How much gear do you carry on an UV/IR photo shoot?

[Doug A]

I carry Pentax K-1 full spectrum with Ioriginal 35, Nikon El-Nikkor 80 & 135 for UV. This also includes Igoriginal ZWB1/BG39 52mm filter stack, two helicoids, and Vivitar UV converted 283 flash. Unfortunately, I haven't fixed the major hotspot the 35-90 helicoid causes with the EL-Nikkor 135. The Pentax bellows is immune to hotspots and accompanies the 135. 

 

For IR the Pentax 18-55 ( the 16-45 hotspots), 55-300 cover most everything. I have a Kolari IRChrome filter for the 16-45 ( it doesn't cause major hotspots, but only covers down to ~24). 

 

There is room for some consolidation. I have a Pentax 24-35 that does well with IR and would replace 16-45. I need to modify one of the flashes to convert from UV to IR and UV fluorescence. Fixing the 35-90 helicoid would allow leaving the bellows home. How much stuff do you carry.

 

Thanks,

Doug A

[Andy Perrin]

Usually just my camera with the stack and whatever lens attached and a tripod and my infrared remote. I don’t usually do UV shoots far from home. Oh and my PTFE for white balance. 
 

I don’t usually carry a torch for UV reflectography. 

[Nate]

Lately  just have a camera bag with Cam ,EL Nikkor 80, 25-59 Helicoid all attached. Spare helicoids for another El Nikkor 80 for IR with a R72, 590, or a 950.  Baader U, ZWB1, Antila U in there also, spare batteries with charger. Power inverter already in car.

 

For nighttime, I have a Helion XP50 thermal/38mm lens too for wildlife spotting with 11 in tablet for display for in car, Cheap night vision, and sometimes I'll mount my 940 torch on 77D for things out to 20ft.

[Cadmium]

Keep it simple. Other than that, a 365nm torch can come in handy for UV focusing. 
Take whatever you want to use, there is no rule.

Ha ha, what happens with me so many times, is the basics, I forget to take my battery or my memory card!  Ack! Not good when you are on a drive.

You ever do that?

My memory card it so often left behind plugged into my computer, or my battery charging...

What would be good is an assistant to group all those things together for me.
 

 

 

[ulf]

53 minutes ago, Cadmium said:

Keep it simple. Other than that, a 365nm torch can come in handy for UV focusing. 
Take whatever you want to use, there is no rule.

Ha ha, what happens with me so many times, is the basics, I forget to take my battery or my memory card!  Ack! Not good when you are on a drive.

You ever do that?

My memory card it so often left behind plugged into my computer, or my battery charging...

What would be good is an assistant to group all those things together for me.

I feel more isolated these day, not sue if the pandemic has much to do with it, or if it is more related to life and age,

but getting out there is the real key, just take your battery. ;-)
 

 

 

I am glad that I am not alone doing those mistakes.

 

Last year at the solstice when I went to shoot the Dolmen I realised that I had shot several series from different positions with at least 10-15 different filters each, as I usually do.

The camera was set to shooting without a card a long time earlier when I did some experimenting and I forgot to set it back. I wasted an hour or so on that empty first run and had to go back picking up the flash card. It was a bitter cold windy day, just around freezing, so I added some more clothing for the second run too.

 

Keeping it simple is a good approach that I try to follow, but when exploring I often want to run through a series of filters, as I have found that interesting features are found for different motifs with different filtering. That is mainly for my main type of photography, macro images of flowers. Then I bring my filter magazines with 20 or more filters. They fit in a big camera bag with the camera. I normally only bring a few lenses El-Nikkor 80/5.6 and Focotar-2 50/4.5 on their dedicated helicoids. Then naturally I bring a good tripod too.

 

At other occasions I try to really keep it simple with a small sling bag to carry just the camera and one lens, with one filer or stack. It all depends on what I plan to do.

[dabateman]

I used to carry full lens sets and couple cameras.

Now I haven't done much, even around the house. 

But before COVID,  I did settle down with the idea of one camera, one lens and a bunch of filters.  That way I could learn my lenses better.  Also I try to imagine ahead of time the photos I want to bring back as time is always limited and what lens would be best.  I would also typically carry a telephoto or macro with whatever other lens I had decided on, as I typically will see with that vision.

Now I have acquired or made a whole bunch of lenses. Especially fast wide angle.  So not sure what I am wanting in my images. 

I do need to get back out of the house.

[Bill De Jager]

For UV I'm normally using one camera, one lens, and one filter (Baader-U).  Either I'm at home, walking very near home, or else on a photo expedition by vehicle where most of my gear is for visible-light photography.  In the last of these cases I might have two UV-capable lenses in the vehicle.  I did take three lenses recently to the site where I did UV tests on Kyoei lenses - one UV-dedicated reference lens and two lenses to test.

 

This is a far cry from my IR and visible photography.  There I'll usually have 2-3 lenses when on foot, and multiple bodies, lenses, and filters in the vehicle if I'm on a trip.

[Andrea B.]

If I'm out making a local, documentary wildflower shoot, then...

• Color Checker Card and {Spectralon or PTFE}
• Convoy UV-LED to shine on subject for focusing.
  This is not always needed, but better to have it along than not.
• Filters:  usually between 3-8 in number
  • UV/IR-Cut
  • UV-Pass: Something around 350-360nm peak and something with a bit of violet pass.
  • IR-Pass: B+W092 and usually something longer like 830 nm or more.
  • UV+Blue+Green: UG5 or U330 base + S8612
• Camera
  • attached remote shutter firing thingie
  • attached GPS if outside my normal range
  • extra battery
• Lens
• Tripod: usually the RRS Ground Pod
• For the D610, I bring either an LCD loupe or towel to shade the screen so that I can see to focus. 

