UV light photography


Taking images using UV light is not straight forward with modern dSLRs. Lenses often cut off UV light transmission, and dSLRs sensors are not very UV sensitive. Hence UV filters are usually also not required. Here are some thoughts on UV sensitivity by Dr. Klaus Schmitt.

 

Transmission curves for lenses


Lenstip has transmission curves for a number of lenses, showing that most do not let much UV light through, e.g.,:


Canon EF 85 mm f/1.8 USM
Leica Summicron-M 50 mm f/2.0
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 24-70 mm f/2.8G ED
Nikkor-S 5 cm f/2 vs. Nikkor AF 50 mm f/1.8D
Nikkor-S 5.8 cm f/1.4 vs. Nikkor AF-S 50 mm f/1.4G
Nikon Nikkor AF-S Micro 60 mm f/2.8G ED
Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 14-35 mm f/2.0 SWD
Olympus F.Zuiko Auto-S 50 mm f/1.8 versus Olympus ZD 50 mm f/2.0 Macro
Panasonic Leica DG SUMMILUX 25 mm f/1.4 ASPH
Pentax smc DA 35 mm f/2.4 AL
Pentax smc FA 50 mm f/1.4
Pentax smc D FA 100 mm f/2.8 Macro WR
Samyang 7.5 mm f/3.5 UMC Fish-eye MFT
Samyang 85 mm f/1.4 Aspherical IF
Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
Sigma_18-250_mm_f_3.5-6.3_DC_OS
Sigma 18-125 mm f/3.8-5.6 DC OS HSM
Sigma 24-70 mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM
Sigma 30 mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
Sigma 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 DG OS
Sony DT 18-70 mm f/3.5-5.6
Minolta AF 50 mm f/1.7 versus Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 SAM
Tokina AT-X DX AF 16.5-135 mm f/3.5-5.6
Tokina AT-X 124 PRO DX II AF 12-24 mm f/4
Zeiss Distagon T* 28 mm f/2.0 ZF/ZK/ZE
Zeiss Distagon T* 35 mm f/2 ZF/ZK/ZS/ZE

 


To take photographs in the UV spectrum, special lenses are usually used. E.g., UV-Nikkor 105mm, and UV tested lenses.
More info can be found on www.savazzi.com and Bjørn Rørslett's "All You Ever Wanted to Know About Digital UV and IR Photography, But Could Not Afford to Ask". Further, see also Dr. Klaus Schmitt's "Photography of the invisible world".