My First Attempt UV (BG39 + WB2) some portraits and buildings - Any CC Appreciated!

[Andy Perrin]

Nate, is the metal thing attached to the front of the lens just a weird lens hood?

[Nate]

@Andy PerrinYes, I used some 2in telescope fittings glued to an adapter

[lukaszgryglicki]

Ohhhh the "LCD magnifier" - can you please point me to an auction where I can buy such? I don't like live view, and have such a piece of "EVF" made from LCD will be ideal for all my Nikon bodies... actually it don't even need to magnify anything - just make my entire Lv LCD screen available through this "eyepiece/EVF".

 

[Doug A]

Neat looking set up @Nate. Reminds me to investigate a LCD hood/magnifier. 

 

I would like to give credit to Alonefire for including UV safety glasses with their torch. I haven't seen anyone else do this. UV glasses/googles are a must to protect your eyes.

 

Thanks,

Doug A

[Nate]

Thanks @Doug A Magnifier is a must for me, can't believe I went months without.

[Nate]

@mason2spectral I tested my Kolari hotmirror, this is is what I got with my setup, Your camera and lenses might be a bit different, and my Kolari might be way off from their site

[mason2spectral]

14 minutes ago, Nate said:

@mason2spectral I tested my Kolari hotmirror, this is is what I got with my setup, Your camera and lenses might be a bit different, and my Kolari might be way off from their site

So the hotmirror will cut UV past ~365nm or so?

[mason2spectral]

12 hours ago, ulf said:

I searched for "uv flashlight 15w" on eBay

 

Here is one of the Nemos I found:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/403045517412?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item5dd7628864:g:xPEAAOSwg6hhC7Ze&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAAA8M6fYutFZu1knfksK5PoGT4dJYLoNq4gNyIuFymAINuuLJzLB8VBmZVqEqOQmH0yS058CsioHKjYp5QHvj4o1GqH1Doddn6Wx9%2F0y1cdvhxGcIKnJ6ru9LKSp5iABrZttBdY3PPrRUsukRnglVaFf%2B2WTlqLEazz3vbnB%2FDgjHdd6DF0bT2CO9jG%2FMVebzAMXHArG1js6zIHJcDQ5zrPJ3HoBUEBq4%2BGyPeq%2B6eD4AHfPKOv9yYYkxCYEEodl776pBzI9zJEKlDqT0%2BNADR39%2B9g0NiDAOU%2F%2BZ0avGvBytHbJBpCIfWTFsqHUDftzoztkg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABFBMvqSZlvtf

 

Does not ship to United States | See detail

seems I still can't buy it...

 

Are these any good?

• https://www.ebay.com/itm/264778229959
• https://www.ebay.com/itm/Alonefire-SV13-15W-365nm-UV-Flashlight-USB-Rechargeable-Ultraviolet-Blacklight-/284210697930?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0
• https://www.ebay.com/itm/134008435334
• https://www.ebay.com/itm/255417386163

[Nate]

28 minutes ago, mason2spectral said:

So the hotmirror will cut UV past ~365nm or so?

That's what mine does. I think till you get a lower UV pass lens, It would work fine for you.

[Andy Perrin]

The AloneFire has been used here and I think it was good?

[Cadmium]

20 hours ago, ulf said:

I searched for "uv flashlight 15w" on eBay

 

Here is one of the Nemos I found:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/403045517412?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item5dd7628864:g:xPEAAOSwg6hhC7Ze&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAAA8M6fYutFZu1knfksK5PoGT4dJYLoNq4gNyIuFymAINuuLJzLB8VBmZVqEqOQmH0yS058CsioHKjYp5QHvj4o1GqH1Doddn6Wx9%2F0y1cdvhxGcIKnJ6ru9LKSp5iABrZttBdY3PPrRUsukRnglVaFf%2B2WTlqLEazz3vbnB%2FDgjHdd6DF0bT2CO9jG%2FMVebzAMXHArG1js6zIHJcDQ5zrPJ3HoBUEBq4%2BGyPeq%2B6eD4AHfPKOv9yYYkxCYEEodl776pBzI9zJEKlDqT0%2BNADR39%2B9g0NiDAOU%2F%2BZ0avGvBytHbJBpCIfWTFsqHUDftzoztkg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABFBMvqSZlvtf

 

 

I always feel sorry for that poor cat in the listing...  :-( I keep hoping it isn't a real cat. I think the word is cringe.

[Cadmium]

Here is my advice. U-360 2mm thick + S8612 (preferably) 2mm thick, (or BG39) 2mm thick. The real stuff.

Or use Baader U.

That will work best compared to practically anything else.

UV torches are going to produce a narrow band of 365nm UV light, so use natural outdoor light if possible.

 

White balance from RAW using Photo Ninja.
 

 

[ulf]

@mason2spectral

The https://www.ebay.com/itm/134008435334 is the most powerful in your list.

It also have a more wide main light pattern that can be nice.

It is a very nice torch that I have found myself using most of the time.

