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New member and new to full spectrum photography


residentbrit

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residentbrit

Hello,

 

My name is Phillip, I am from Sacramento, California, I am totally new to this subject, I have just sent in one of my cameras, Canon 60D for full spectrum conversion, it'll prob be a week or so until I get it back.

 

I am keen to experiment using it for nature, wildlife, portraits, general still life.

 

I have a selection of EF and EF-S lenses but I gather most "recent" lenses have some form of UV coating on one or more of the elements. I do also have some older lenses that I got on ebay and had used with the m42 to canon mount converter, I'm wondering if they might work for full spectrum photography.

 

I'll look around the forum to see what other people are using, looking forward to contributing.

 

Thanks,

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Welcome to the forum Phillip!

 

I am also using an EOS 60D and it woks fine for my style of UV-photography, even if it is a bit noisy at higher ISOs.

 

Most modern lenses have both coatings and are built with much glass that is blocking UV.

Please see the Lens sticky for UV-capable lenses:

https://www.ultravioletphotography.com/content/index.php/topic/1654-sticky-uv-capable-lenses/

 

You need some filter to block Visual and IR-light to be able to take UV-pictures.

If things are done right chlorophyll and foliage is very dark in UV, totally opposite to what you see in IR-images.

 

Be prepared for much longer exposure times in UV than visual light. (300-1000x)

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Hi Phillip and welcome to UVP! I hope you enjoy the site and find lots of good information. We have a Lens Sticky in the reference section which contains lists of lenses that members have found useful for UV, IR or multispectral photography. You can also use the UV Lens search tag for more info.

 

(Side Note: I lived over in Davis for a couple of years and greatly enjoyed that part of Northern California. Sacramento's Old Town area should be a cool place for some UV, IR or Multispectral photography.)

 

Sticky :: UV-Capable Lenses

 

UV Lens

 

Sticky :: UV/Vis/IR Filters

 

And more in our Reference section. :grin:

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residentbrit

Thank-you both for the warm welcome and the information, the sticky is fantastic, I might be able to press my m42 mount lenses into service, I have

 

Haminar 135mm f/2.8

Quantaray 28mm f/2.8

Kaligar 35mm f/2.8

Vivitar 35mm f/2.8

Asahi Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4

 

If not, I'll think I'll look on ebay for a 35mm f/3.5 or 4 from the sticky list, and of course a filter.

 

I am using Spencers Camera and Photo for my conversion, they also have bypass filters for sale that seem reasonably priced I guess.

 

Old Sac would be fun to try in UV and IR, I'm looking to use this as an excuse to rekindle my excitement in photography and drag me away from work.

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Welcome to the forum Philip.

 

Can you share the details of the UV filter from Spencer's. I've not heard of it before, and it'd be good to know how good the IR blocking is.

 

I've found the Eos 40mm f2.8 pancake lens to be the best Eos lens for UV I've tested so far.

 

Jonathan

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Philip. I can't see a UV only filter on that link (unless I'm missing something).

 

The typical filter is the Baader U. That has good blocking out of band, and good UV transmission. However it comes in a slightly awkward size for camera lenses. Also worth considering is the LaLa U from Uviroptics, which is 52mm diameter. Have a good read through the filters sticky, that Andrea posted. It's worth spending money on a good filter.

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Hi Jonathan,

 

I do have the 40mm pancake lens, so that's going to be fun trying that out, sounds like it will give me a good intro into the subject; this is the listing on Spencer's

 

https://www.spencerscamera.com/store/store_sub.cfm?Category_ID=11

 

I am new to all of this, if you check them out you might be able to advise if you think their filters are worth considering.

 

Thanks,

 

Welcome, sadly I don't see a single UV photography capable filter there. All are for IR. Their super blue may work well to give an IR chrome like image.

 

I will be curious if your Quantaray 28mm works in UV. For some reason I have found a 24mm will work but a 28mm will not from the same lens series. But I only have Quantaray 24mm Macro and not the 28mm.

 

To start out a U360 2mm + S8612 2mm filter might be fun. Then if you want deeper UV you could get a U340mm. Use it stacked with the same S8612. If cost is no issue the expensive Baader venus U filter is the best. But it will need a step up or down ring.

 

Most important is to have fun.

