UV photography?

[petrochemist]

Has anyone here tried taking photographs in UV?

I've had a little play with it, and managed a few proof of concept shots (OOF but showing flower features not visible in visible light).

To only record UV I've had to use one filter to block the visible and another to block the IR, (only available at reasonable cost in 25mm sizes). Glass tends to absorb quite a bit of UV & modern coatings make matters worse so I've been playing with old enlarger lenses.

My unmodified DSLRs have VERY poor response to UV, despite having a weak hot mirror, so this has come to a bit of a dead end. I'm considering having another go in the summer using film cameras. I've still got a collection of old SLRs that take my current lenses, and film has a reasonable response to UV - Which caused problems in the past!

[kds315]

Read my tutorial if you like HERE on my BLOG

[Kuribayashi]

Here is a great lens for UV photography:
The Kuribayashi Petri Orikkor 35mm f/3.5 with M42 mount transmits UV down to 325nm..
This lens has miniscule to no focal shift, and comes in other versions, such as the W.Acall Kyoei 35mm f/3.5.


Sparticle bandpass filter transmission test of Kuri 35mm with Baader U filter on lens.