Today in March 2021 again shots of an Orchid hybride, Oncostele Wildcat 'Golden Red Star' in reflected ultraviolet photography as well as simulated bee and butterfly vision - but with a quite different lens, the LAVISION f2.8/85mm quartz fluorite lens, which is rather new on the scientific lens market. UV filter used was the Baader-U filter, my "work horse" filter for reflected UV as well as my proprietary XBV filters for simulated bee and butterfly vision. All shots were done at f8. Light source used was a modified for high UV output Xenon flash. I have additionally used a 365nm UV LED for better focusing, (which unfortunately has influenced the white balance somewhat, in case you wonder).
[click on image to see a larger one]
Human Vision (VIS):
Reflected UV (Baader-U):
Simulated Butterfly Vision:
Simulated Bee Vision:
Quadriptych of human vision, UV, simulated butterfly and bee vision (left to right, top to bottom):
This orchid has a very specific UV pattern, its petals are very UV dark, but its lower petal lip shows on the lower center a very UV
bright spot which gets nicely visible.
This 85mm lens seems to be a rather well working one, with a nice close up focus capability from infinity up to 40cm (0.4 meter). Sharpness is quite good and so is contrast, if stopped down to at least f4.5 that is. It has a standard Nikon-F mount, but only covers about APS-C format (approx. 30mm diameter) as it was designed to be used on amplified cameras, which usually require 25mm image diameter. It is defined to reach down to 200nm; my measured transmission spectra of it may be seen here.
I have written more about this orchid HERE.
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