 

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residentbrit
Thank-you both for checking the page, I will refer back to the filter sticky page, with regards to the Baader I'm assuming you guys have used a step-up/down filter ring to attach it.
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I would go for the stack based on S8612, 2mm plus others for the flexibility and fun to test other filter combinations later.

 

The U360 2mm + S8612 2mm has a lower transmission, but better IR suppression than the Baader U.

Sometimes I have seen a tiny effect of IR-leakage with the Baader U. Others on the forum have not.

 

It might be for me only with my type of motifs, camera and location.

I have almost completely stopped using my Baader U and most other dichroic filters.

Visually the Baader U and U360 2mm + S8612 2mm give colours very close to identical.

Beside the pure UV, I like to explore the more colourful "bees vision" type of stacks.

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I would also vote for absorption glass stacks (I use UG11 2mm + S8612 1.75mm, which I have never observed any IR leakage with). Dichroic filters are ok on lenses with large focal lengths (60mm+) and if you want to pass a narrow band for some technical reason.
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The combination of UG11 2mm + S8612 1.75mm is OK for IR-suppression, but S8612 2mm will be better for some other filter combinations to ensure that there is no significant IR leakage.

 

Dichroic filters has their merits, but are also more difficult to use with some lenses.

They also are more dependant on lens shades.

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I think the UV level should be good in Sacramento. I briefly shot in San Mateo, and the fog was thick. But Oakland was ok and Sacramento is further in land than that. So UV filtering may not be as bad as what Ulf has. I was only there for a weekend though back in 2011, so things may have changed.

 

If you do decide to go Baader. I just use cheap Chinese 52mm to 48mm step down ring on back of filter and cheap Chinese 48mm to 52mm ring on the front. Then I can stack it with other band pass filters. I use 43rds, and M43rds cameras and don't have any vignetting issues. Cadmium has balanced the BaaderU filter between two retaining rings in a 52mm to 48mm stepdown ring, for thinnest filter I have seen.

 

But if you do want to try other "UV colors" the S8612 route is good. Then you will find yourself with U340, U360 and U330 glass. Also BG3 or B370 can be fun. All can almost be purchased for the same cost of just the BaaderU filter.

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I think the UV level should be good in Sacramento. I briefly shot in San Mateo, and the fog was thick. But Oakland was ok and Sacramento is further in land than that. So UV filtering may not be as bad as what Ulf has. I was only there for a weekend though back in 2011, so things may have changed.

 

But if you do want to try other "UV colors" the S8612 route is good. Then you will find yourself with U340, U360 and U330 glass. Also BG3 or B370 can be fun. All can almost be purchased for the same cost of just the BaaderU filter.

 

I also start early in the spring when the first flowers appear.

I have only seen IR leakage with the Baader U with really UV-dark flowers.

 

To clarify, if needed. :smile:

"B370, U340, U360 and U330 glass" are B-370, U-340, U-360 and U-330 glass from Hoya.

S8612 is an unique filter-glass from Schott.

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residentbrit
This is amazing information, thank-you all for sharing, you're helping to get me off to a good start, I will check out the filters, I'm excited to see how my m42 mount lenses behave and I also picked up a Asahi Super-Takumar 35mm f/3.5 on eBay as I saw that one on the sticky. I've been pleased with the Hoya ND Filters in the past so I'll be interested to take a look at their UV pass filters.
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Phillip, the Filter Sticky has references for good UV-pass filters whether stacked (Uvir*optics U360+S8612) or absorptive (UVR Optics AndreaU) or dichroic (Baader Planetarium BaaderU). We cannot at this time recommend ZBW filters as the quality varies so widely.

 

Also, be sure to ask what kind of glass your conversion shop is placing in the converted camera. In the past some vendors (including Spencer's) used a kind of plastic which did not work too well for full spectrum. I don't think they use plastic anymore, but I don't know for sure. And I'm always willing to be convinced that the right kind of plastic internal filters would work OK.

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residentbrit
Hi Andrea, yeah caveat emptor indeed, thank-you for the heads up. I'm reading and re-reading the stickies, appreciate the work everyone did to compile all that information.
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residentbrit
I heard back from Spencers, the rep told me they use quartz, so slight relief there. For filters I think I would go with the Schott UG11 + S8612, I see there's also a UG1, which might fit more in my budget at the moment, I see both filters mentioned on the sticky, just trying to decide, ha.
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