Introduction: UV Light Photography II
So, UV photos...well problem is a weak LED light and therefore long exposures...
I needed a strong source of UV light....specially for underwater use...
All my led's power is calculated at 3,6V x 2A .... 7,2 Wat's..ad dissipation.. collateral looses...and so on. Weak.
Long lightning is good... but I need short exposure, to avoid movements.
I need strobe/flash .... about 160Wat/s...short strong UV light...and here it is....
Step 1: Woods Glass
This glass is a UV band pass filter.
You can usually find this on a bulbs for Disco/Party purpose. All teeth under this light are white :)
Cheapest way to get this glass is a bulb. So, get the bulb, remove metal and wires....
Break a small tube and let air inside...
Step 2: Cutting
Do not try to correct this on normal grinding wheel.
Woods glass is fragile and you shall get smaller and smaller pc's.... :(
Step 3: New Attempt
I use thin diamond grinding plate/wheel. Practiced first on smaller diameter and finally on half, to get biggest diameter sphere. I correct sharp edges on fine water grinding stone by hand,,, long gentle grinding...
Step 4: Top Part
I put sphere in a plexi and glue this with epoxy glue...to make a black cover on my old underwater Marine Sunpack 32 flash.
Step 5: Assembling
Then I add a snap on cover on my normal UW flash, powered from camera, which was connected by 4 optical fibers with snap on ring on Sunpack body to guide light impulse on slave sensor on Sunpack flash...
Step 6: Tests
Well, thisi is it. I got a short UV light flash which froze unwonted movements.
And now. let's play...
Sincerely,
Krešimir Pregernik, dipl.ing.
4 Comments
6 years ago
That's very cool! I just finished building a small LED UV light of my own.
9 years ago on Step 1
Interesting! Have you made any underwater uv films? I would really like to see how it looks like. I am busy with a similar project I just use 400w uv led :) busy sorting dichroic filters. What would you suggest I should use to see underwater minerals glow. UV A or UV B?
9 years ago on Introduction
Another way to get a UV flash is to remove the UV filter from an old flash gun.
The UV filter is usually a "Gold" plastic filter over the flash tube.
Another alternative is many of the disposable cameras don't have any UV filters at all. This is of some concern as anyone using one of the cameras is exposing their subject to UV.
12 years ago on Introduction
That's actually pretty good. The incandescent UV bulbs are absolute crap for UV lighting. Glad they could actually be put to some good use.