Monday, January 30, 2012

[UV] Lichen in reflected ultraviolet light III

Today more about Lichen shots in visible and ultraviolet light, especially how damaged or dead lichen look like.

[click on image to see a larger one]

These UV images here also uses my standardized false UV color normal + high intensity palette:



Damaged/dead Lichen

Fungus overgrown:

VIS:



UV:


Dead Lichen (bottom of picture):

VIS:



UV:


So it gets clear, that the UV image reveals living lichen, by its UV reflection, in the case of these species here at around 380nm.

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos

[UV] Lichen in reflected ultraviolet light II

Today more about Lichen shots in visible and ultraviolet light.

[click on image to see a larger one]

These UV images here also uses my standardized false UV color normal + high intensity palette:



Lichen growing on a brownstone rock

VIS:



UV:


UV - different filtering:


Here this lichen specimen reflects UV at around 380nm. Interesting to note, how much details these UV shots reveals!

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos

Saturday, January 28, 2012

[UV] Transmittance of the Minolta TC f4 135mm Triplet Lens

I tested some bellows lens heads the other day and the (expected) surprise was, how well that older and overlooked Minolta TC f4/135mm bellows lens head performed (teal and pink line), nearly identical to the Noflexar 35mm (red line; only about 0.2 stops less at 365nm). [I'm not sure if later made models may have the same good transmittance, as the coating may have been changed]

[click on image to see a larger one]



Here now a quick photographic test of that lens, which shows quite some focus shift in UV, the triplet lens design it is.



The micro structure that gets visible on the left petals looks promising, so quite a useful lens I have to say. Btw. it also comes mounted on a focusing helicoid for Minolta mount, sold under the same name, but the lens head can be unscrewed as it has a Leica thread mount (M39 x 26tpi) which is the standard enlarger lens mount.

Outside tests will have to be performed to see if it is free of hotspots, how free of flare it is etc.

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos

[UV] Transmittance of some Bellows Lens Heads

I conducted a test today to measure the UV transmittance of some older manual bellows lens heads I have here.

Be reminded that this is only a test of the suitable UV transmittance, not of other important parameters for UV photography (sharpness, contrast, freedom of flare or hotspots etc.)



Of course the well known Novoflex Noflexar 35mm has been used as a reference, as it stands out as a very well UV transmitting lens. The (expected) surprise was, how well that older and overlooked Minolta TC f4/135mm perfomed, nearly identical to the Noflexar (only about 0.2 stops less at 365nm).

I will show its photographic performance in a separate test later.

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

[UV] Lichen in reflected ultraviolet light

Today about Lichen shots in visible and ultraviolet light.

[click on image to see a larger one]

These UV images here also uses my standardized false UV color normal + high intensity palette:



Lichen on oak tree

VIS:



UV:


Lichen on another tree

VIS:



UV:


Interesting to note, how much details these UV shots reveals!

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos

Thursday, January 5, 2012

"Kingdom of Plants" Sir David Attenborough on Kew Gardens in 3D stereo

There will be a new forthcoming three episode series airing in Spring 2012 narrated and written by Sir David Attenborough, which mainly is about Kew Gardens in the UK (working title was "Kew 3D"). It was produced by Atlantic Productions (Colossus Productions) for SKY 3D TV and directed by Martin Williams. Sir David Attenborough will be the presenter and guide through the episodes.

It has been filmed in HDTV 3D stereo mainly intended to be aired in SKY's 3D channel.

According to imdb it will be released in May 2012


Reference: Kingdom of Plants on imdb

The DVD/BlueRay will be available from July 16, 2012 onwards and may already be preordered at amazon here as DVD and here as Blue Ray (HD) version

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos