Greetings from Allston/Brighton

[Aaron E.]

Hello! I'm Aaron Ellison, living in the Allston/Brighton section of Boston  (MA, USA), and just joining up! I'm excited to be here and to learn from/share with the UVP community.

 

I'm a retired (hah!) ecologist (and I see a number of my colleagues here on UVP) and lifelong photographer. For many years, I mostly did a lot of macro work (many examples of which are in my Field Guide to the Ants of New England), but then shifted to landscapes about 10 years ago. Since 2020, I've been collaborating with Eric Zeigler, who I met through an online art/science residency program, and this collaboration has led both of us to extend our photographic work outside of the visible spectrum. While recognizing the broad aesthetic appeal of IR, we are particularly interested in UV photography and its historical and conceptual links to 19th-century collodion emulsions (which are sensitive to UV but not to reds). Some examples of our collaborative work are in these two virtual exhibitions (DoubleTake and Timelines); we occasionally manage to make it into juried exhibitions, and we also combine our photographic work with academic and general-interest writing and conference presentations.

 

We work with full-spectrum converted Nikon cameras (D850, Df, Z8), Steinheil (50mm, 35mm) and Soligor (35mm) lenses from the 1950s and 1960s, a Nikon 28-300-mm zoom lens (F-mount; a super-sharp lens, but the chromatic aberration can be annoying) and Kolari UV-bandpass and IR (850nm) filters. For a recent trip I took to Namibia and Botswana, I also used a LifePixel hypercolor (>470 nm) filter (two of my favorite images from Namibia and Botswana are included below).

 

 

 

I've become particularly enamored of magnetic filter rings for quick swaps in the field; Kase's Wolverine series works better than LifePixels (I can put a LifePixel mag ring onto a Kase, but not vice-versa). For collodion work, we use a 1960s-vintage Linhof 4x5 and Zebra dry plates. For digital work, we shoot RAW (Nikon NEF) and spend far too much time post-processing with PhotoNinja, Photoshop, and Lightroom. For dry plates, its back to the darkroom!

 

Right now, I'm gearing up for the April solar eclipse here in the northeast US and the May/June dual emergence in the Midwest of two huge broods of periodic cicadas (the first dual emergence in 221 years!). For the former, I'm interested to learn if anyone on UVP has tried to photograph the sun (or an eclipse) in UV and IR (can it burn out a digital sensor?); in 2017 I only had a standard solar filter. For the latter, the cicadas will pull me back into macro (I've just picked up Nikon EL-50mm and 80mm lenses, a cheap set of bellows, and a whole mess of adapter rings to get them to talk to a Nikon Z mount) and I hope to learn more about UV/IR lighting and flashes.

 

Finally, retirement allows me to travel a lot, and if there are UVP members interested in meeting up for field trips and talking photos and tech, I can post travel plans. When I'm not on the road, I'm often in my studio at Artisan's Asylum, a community makerspace here in Brighton. If you're in the area, check it out!

[colinbm]

Welcome aboard Aaron.
Good luck on your journeys & I am looking forwards to your foray in UV.

[Ming]

Welcome, Aaron.

 

[Andy Perrin]

Hey, you must be not far from me! I live on Washington Street in Brighton Center. You can probably guess where from this thermogram:
 

 

Yes, members have photographed solar eclipses in the not too distant past. I believe Cadmium (who seems to have left the site) got some photos in August 2017. There may be others. I’m on my phone right now so it’s hard to search the site. 

[photoni]

Welcome @Aaron E.  you will see that the UV world is much more difficult and complicated than near infrared.

 

For many years I have been making wet collodion in my studio (portraits and still life) on glass, plexiglass and metal, in 4x5 and 8x10" formats

On this site there is a specific POST of mine that talks about collodion, where the members helped me understand how to emulate it with a Sony A7 Full spectrum.

 

If you have used Zebra orthochromatic dry plates you will have understood the big differences with our normal RGB vision.

I have never used Zebra dry plates (made in Slovenia), They have a sensitivity of 2 ISO (double the wet plate)
The Jason Lane's American dry plates
https://www.pictoriographica.com/technicals-and-tips.html
They have two types of emulsion 2 ISO and 25 ISO, maybe it's easier for you to buy them, they don't arrive easily in Europe.

Toni

[Aaron E.]

1 hour ago, photoni said:

Welcome @Aaron E.  you will see that the UV world is much more difficult and complicated than near infrared.

 

For many years I have been making wet collodion in my studio (portraits and still life) on glass, plexiglass and metal, in 4x5 and 8x10" formats

On this site there is a specific POST of mine that talks about collodion, where the members helped me understand how to emulate it with a Sony A7 Full spectrum.

 

If you have used Zebra orthochromatic dry plates you will have understood the big differences with our normal RGB vision.

I have never used Zebra dry plates (made in Slovenia), They have a sensitivity of 2 ISO (double the wet plate)
The Jason Lane's American dry plates
https://www.pictoriographica.com/technicals-and-tips.html
They have two types of emulsion 2 ISO and 25 ISO, maybe it's easier for you to buy them, they don't arrive easily in Europe.

Toni

Thanks, Tony! I will look forward to checking out your post on collodion. We did use Lane's plates, but since he moved from New Hampshire to Arkansas, most everything on his site has been sold out and he still has his "in transition" banner on the home page. The Zebra plates are a little bigger than Lane's (closer to a real 4 x 5-inch) and with the Zebra holders, they are much easier to use. They ship to the US, but I'm in the EU often enough that I can get them shipped to me there.

~AME

[Aaron E.]

3 hours ago, Andy Perrin said:

Hey, you must be not far from me! I live on Washington Street in Brighton Center. You can probably guess where from this thermogram:
 

 

Yes, members have photographed solar eclipses in the not too distant past. I believe Cadmium (who seems to have left the site) got some photos in August 2017. There may be others. I’m on my phone right now so it’s hard to search the site. 

