Nikkor 50/1.8 AF-D

[lukaszgryglicki]

This is how Nikkor 50/1.8 AF-D behaves on Nikon D600 full spectrum converted and debayered (white balance makes no sense at all in this case). The filter is 4mm U-340 Hoya.

 

All handheld, just firt trials, I would say that 50mm/1.8 has a ton of "chromatic" aberrations in UV, so that makes its images dreamy (by chromatic I mean just different wavelengths inside UV-A range).

 

 

My ugly face in UV:

1/40s, f=1.8, ISO, 1100:

1/40s, f=1.8s, ISO 400:

 

Leaves 1/5s, f=4, ISO 800:

 

Landscape, 1/30s, f=1.8, ISO 800:

 

And for reference, full spectrum photos:

1/250s, f=8, ISO 100:

1/250s, f=8, ISO 100:

 

And IR 760+ nm:

1/125s, f=5.5, ISO 100:

1/125s, f=5.6, ISO 100:

 

Hope that somebody finds it useful.

[lukaszgryglicki]

BTW: you can see how the Bayer filter was "physically" removed from the sensor, see edges... you can see how much light is stolen by the Bayer matrix/CFA in UV. I stoles a lot less in IR (seems like they are way more transparent, you can also see that in full-spectrum photos, but to a lesser degree).

[Andrea B.]

Łukasz -- Hello and Welcome to UltravioletPhotography.com. It's nice to have you here.

 

I had a Nikon D600 full-spectrum conversion which I used for years before moving to a D610 conversion. Both those cameras are really excellent for UV/IR work. So you will get some good stuff from your D600! I converted my old D600 before the information came out about the oil splatter problem. I didn't think Nikon would repair a converted D600 while maintaining the conversion, so I got the D610 and converted that.

 

Currently I do not have any de-Bayered cameras, so it is quite interesting to me to see how the D600 will perform as a mono. The Infrareds you have posted are quite sharp!! That is very cool as IR can be a little soft in the details just because of its long-waved nature. But all those pixels which are freed up seem to really boost the outcome of the IR photos.

 

Also, I have both those lenses you are testing out: the Nikkor 50/1.8 AFD and the Macro 105/2.8 AFD. It is nice to see some work with them in mono UV/IR.

 

I am slightly concerned that your 4.0 mm U340 is passing some IR light?? We usually recommend adding an IR blocker to that U340 x 4.0. I'll try to get out and run a little test on that this afternoon with my copy of that 50/1.8 to see what I get. Altho it won't be mono, maybe I will get something useful anyway.

 

Looking forward to your contributions.

[lukaszgryglicki]

I suspect that U-340 might be "fake"

It's name looks like glued on the filter thread - hard to say what exactly, also when I stop down to f=8 or f=16 I start to see hot-spots or something that looks like an internal reflections of eigher lenses (both) or filter. This *may be* two Hoyas U-340 2mm glued together for instance.

My other lenses were worse so I wasn't able to see this, now I just start suspecting the filter is just bad.

Another one is in transit - Kolari UV - will see that one.

Also noted that Hoya U-340 has an IR leak - I knew that before, but when I was looking at 4mm transmission curvers - it looked very small, but maybe still able to contaminate the final UV image.

Chances are that this Hoya can just be a total fake too... but how to check this? Dreamy look suggests "chromatic" aberration - that was something that I was expecting from non-UV lens in 3x0-400 nm - this is why I was/am thinking that images are at least a bit UV indeed.

[Andrea B.]

A 4mm thick U340 is likely glued. The one I have from Uviroptics/Ebay is glued. I love that filter and use it a lot both with and without an IR-blocker.

Anyway, let me see what I get from a 4mm U340 on the 50/1.8 which might help you. It will take a while to get it posted.

 

Hotspotting in UV or IR is possible with many lenses and filter combos. But sometimes you can work around it with a different angle or different aperture.

 

The dreamy look could very likely be from shooting at f/1.8.

 

Do you have some aluminum foil used for cooking? Crumple up a piece of it and shoot it in strong sunlight. This is an easy way to look for chromatic aberration. In UV false color, you would see lots of purple/blue edges on the foil. In mono, I'm not exactly sure what you would see! But the aberration will be detectable.

[lukaszgryglicki]

Would be great to see what you can get.

Dreamy look.... hmmm - it was quite the same for f=4 and in IR or Full-spectrum there is no dreamy look at f=1.8.... I know that in such case UV contributes to maybe 0.5% if not less...

[Andrea B.]

Ah, ok. Something going on in UV then.