It was a mistake to post

[Gerris2]

Trying to delete.
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Joseph

[kds315*]

Hi Joseph,

I feel obliged to comment... :biggrin: So take the following not as criticism, just to help you getting better results out of your system!

The visible images are great, crisp and have fine structure and color an good contrast.

But the UV images lack that, so I wonder why would you combine a(nother) UV bandpass filter with a Baader-U? That works great just with the Baader-U alone!

As I know that the EL-Nikkor 80mm is a tack sharp lens, there is something seriously wrong here - the image lacks sharpness and contrast, so either it got frontal light or your lens is fogged inside! Go test the lens using a bright LED light from behind a little sideways while you look at it from the front against a dark background.

Btw., it helps to white balance the result, as a Nikon camera responds nearly only with the red channel to UV. Set the in camera white balance to Kelvin 2500 that helps to push back the red a bit and brings on the green and blue.

Have a look at that, I shot the same flower here (btw. I'm pretty sure it is Heliathus tuberosus, at least the 2nd set shown):
http://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.de/2010/09/last-summer-i-took-quite-few-shot-using.html

.
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Klaus - Moderator

"S'il vient à point, me souviendra" [Thomas Bohier (1460-1523)]

http://www.macrolenses.de for macro and special lens info
http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos for UV Images and lens/filter info
http://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/ my UV diary


Currently most FAV lens(es):

Hypergon f11/26mm
Zeiss UV-Planar f4/60mm
Lomo Уфар-12 f2.5/41mm
Nikon UV Nikkor f4.5/105mm
Zeiss UV-Sonnar f4.3/105mm
CERCO UV-VIS-NIR f4.1/94mm
Pentax Quartz Takumar f3.5/85mm
Rodenstock UV-Rodagon f5.6/60mm
Pentax Ultra-Achromatic Takumar f4.5/85mm
Voigtländer Apo-Macro-Lanthar f2.5 125mm SL

[Gerris2]

I'm not posting any more.
_________________
Joseph

[kds315*]

Protective Lens? You mean a protective filter I guess. That woudl explain it and most likely
you had very long exposure times.
_________________
Klaus - Moderator

"S'il vient à point, me souviendra" [Thomas Bohier (1460-1523)]

http://www.macrolenses.de for macro and special lens info
http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos for UV Images and lens/filter info
http://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/ my UV diary


Currently most FAV lens(es):

Hypergon f11/26mm
Zeiss UV-Planar f4/60mm
Lomo Уфар-12 f2.5/41mm
Nikon UV Nikkor f4.5/105mm
Zeiss UV-Sonnar f4.3/105mm
CERCO UV-VIS-NIR f4.1/94mm
Pentax Quartz Takumar f3.5/85mm
Rodenstock UV-Rodagon f5.6/60mm
Pentax Ultra-Achromatic Takumar f4.5/85mm
Voigtländer Apo-Macro-Lanthar f2.5 125mm SL

[Gerris2]

People need to relax about things.
_________________
Joseph

[visualopsins]

I am definitely not an expert here, so please keep that in mind when reading my comments!:

The protective lens (clear glass?) probably does contribute to the "fogging" loss of contrast, however, the UV photos look slightly out of focus to me. Could this be a simple case of forgetting to readjust the focus ring from visible light position to UV light position?

This test is usually QUITE revealing (and sometimes shocking!):