European Source of DIY Material (Sensor Clear Glass?)

[AlexNoir]

Hello it's me again!

 

After the Camera is solved I've another question:

 

I already ordered the 52mm UV-Pass Filter in the US because it fits to my need so far, but are there any "european" sources good in quality avaiable when it comes to for example to the Clear glass which needs to be put in front of the Sensor inside of the Camera? Always when I am reading in american shops about the super quality of the German Company Schott I wonder why I can't find any shop for them here?

 

Thank you for the answers!

 

Alex

[Andrea B.]

Alex, perhaps a call to Schott in Mainz would be useful. You could ask them where you might purchase some clear Schott glass rectangles to use as sensor covers. This looks like a phone number: +49 (0)6131/66-0

 

I attempted to access a European Schott AG site to confirm that phone number, but every time I was redirected to the North American site !! Apparently they detected my North American address and insisted on being *too* helpful by redirecting me to an English website. :D

 

If you don't mind ordering from the US, you might be able to find something from Uviroptics on Ebay. I haven't looked there for awhile to see if he is offering clear glass currently. Maybe he will see this and let us know.

[Steven]

Hi Alex,

If it can help I bought a clear glass from this website: https://www.astronom...dification.html

This was for my first camera conversion : a Canon which I use only for IR.

My other full spectrum cameras are bare sensors and they do the job as well as my Canon.

[ulf]

I used the same source for my camera full-spectrum modification, also a Canon.

Canon appear to be more popular in the astro community, than Nikon.

 

However I think Alex has already decided to use a Nikon of some kind and unfortunately it looks like Astronomik.de do not carry any suitable glass.

[AlexNoir]

Hello!

 

Tnx for the answers so far - yes I found them at Astronomik.de but they are offering "only" for Canon - I wrote them a E-Mail two days ago, but still no answer. :)

 

All the best,

 

Alex

[Andrea B.]

I was concerned that the chart I saw for the glass at Astronomik.de truncated too much UV? Perhaps I was looking at the wrong one? You want to get a glass which has a flat high transmission chart from about 300-1100 nm.

[ulf]

I was concerned that the chart I saw for the glass at Astronomik.de truncated too much UV? Perhaps I was looking at the wrong one? You want to get a glass which has a flat high transmission chart from about 300-1100 nm.

I think you looked at the right graph Andrea.

 

You are correct about that it is nice to have good transmission deeply into UV.

This is very important if you aim for any experiments at the shorter wavelength-end with narrow-band filters around 340nm, where the sensitivity of the sensors get very low.

Such a window would not be usable for a monochrome conversion.

 

In the beginning I feared that the losses below 350nm would cause problems with colours and long exposure times.

Now I am convinced that is not the case. My converted camera with this window works well for UV-photography.

 

Most cameras with their bayer matrix intact has already lost very much of their sensitivity below 350nm, making the additional loss from this coating less important

With the more normal type of UV photography with UV-pass filters like Baader U, this glas's transmission is still reasonable OK.

 

I think the decay in transmission nearer 300nm is due to the AR-coating.

The design of the coating is to maximise the transmission important for astro.

The transmission is close to 100% over the VIS-range.

 

As a comparison an uncoated glass- or quartz-window would have only ca 90-92% transmission due to surface losses.

The Astronomik window reaches ca 90% at 365nm, close to the peak transmission for a Baader U.

[AlexNoir]

Hello there,

 

As far as they are not answering please back to the original point to may find another solution - is there any possibility for a german (EU) to aquire a good glass for the change of the Sensor filter in that kind of Nikon Camera without paying additional customs and long time shipping? :)

This homeapge / Forum / Community seems to be located in Norway but does that mean that even all material here is aquired in the US? :)

 

 

Alex

[Andrea B.]

Alex, I apologize for missing your question!

 

Birna is located in Norway and I am located in the US. Birna typically orders from the US

 

What you should do is search on the phrase "optical filter glass" on your German google. This will bring up any German (or perhaps European??) companies offering optical glass filters which you can then visit to look for clear conversion glass. (I do not have enough knowledge of German to try this search myself.)

 

If this does not work out, then please note that you can order a clear internal filter in the correct dimensions and thickness for your camera from Life Pixel in the US. Of course I do realize that this is high shipping cost for any of our European members. But I want to offer at least one confirmed source for clear conversion glass.

 

Here is the transmission chart for the glass which Life Pixel offers. Some left-hand slope but not very much. :) This is the kind of transmission chart you should look for. The thickness and dimensions for the glass are determined by your particular camera body.

 

From LifePixel

[Cadmium]

Here is Schott N-WG280 2mm thick. There is also BK7, but I don't have that data in the program.

[rfcurry]

Alex,

 

Have you inquired with camera conversion services in Germany? Optic Makario does full-spectrum conversion of many makes, so they should have the proper quartz on hand. See http://www.optic-makario.de/

 

IRreCams is another German firm. See http://www.irrecams....service/ablauf/

 

Good luck.

 

P.S. -- Robert Reiser has a very informative page for European and US camera conversions. See https://robertreiser.photography/infrared-camera-conversion-service/

[Andrea B.]

Steve, thanks for the chart. It looked like WG280 to me, but I forgot to go look it up.

 

*****

 

Reed, thanks for the links!!

 

I'll add some of those references to the Sticky (with attribution to Reiser).

 

I will NOT add Spencer's because I got a plastic filter conversion from them a few years ago. Maybe they have cleaned up their act since then. I hope so.

 

I prefer to only list and recommend converters from whom I have personally received a good conversion or from whom one of our members has gotten a good conversion. Although I did add a Sony converter to our list after talking with him because he was knowledgeable about the IR monitor problem. I do not see that mentioned on Reiser's pages?

[Cadmium]

Same thing. The real full name is N-WG280.

 

https://www.us.schott.com/advanced_optics/english/products/optical-components/optical-filters/optical-filter-glass/interactive-filter-diagram.html

[rfcurry]

Andrea,

 

Regarding Spencer's. I had them do a full-spectral conversion many years ago. When I got the camera back, the UV transmission was less than pre-conversion. And the whole camera was filthy. Spencer's customer service was bordering on abusive.

 

I then sent the camera to MaxMax and they did the conversion properly. I most definitely would not recommend Spencer's.

[Andrea B.]

Thanks for your report, Reed. We can only hope there has been improvement at Spencer's over the years. But based on what I know, I will *not* put Spencer's into the Sticky.