ZDF TerraX Series "The Magic of Colors" Oct 18 2015 19:30h CET II

The TerraX/ZDF production company had contracted me and my UV cameras to contribute stills and a HD UV video to their series "The Magic of Colors". This episode has been aired on October 18, 2015 at primetime 19:30 hours CET and has shown the iportance of colors in human evolution, but also the importance for flowering plants and bees.

Here now is the video, Flowers + Bees in VIS + UV starts at 15:35
Impressive, as all the TerraX productions are and very worth watching!

I have written about that before HERE

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

North Carolina Botanical Gardens Bee Exhibit with reflected ultraviolet (UV) photography

The North Carolina Botanical Gardens (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) just concluded a four months exhibit about the importance of Bees with some of my works included.

I got informed by the organizing commitee, that it was a great success and well received by its visitors.

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

ZDF TerraX Series "The Magic of Colors" Oct 18 2015 19:30h CET

TerraX has contracted me to supply them with Vis + UV stills and a reflected UV HD video for their forthcoming two-part series "The Magic of Colors" which will air Oct 18 (part I) and Oct 25 (part II), 2015 19:30 hours CET on TV channel ZDF - my work will be shown in part I on Oct 18.

Quote TerraX: "Whether ocher, red, yellow, green or blue: Behind every color shade are hidden stories and amazing facts. Why do they have such a great importance for us people and why has that always been that way? Only those who could recognize whether a fruit is ripe or toxic, could survive. All colors in nature serve a biological purpose and every living being has specialized his perception towards that. But man alone manufactures colors and gives them symbolic power."

That also applies also to animals and flowers, and evlolution found amazing ways of plant-animal interaction, benefitting them both. However not all animals and insects have the very same color perception we humans have, some of them can see what we cannot see, ultraviolet (UV) light for instance, or the very faint UV induced visible fluorescence some flowers emit to attract night active moths, like this four o'clock flower (Mirabilis jalapa) for instance shown in human vision and fluorescence with its glowing pollen:

Here now some examples what pollinating bees are able to see and what we humans see, Brown Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida) to start with (1st visible light and 2nd reflected UV)

There will also be a video showing a bee pollinating a Rubbeckia flower in reflected ultraviolet light:  

I'm pretty sure this whole series will be quite exciting to watch as there is so much more in it. Be sure to watch it of you can!

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

Carl Bosch Museum Heidelberg Special Exhibit Fascination Color with simulated bee and butterfly vision images II

Today about the opening event of the "Fascination Color" exhibit at the Carl Bosch Museum, Heidelberg Germany which will be open from 12. September 2015 - 3. April 2016. Some of my best works will be shown in human vision, in simulated bee and butterfly vision.

Here the introductory text: "How do colors come into existence? What are colors used for? What really is color? These and many other questions are answered by the exhibition and illustrates how broad ranged the subject of colors actually is. With many exciting exhibits, visitors learn that we see colors not only with our eyes and experience how other people and animals see the colorful world. The symbolic and social meanings of colors are explained, as is the extraction and use of historic natural colors, up to modern industrial dyes." [translation by me]

The scientific background of colors are demonstrated with live experiments, how it was found out, color models from history up to now explained, color temperature and the effect of different light sources, as well as natural pigments and dyes from ancient times to todays are being shown.

The last two pictures shows the animated video with my works showing the difference between human, butterfly and bee vision with various flowers with a very prominent UV pattern. Beneath there is an explanation how evolution has started with tetrachromatic vision and how that has developed over millions of years into the various types of vision today.

If you find time to, pay it a visit, it will certainly be worth going with your whole family!
 
The Carl Bosch Museum Heidelberg has been founded and is being actively supported by Gerda Tschira, wife of recently deceased SAP founding member Klaus Tschira . The non-profit Klaus Tschira Foundation promotes the advancement of natural sciences, mathematics, and computer science and strives to raise appreciation for these fields.
 

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

How to modularily mount a projection or other large diameter lens

This is to show how to mount a projection or other rather large diameter lens. The front adapter can be changed, as well as rear camera mount (can be basically any camera).

Remark: This is mainly intended to test and use a variety of lenses and not does not replace a full conversion of such a lens (adding iris, focusing, camera mount), as it allows to switch lenses in seconds using an Allen wrench.