.

The camera and lens on the tripod are transported as one unit wrapped in a protective layer while riding in the car.

The filters, torch, batteries, cc card, etc are all carried in a small case with shoulder strap.

So I'm easily carrying 2 Gear Units to the actual wildflower site if it is close by.

 

If I have to walk some distance, then the tripod goes into a case with a shoulder strap.

And the camera is put onto a shoulder strap also.

That would make 3 Gear Units with mostly hands free walking.

 

Sunscreen is usually applied before leaving.

Chapstick carried in a pocket. Hat on head.

 

I fantasize about having a pony, llama or big Mountain Dog to pull a gear cart 

and accompany me on my wildflower shoots. Wouldn't that be fun?

 

[OlDoinyo]

I don't have a separate UV?IR kit as such; my gear for that is just part of my main set-up. For travel when space is limited (airlines,) I take my converted camera, two zoom lenses for standard visible photography, and Kolari deconverting filters. Three UV-capable lenses, a pinhole, some other filters, and a lightweight tripod complete the outfit.

[Doug A]

Wow, lots of people taking only one lens. I have to take at least a wide and tele. I'll see a landscape, one minute, and then a flower. Not much UV at sea level so a converted flash is a must. 

 

@ulf interesting that your two lenses are 50 & 80. That's pretty close together. Do they have different uses or strengths?

 

Your posts jogged my memory. Forgot to mention the Feisol tripod, Nemo torch and other equipment. No work today and I believe the El-Nikkor 135/ helicoid flare and leak is finally fixed. Now to find my 58-67 step up ring for the Pentax 24-35. 

 

I often forget equipment. No longer memory cards, camera holds two and the 2nd one never leaves the body. Batteries are rarely forgotten since extras live in all the camera bags. Filters are another story. When one only owns a single UV filter stack, and it is left  at home on another lens, UV shooting is done for the day. 

 

@Andrea B.  thanks for providing a look into your shooting methods. You carry a lot of stuff. There should be camera caddy's. I have rented baby strollers to transport equipment at the Zoo. Causes some funny looks, but worth it. 

 

@OlDoinyo why a pinhole? Granted, it is small and weighs next to nothing. 

 

Thanks to everyone for sharing,

Doug A

[ulf]

3 hours ago, Doug A said:

Wow, lots of people taking only one lens. I have to take at least a wide and tele. I'll see a landscape, one minute, and then a flower. Not much UV at sea level so a converted flash is a must. 

 

@ulf interesting that your two lenses are 50 & 80. That's pretty close together. Do they have different uses or strengths?

 

Thanks to everyone for sharing,

Doug A

I have mostly used the 80 that is the first type of lens I got for UV. The 50 is very sharp too and sometimes I switch to that one, just to see if I get something different. At least the perspective is different, but also the working distance.

A long time ago for VIS I really liked to use the Canon FD 50/3.5 Macro.

That lens is actually reasonably OK for the upper UV-A and quite nice with it's long builtin helicoid for up to 2:1.

For macro it will work well on any camera, even if some brands of DSLRs will not reach infinity. I have posted about it both when I discovered that it could do some UV and in the Lens Data section. 

[enricosavazzi]

On 12/12/2021 at 6:43 AM, Cadmium said:

[...]

What would be good is an assistant to group all those things together for me.

A list of the required kit items would be simpler and cheaper. Perhaps a two-level list, with one list containing the indispensable items, and the second some "good to have but not indispensable" items. The list should never leave the bag, of course. If you use the same bag for different types of photography, then a small booklet of lists, for example a list for UV macro and another for UV landscape.

 

The booklet of lists can be expanded with lists of camera settings for special purposes, for example.

 

On long trips by air (which are a thing of the past now, for obvious reasons), I used to have a complete list of all my custom camera settings and flash settings, just in case my custom settings in the cameras were changed for some reason.

[lukaszgryglicki]

I think I'll be travelling with: Nikon D600 full spectrum, Atom-Nikkor 35/1.4 and then only filters: Hoya R72, Hoya UV/IR cut, Kolari UV-Pass. I will also take Nikkor 28/1.4 AF-D only to be able to ask other people to shoot a photo of me & my wife.

[Doug A]

7 hours ago, enricosavazzi said:

A list of the required kit items would be simpler and cheaper. Perhaps a two-level list, with one list containing the indispensable items, and the second some "good to have but not indispensable" items. The list should never leave the bag, of course. If you use the same bag for different types of photography, then a small booklet of lists, for example a list for UV macro and another for UV landscape.

 

The booklet of lists can be expanded with lists of camera settings for special purposes, for example.

 

On long trips by air (which are a thing of the past now, for obvious reasons), I used to have a complete list of all my custom camera settings and flash settings, just in case my custom settings in the cameras were changed for some reason.

Lists are a great idea. They make it less likely to leave equipment behind. Custom function settings are also important. Had to reset the Pentax K-1 upon return from the Kolari Vision conversion. It was like an alien camera before resetting. 

 

Thanks,

Doug A

[Doug A]

7 hours ago, lukaszgryglicki said:

I think I'll be travelling with: Nikon D600 full spectrum, Atom-Nikkor 35/1.4 and then only filters: Hoya R72, Hoya UV/IR cut, Kolari UV-Pass. I will also take Nikkor 28/1.4 AF-D only to be able to ask other people to shoot a photo of me & my wife.

I'd throw in the 80 El-Nikkor. It is so small and gives some telephoto reach.

Thanks,

Doug A

[Andy Perrin]

I love that 80mm EL-Nikkor. So many great photos have come from that lens. The only complaints I have is that it’s slow and it has such odd filter thread diameter.