Blacklight and digital cameras

[Ioannis]

Regular film, and particularly Panchromatic film with which I've made my
spectroscopy photos, is abnormally sensitive to UV (short/long).

What's the deal with Digital cameras on UV? Are they also very sensitive to
UV? I have all my lamps packed so I cannot take the photo of my blacklights,
but a couple of photos I took of some blue LEDs, show an increased
sensitivity towards the blue/violet, with the Camera being unable to
calibrate properly the exposure time.

Can anyone take a photo of a BLB with a digital and post it so we can see
what it looks like?

Thanks much,

 

[Don Klipstein]

Regular film, and particularly Panchromatic film with which I've made my
spectroscopy photos, is abnormally sensitive to UV (short/long).

What's the deal with Digital cameras on UV? Are they also very sensitive to
UV? I have all my lamps packed so I cannot take the photo of my blacklights,
but a couple of photos I took of some blue LEDs, show an increased
sensitivity towards the blue/violet, with the Camera being unable to
calibrate properly the exposure time.

Can anyone take a photo of a BLB with a digital and post it so we can see
what it looks like?

My experience is that a digital camera has less sensitivity to near-UV
and near-IR, but not to the same extent as the human eye has. (As in the
camera sees near-UV and near-IR better than human vision does, but not as
well as it sees "visible light").

Now for more on the camera being able to see UV: Consider what the lens
is (and any multiple elements thereof are) made of. In my experience,
most grades of glass largely block 313 nm but largely pass 360 nm.
Acrylic plastics vary widely in this area depending on additives or lack
thereof, with "cutoff" being maybe well below 350 nm or closer to 380 nm.
Polycarbonate plastics mostly have "cutoff" close to 390 nm.

I know someone who has photographed many UV and IR LEDs with digital
cameras: Please check out relevant links from:
http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ledleft.htm

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])