Works from infinity (depending on lens back focal length) to very closeup. Setscrews allow to calibrate the infinity position. The basic idea is to allow the lens to "dive into" the larger helicoid, hence quite a short optical length can be achieved using such a contraption, also for lenses with shorter focal and back focal length.

To determine the length of the needed helicoid may be found here on my site.

Lens --> Lens Adapter to M65 --> M65 to M42 (or M65) Helicoid --> M42 (or M65) to Camera mount Adapter 

 It is not a slim elegant and lightweight solution, but the benefits are:

1. no lens modification needed
2. non rotating front for sunshade/filter (needs additional clamp holder)
3. accepts a variety of lens types and lens diameters, switch within seconds
4. mount may hold ND filter (better in front though using variable ND filter) or an adjustable iris
5. allows a variety of camera mounts (M42, Nikon-F, Nikon-Z soon, Sony-E, Canon EF, m4/3, Hasselblad V, Mamiya 645, Fuji GFX etc.)
6. needs only about 15mm net optical length (plus camera register) for lens diameter 62.5mm or smaller
7. safes money and time for not having to go to the gym, as it is quite heavy :-)

The design was originally made to accept 35mm russian film projection lenses with a standard 62.5mm diameter. Smaller ones (52.5mm etc.) are fitted using a different front ring, also some larger ones can be fitted, but infinity focus may often not be reached using the latter, as such lenses then cannot dive into the helicoid; but longer focal lengths usually work.

Those two adapter rings (front and back) are made by Rafcamera.com based on my design. Front one has three hex nut setscrews which hold the lens in place and allows to adjust infinity focus (if the lens has enough back focal length). Rafcamera offers several camera adapter rings for the rear, incl. Nikon-F, Nikon-Z soon, Sony-E, m4/3, Hasselblad, Mamiya 645 etc. Orders may be done directly through their site Rafcamera.com or through amazon.com or ebay.com (I have no affiliation with Rafcamera except that I'm a happy customer...). That M65 helicoid is made in China and may be found on ebay.

[my name is on the rings shown was a curtesy of rafcamera and is a non standard feature]

I have written about using such helicoids previously HERE
 
Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer protection - Galderma Actinica

Galderma Germany had contracted me and my UV cameras for a Blogger Event in Berlin to show the effect of dangerous UV radiation on human skin and the effect of using their medical sun protection product.

Company info:
Actinica® Lotion is a highly effective medical device with broad spectrum UV protection. It has been developed especially for people who are at a higher risk than others to develop skin cancer due to UV exposure. It is the first and only medical device with demonstrated effectiveness in the prevention of various forms of NMSC (Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer) in a clinical study and showed a 53% reduction of actinic keratosis lesions within two years of regular administration of Actinica® Lotion and no new invasive squamous cell carcinoma within two years following regular administration of Actinica® Lotion. Actinica^® Lotion contains a combination of modern photostable UV filters, which cover a broad spectrum to absorb, reflect and scatter UV radiation. It is highly effective in protecting skin from ultraviolet B (UVB) as well as from ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation. Regulations for Actinica^® Lotion are different to those that apply to cosmetic products. The UV protection level of Actinica^® Lotion has been tested according to the European cosmetic requirements for sunscreens: its UVB and UVA protection level meets the highest category, “very high UV protection”.

So here a few shots from that Blogger event in Berlin with my UV camera in action, showing participants how to correctly apply sunscreen and the effect of proper protection.

Fotos (c) Ryan Hursh for sisterMAG    Eventlocation: GebrüderFritz, Berlin

I have previously written about that HERE

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

ZDFzeit August 25 20:15h CET - UV videography to show the effect of sun protection II

The ZDF had contracted me and my UV cameras to contribute to their series ZDFzeit. This episode has been aired on August 25, 2015 at primetime 20:15 hours CET and has shown the effect of dangerous UV radiation on human skin and the importance of using proper suncreme to protect against that.


Here now is the video, Suncreme + UV starts at 7:30m [click]:

Quite impressive results have been obtained, aside from it having been a great experience to work with such a great team of the ZDF. It is well worth watching to see what a human sees and how that same scene looks like in ultraviolet (UV) light!

I have written about that before HERE

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