Heh heh. I am just over the lower Allston border off Western Ave and only 2 blocks from Artisan's Asylum. We should get together some time for coffee/tea/photochat.

~AME

[Andy Perrin]

 

47 minutes ago, Aaron E. said:

We should get together some time for coffee/tea/photochat.

Sounds good to me. Sometime when there's less impending rain/snow!

[Andrea B.]

Aaron, we are looking forward to seeing more of your images.

 

I have question about your full-spectrum Z8 and D850 conversions. With the D850 do you find any problems with IR contamination due to an internal IR shutter monitor? With the Z8 do you find any evidence of PDAF banding artifacts like those we saw with Nikon Z6 conversions?

 

A camera you might want to look at for full spectrum conversion is the Panasonic S1R. It uses CDAF, has no IR contamination from any internal IR shutter monitor,  and can accept a wider range of UV-capable lenses (with adapters) due to its short FFD. I had been thinking about converting a D850, but had a chance to try the S1R and found it pretty nifty. Here's a link to some of my initial testing with the S1R: LINKIE

 

I had just recently started reading a bit about the chemistry of the older methods of photography involving various kinds of plates. I learned that about the silver halide plates - how they were sensitive only to UV, violet, & blue wavelengths. And about how sensitivity was extended further into the remainder of the visible spectrum by various methods. I haven't completed the topic I was writing yet, but here it is:  LINKETY

 

We are a bit of a slow, lazy forum sometimes. Not all that many folks in the general photography population are interested in anything full spec, UV, IR, etc. But there is a nice range of members here who hang out regularly and know lots. So I think you will enjoy the site.

[Aaron E.]

13 hours ago, Andrea B. said:

Aaron, we are looking forward to seeing more of your images.

 

I have question about your full-spectrum Z8 and D850 conversions. With the D850 do you find any problems with IR contamination due to an internal IR shutter monitor? With the Z8 do you find any evidence of PDAF banding artifacts like those we saw with Nikon Z6 conversions?

 

A camera you might want to look at for full spectrum conversion is the Panasonic S1R. It uses CDAF, has no IR contamination from any internal IR shutter monitor,  and can accept a wider range of UV-capable lenses (with adapters) due to its short FFD. I had been thinking about converting a D850, but had a chance to try the S1R and found it pretty nifty. Here's a link to some of my initial testing with the S1R: LINKIE

 

I had just recently started reading a bit about the chemistry of the older methods of photography involving various kinds of plates. I learned that about the silver halide plates - how they were sensitive only to UV, violet, & blue wavelengths. And about how sensitivity was extended further into the remainder of the visible spectrum by various methods. I haven't completed the topic I was writing yet, but here it is:  LINKETY

 

We are a bit of a slow, lazy forum sometimes. Not all that many folks in the general photography population are interested in anything full spec, UV, IR, etc. But there is a nice range of members here who hang out regularly and know lots. So I think you will enjoy the site.

Hi Andrea, thanks for welcoming me to UVP and for the questions. I am already enjoying the site. Low traffic is good.

 

I'll let you know about the Z8 next week. I had a Z5 converted (which I used for the leopard and the baobobs), and noticed no banding artifacts. I just traded it up for the Z8, and will be testing it out in Singapore next week. I'll be sure to do a side-by-side comparison with my converted Nikon Df. I'll post pictures. I confess that I am partial to Nikon, if only because I have decades of Nikon lenses on the shelf and it's enough of a hassle to get adapters for older lenses to talk to Nikon's F and Z mounts (and don't even get me started on the gyrations I'm going through to get a EL-50 reversed on a Nikon Z mount bellows and get various filters on its back end).

 

I mis-typed on the other Nikon. We have converted a D800e and D3000 (not a D850) and we have not had IR problems with those (note we shoot IR on those two through an IR-850 filter). But we did have bad problems with flaring when shooting UV on them with a Steinheil 35-mm lens and Kolari UV bandpass. After much field testing and comparisons with the Z5 (no flare), we traced the problem to a light leak somewhere on the M42->F-mount adapter and also because there's not much distance between the front of the lens barrel and the front lens element on the 35-mm lens (the 50-mm lens is differently shaped and has a greater set-back distance). We solved the adapter problem with electrical tape, which is not a satisfying solution. We have tried various configurations of lens hoods for the 35-mm lens, and have a 3D-printed prototype that seems to work ok. My own solution is to stick with the 50-mm lens, but my photo-buddy Eric prefers the 35-mm field-of-view.

 

I'm looking forward to learning more about enhanced sensitivity of plates (I enjoyed reading Tony's posts and related comments on trying to replicate the collodion spectrum with various filters on a digital camera); the "problem" of collodion was eventually "solved" with the introduction of panchromatic film, but that's another issue entirely.

 

More anon.

[Aaron E.]

I don't know where to post this, so I'll put it here... Maybe there's a "travel" section to UVP that I'm not seeing?

 

As I noted in my introduction, I travel a lot. I'll be in Singapore for two weeks beginning Feb. 3 local time (Lunar New Year celebrations with my in-laws). If there are any UVPers there who would like to get together for coffee/tea/field walks and photo opps, etc., please let me know! 

[Andrea B.]

Enjoy your trip ! 

You can post a travel announcement in Non-technical Experiences.

(But I'd suggest only exchanging personal info via PM.)

 

Those light leaks can be quite pesky. Light leaks can occur thru open ports, around top or back LCDs, through aperture windows on lenses, thru extended helicoids, with badly fitting adapters, with a slightly warped mount. I think I've had 'em all over time. 

 

Happy to hear you are free so far from banding artifacts on the converted Zs.