bjørn or Andrea.]

[Andy Perrin]

Hmmm. That sounds very expensive considering that the Baader has better specs for only a bit more? Some of our stacks seem to do as well (can Cadmium confirm?).

[Jonny]

I have to agree that after spending a lot of time researching filter stacks and their interaction with lenses over the last month that not only does this look like a poor price/performance, unless you are shooting on a quartz lens then the 25% transmission below 365nm won't contribute much to the capture. If you are shooting a quartz lens then surely the Baader is the right choice.

 

A simple stack using either U-360 or UG11 could easily give you those results or better for ~1/2 the price

for example,

UG11 1mm + S8612 1.75mm gives almost 65% at 360nm and >40% until 380nm

 

I can see the market for the filter, but I'm not convinced by it

[Andrea B.]

I'm always surprised that there is any market at all for these UV-pass filters or stacks. Most folks dabble with UV for a while, then lose interest.

[eye4invisible]

Kolari Vision filters are a bit on the expensive side, across the board.

 

Still, I'm very happy with their full spectrum conversion job on my Nikon D3200. No difference in price between KV and Lifepixel, except that KV accepts UPS deliveries and LP does not (or did not, this time last year).

[Cadmium]

I'm always surprised that there is any market at all for these UV-pass filters or stacks. Most folks dabble with UV for a while, then lose interest.

 

There are more people doing UV than one might think. :-)

[colinbm]

B)

[Andrea B.]

There are more people doing UV than one might think. :-)

 

I wonder what they are doing UV for? Of course, I know there are forensics and art applications of UV photography. And medical uses. Then there's Bjørn and me and our floral UV-signatures which are rather well-supplied on UVP.

 

But UV photography as an art form? I'm happy we have some practioners showing their work here in our little corner of the world !!!! Most folks explore UV photography for a while as a natural curiosity then soon tire of it. But wel-developed portfolios of UV work? We don't see that too often.

[OlDoinyo]

Hmmm. That sounds very expensive considering that the Baader has better specs for only a bit more? Some of our stacks seem to do as well (can Cadmium confirm?).

 

But--absorptive means no bullseye dichroic artifacts (definitely an advantage at fields of view exceeding 40 degrees.) I don't know how it might perform compared to the stacks (perhaps it is a stack!) It might also be available larger than 49mm.

[Cadmium]

I 'suppose' one could consider a Baader U as "absorptive based" given that its filter glass substrate is either UG1 or UG11, but it is considered a dichroic filter.

I would define an "absorptive based" filter as a stack, two (or more) absorptive filter glass types stacked, usually laminated (glued) together.

Out of band rejection of 3.5 optical density is what I consider the minimal Red/IR suppression, but adequate in most cases.

However, one might expect higher than 50% UV peak transmission with only 3.5OD Red/IR suppression (same expectation for higher than 25% from 340nm to 380nm).

The AR coating adds cost to the stack, but can protect the glass surface as well as provide a stronger peak transmission (but here again given the AR coating I would expect more than 50% peak 365nm TR).

However, numbers are numbers, the proof is in the pudding, they say.

[rfcurry]

Andrea,

You said "I wonder what they are doing UV for?"

Well, I have steady customers in the US forces for weapons testing. I have a customer doing research on iridescent patches of various birds. Astronomy is always big. Dermatology, of course. Dentistry. Non-destructive testing. The list is long.

[Andrea B.]

So primarily scientific or technical usage of UV photography (scientific/technical should cover all of medical, denistry, forensics, weapons, laboratory and biology/botany). :D

 

*****

 

Speaking of expensive UV-pass filters, LivePixel is offering a UV-pass filter for $650. I think you might almost be able to get two of any other UV-pass filter for that price!!!!!

[Jonny]

Wow, that LifePixel filter is expensive, can certainly get 2 Baaders for that, or a fairly large selection of filters to stack

 

There are a few people out there doing Art Photography, they don't interact on the forums as much though. I spoke to someone last week who is using ultraviolet photography and when asked they completely denied it and wouldn't 'reveal the secret' so to speak, despite it being obvious to me how it was done - bright skies, blue grass, yellow flowers etc. A famous ultraviolet landscape photographer told one interviewer that they capture ultraviolet light by "tricking the camera's white balance to produce interesting colours" despite having a sound technical knowledge.

 

I think people in the art world have a tendency to shroud themselves from the technical aspects, and there are long standing reasons for that as well as the paranoia that you might not be the 'first' to exhibit something interesting in that field.

[Andrea B.]

oh my. art paranoia!

 

The interesting thing is that there are simply no technical "secrets" in the UV photography world. Everyone knows all the filters and filter stacks. Everyone knows all the conversion & editing apps. Everyone knows how all the various lenses work in UV. Everyone knows how certain subjects "look" in UV. About the only thing we don't know is the exact transmission of some of our lenses. :D

 

 

But technology does not make art. An artist makes art. That is as it should be. We need art and we need artists in this world.

 

So like there is a "famous ultraviolet photographer" ???? Who ???? I thought it was Bjørn. He's pretty much done everything "first". I have yet to see anything that that man hasn't already tried. And his art is good too, but he doesn't show much of it anymore.

[Jonny]

oh my. art paranoia!

More specifically photographic paranoia, I've never met a painter who is quite the same way. I have met photographers who craft stunning images and when asked "oh where is that" will say things like "oh some special place" or somehow have forgotten where they were two weeks ago when they were jumping up and down in excitement at their results

 

The interesting thing is that there are simply no technical "secrets" in the UV photography world.

I think the information is there if you look for it, but it isn't common knowledge, and some people like to keep things that way. Outside this forum I doubt most people would know what a UV photograph looks like outside of the images of faces and flowers which they might have seen in magazines or on television, and even then not everyone has seen those.

 

So like there is a "famous ultraviolet photographer" ????

Poor choice of words on my part, gallery represented perhaps.

 

But technology does not make art. An artist makes art. That is as it should be. We need art and we need artists in this world.

I agree, and it is a problem which seems to plague photography and now digital art far more than other art forms.

 

I think my point is that while many people (on any forum) will simply read messages and not join in for whatever reason - time being a good one, there is also a larger than expected community of artists making work in UV and reluctant to discuss it, for many reasons I expect. The two examples I used before were somewhat negative, but people like that certainly exist, and the link between the camera as technology and the image as art fuels those attitudes, as does the fine art market.

 

But yes, converting cameras Kolari will have a very good idea of how many they can sell, and if they get the customer before they leave the store, they will be able to charge the extra because people will not have researched other sellers online, and who wants to mess around with stacks and eBay sellers when the company you trust with your camera will sell you exactly what you need. It's a bit like buying car parts, do you shop around or just trust the dealer, neither is wrong but one will cost more in money while the other will cost more in time and research. People will be in both camps and where there is money to be made someone will make a product

[Andrea B.]

Over the years I've picked up the idea that the current "art world" is somewhat of a rigged game. Living near New York City doesn't help. Galleries promote certain artists for the sake of the gallery, not for the art. (This includes photography as an art, just in case someone thinks I'm leaving that out. I'm not.) Museums don't really help matters either. They are also playing a version of the game in order to build their prominence and their holdings. But --- let's not dwell on this. Art is a glorious thing. And I'm happy I can see it and enjoy it. I like to think that a good artist who has something to say or something to show us can still live and work and earn as an artist in spite of the odds.

 

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We hope that we have supplied a lot of good information here on UVP for anyone wanting to try UV photography. Again, there is nothing mysterious about the technology. UV photography requires only a UV-pass filter, a UV-capable lens and a converted camera -- plus a soupçon or two of artistic vision & creativity.