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UltravioletPhotography

[SAFETY WARNING] Cicada Wing in UVC


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SAFETY WARNING: 

UV-C is dangerous to your eyes and your skin.

UVP DOES NOT SUPPORT USING UV-C ILLUMINATION.

[UV SAFETY] UV-C Light Dangers


 

 

 

 

We have about 30000 cicada's around just one of our maple trees. We also have had a couple of hard rain storms. So I was able to find a cicada wing (many actually) in the grass.

No animals or bugs were harmed by me to take these images.

 

I have been playing with the idea of 255nm transmission imaging. Here I have my Raspberry pi HQ converted to Monochrome by MaxMax connected to my 25mm Bicx fused silica lens. This is roughly 135mm 135 format equivalent and I have fixed f8 aperture disc on the back of lens. This is one 255nm bulb shinning up through the wing with 254bp filter on the camera. This wing is sitting on 3mm thick ZWB3 glass plate.

post-188-0-54499200-1622290477.jpg

 

That was the full view of the wing and it does transmit some UVC. So I added some extension to the lens, as I was having a hard time with my objectives.

This is just transmission through the wing using a single 255nm bulb:

post-188-0-85545500-1622290558.jpg

 

Now I configured a 255nm bulb on the side for directed point reflection light to look at the wing, no transmission only reflected 254nm light. This was hard as the lens is very close to the subject. But these looked fun:

post-188-0-21451800-1622290667.jpg

post-188-0-88467400-1622290659.jpg

post-188-0-81940800-1622290652.jpg

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The marks in the lower left I think are pixels that have some issues with long exposure times. They seem ok faster than 15 seconds. But the 60 and 120 second exposure times here really make them come out.

 

A flower petal was just black without any transmission and was quite thin. So I was glad to see some transmission through the wing.

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Andy Perrin
Nice photos, these have the kind of sharpness you'd hope for in UVC. Definitely stuff really likes to absorb in that region. David, could you have the camera automatically average like 30 images together? That is what I'm doing with my TriWave in MATLAB to reduce noise.
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This was more of a proof of concept. The cicada wing should last a long time. So I can sort out my objectives and lenses. The tube extension is adding a UVC hot spot. So that will need to be corrected.

Yes it should be possible to do anything with the pi. I also need to test out the best output for the monochrome raw image.

Monochrome2DNG I think now supports the HQ files. So need to compare dcraw, RawTherapee, and m2DNG. All the above are using modified dcraw. I can make DNG using pyDNG. But I can't remember if any special color mapping is used. I will have to inspect the script.

 

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David, will you try shorter wavelengths on this camera? Maybe it can see 185 nm, if you want to go that deep again. So far, I think no one here went as deep as you (except X-rays).
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I don't have any bulbs that can output the 185nm line. Maybe in the future, I have the fused silica lenses now and I think it should be able to see there. So it should be possible.
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David,

I noticed this on the Eskma site and thought of you.

http://www.uvroptics.com/images/EKSMA_Optics_Optical_Components_Page_16.jpg

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  • 1 year later...
lukaszgryglicki

For 185nm output I alreayd have 4 bulbs - they are dirt cheap.

Just low pressure mercury bulbs without ozone protection.

Tried them many times, you can easy "smell" them.

 

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19 minutes ago, lukaszgryglicki said:

For 185nm output I alreayd have 4 bulbs - they are dirt cheap.

Just low pressure mercury bulbs without ozone protection.

Tried them many times, you can easy "smell" them.

 

Those ones are 80% 254nm line, with some of the other lines. I used to have a 185nm bulb, which was slightly different and expensive.  The major Mercury line changes based on heat and pressure of the bulb.

My 193nm bp filter leaks 254nm, so I need more 185nm than 254nm.

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lukaszgryglicki

Ohhh OK this is a major problem, I havew the same with 254nm line - it is 80%, but still there are other lines, and currently I think I can only register those others not 254nm one.

 

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