And another one from Germany

[maikm]

Hello,

 

thanks to Birna and Andrea for running this forum and accepting my application. My name is Maik, I was born in northern Germany, but live in the south since 1992 (went there for university and somehow never left again).

 

I dabbled in a bit of uninspired photography in my youth, but I didn't have access to decent cameras through my parents or anything, so the results were often frustrating. The cost of film and development also held me back at the time. But with a strong interest in electronics and software, I went at it again when around 1999 digital cameras started to become exciting and usable. I became somewhat skilled at portraits and even photographed entire weddings with a Coolpix 950. Later, in the DSLR era, I expanded to landscapes and wildlife, and I'm still doing most of my photography in those three areas.

 

My camera history then went through Nikon D70, D200, D300s and D500. When my current standard zoom broke, again, I refused to buy yet another plastic lens for APS-C and fully went to Nikon Z (Z6II, Z9, and a number of lenses). Still have the AF-S 300/2.8 I in F-mount, as well as an AIS 50/1.8 (one with a 3... serial number, following a review I read a Birna's old site very long ago), sold most other F-mount lenses and cameras to gain some money back for new ones.

 

When I got the D300s, the D200 became my new backup body, so I converted the D70 to infrared (720nm). It is somewhat limited in itself as judging the exposure is difficult, I don't have a way to compensate for focus shift, and the resolution is low. I always shoot exposure brackets of 3 frames and select the one with the longest exposure but no blown highlights later.

 

But it's cumbersome to use the D70 when all my other gear has a new mount, so now I'm looking to aquire a used Z5, have it modified for full spectrum, and expand my non-visible-light experiences. Related online research led me to Birna's PrimaLuce Z5 review, so here I am :-)

 

Greetings

Maik

[dabateman]

Welcome,  I hope you have better luck with your Z5 than Birna has. 

I consider the z5 to use an autofocus adapter.  

I look forward to seeing your wildlife and landscapes.

[Nate]

Welcome. Looking forward to seeing your Landscapes and wildlife. I find that wildlife doesn't stay put long enough for reflected UV, wish they would.

[Andy Perrin]

Yeah, wildlife can be shot in IR, but very challenging at the least in UV. Can't wait to see some pics!

[Kai]

Hi Maik,
willkommen in der UVP-Community :)
Grüße aus dem Rheinland!
Kai

[Doug A]

Hello @maikm. Couldn't you use an old prime lens with IR focus mark on the D70? That should allow sharp images. UV will be exciting to explore. Looking forward to your posts.

Thanks for sharing,

Doug A

[maikm]

Hello Doug, of course I could, but I'm not eager to invest more in F-mount, as I don't want to carry two separate systems. Plus 6MP is really not a lot these days. The D70 photos have the size of a postcard in 100% on my 5K display.

 

In response to the other posts, I never did any IR or UV photography with wildlife. I've used IR only for landscape and more abstract subjects. I particularly like about it that it works best in contrasty light that doesn't work at all for regular nature photography, so it's a good way to seize the limited time I have to be out.

 

Maik