 

I had bad luck with the first torch of that type that I bought. It overheated and harmed one of the LEDs

Here is an analysis that I made: https://www.ultravioletphotography.com/content/index.php?/topic/5122-alonefire-h45-45w-dissection-and-analysis/#comment-53111

 

 

I got a substantial refund and bought a second one that works fine.

The torch fade in intensity mainly due to that everything heats up and is not that optimal if you need a light source that are on for a longer period of time.

If you use it for just a few minutes at the time and then let it cool down it recovers to full intensity again.

 

The reason for the fading is the marginal thermal design in combination with the rather primitive current limiting used in the electronics, without any constant current drivers.

 

[mason2spectral]

Weather as of late hasn't been very conducive to shooting in UV. 

I noticed this odd yellow/green tint that shows up when shooting extremely high iso on my a7r... could this be due to the ir conversion? I've seen this before when shooting in IR like 850nm. PureRaw seems to accentuate the issue.

Attached an example below:

   

 

Out of Camera JPG

(easier to see on a darker jpg I think)

[mason2spectral]

On 3/29/2022 at 10:45 PM, Andy Perrin said:

Lightroom cannot be used. The sliders won't go far enough. 

 

Water tends to look darker in IR and lighter in UV, but aside from that I wouldn't expect much change since it's mostly just reflecting surroundings.

 

@Andy Perrin Been doing a little testing with some in-camera white balancing on new photos from today.

 

LR seems to be a lost cause as it doesn't seem to respect the in-camera white balance at all. DXO

 

PhotoLab 5 respects the in-camera white balance for all intents and purposes, however it doesn't allow any level of tweaking or re-balancing -- in which case it'll start acting just like lightroom does. 

 

Interestingly, my copy of Luminar 4 respected the in-camera white balance and allowed me to redo/tweak the white-balance on the image without throwing any issues!

Will continue to test further -- I havent seen how Luminar treats PureRaw converted linear DNGs or if there are any issues exporting etc.

 

shot 55 1.8, was overcast/rainy outside

 

Luminar 4 Quick Edit Export. The sharpening and portrait functions seem useful but I was underwhelmed by the noise reduction...

Also Confirmed -- Luminar AI also treats the files the same, but I don't see much benefit over 4 unless maybe editing landscapes as AI seems to run slower? 

 

Basically same settings but ran PureRaw first on the RAW before taking it into Luminar 4:

 

PureRaw + Luminar 4:

[Andy Perrin]

You should get some virgin PTFE or Teflon to white balance off of. Sidewalks will do in a pinch, but PTFE is the best.

[mason2spectral]

13 minutes ago, Andy Perrin said:

You should get some virgin PTFE or Teflon to white balance off of. Sidewalks will do in a pinch, but PTFE is the best.

For white balance I used my ExpoDisc. Not sure how it performs in UV compared to IR though. **Added a final export from Luminar 4 to the previous post

[Andy Perrin]

I had to google ExpoDisc, but it looks like it's made of plastic. Most plastics are NOT neutral in UV. You should get some PTFE. Use a sidewalk in the mean time. See how it's already dipping fast towards 400nm?

 

With a neutral white balance, there should be no red left in the image (unless there is remaining IR contamination, but I don't think there is any).

[mason2spectral]

57 minutes ago, Andy Perrin said:

I had to google ExpoDisc, but it looks like it's made of plastic. Most plastics are NOT neutral in UV. You should get some PTFE. Use a sidewalk in the mean time. See how it's already dipping fast towards 400nm?

 

With a neutral white balance, there should be no red left in the image (unless there is remaining IR contamination, but I don't think there is any).

yea its off, but its still a lot closer than before. so for now I'll probably keep an eye out for an alternative

[Andy Perrin]

The virgin PTFE is cheap.

 

[Nate]

@mason2spectralI use plumbers tape wrapped around a 4x4 card, and glued into an empty CD case. It's wrapped around 5 times, and has worked great for WB

 

[Andy Perrin]

I think several people have tried that and it works. Plumber's tape is also PTFE, not sure if it's virgin. It's definitely been around the block a few times...

 

[Nate]

@Andy PerrinDefinitly has been dropped a few times

[mason2spectral]

Found this online. Looked odd

https://www.ebay.com/itm/272305146038?hash=item3f66a6c8b6:g:tFkAAOSwr~lYsHWQ

@Cadmium Hes also selling Kuribayashi 35mm f/3.5 clones.

[colinbm]

6 minutes ago, mason2spectral said:

Found this online. Looked odd

https://www.ebay.com/itm/272305146038?hash=item3f66a6c8b6:g:tFkAAOSwr~lYsHWQ

@Cadmium Hes also selling Kuribayashi 35mm f/3.5 clones.

These are refurbished lenses that Igor has repaired & re-assembled from other 35mm f3.5 lenses from the same era & preform equally or nearly equally to the Kuribayashi at a fraction of the price. We are lucky that Igor has made these available as there are some people that have collected many Kuribayashi lenses to keep the market scarce & hold the price high.