R6 + RF85/EF100mm - UV Light experiments (PICS)
Nov 9, 2020
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EOS R6 + EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro - uvBeast 365nm Filtered V3 ultraviolet flashlight.
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I've spent the last few weeks working with UV light although I've done plenty of experimental photography using UV lasers in past years. My interest at the moment is in testing and using several different models of UV flashlights for insect photography in the Far North of Australia next year... and (most importantly) in the Opal-fields on the way there. Most opals I've encountered from these regions of Australia tend to fluoresce a white-blue color with a filtered 365nm light but other things (and critters) fluoresce brightly under the more common 385-400nm range of many LED blacklights. Especially scorpions, although I'm sure everyone knows this by now. I was testing several non-UV lights from Nitecore, Fenix and Manker during the last week - but the folks at uvBeast had sent me three Ultra Violet flashlights that I purchased via their eBay store. They arrived reasonably quickly and the only thing I needed was a couple of large pouches to protect them for use and transit. The models I bought were:
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* uvBeast Black Light V3 365nm Filtered Flashlight (as per image above)
* uvBeast MINI Black Light V3 365nm Filtered Flashlight
* uvBeast Black Light V3 385-390nm Flashlight
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I do not work for this company but I'm listing what I used in case anyone else is looking for something similar. I found the cheap Chinese knockoffs used poor quality UV LEDs of questionable quality. You can see the 'Woods Filter' on the front in the flashlight in the image above. This filters out much of the visible light and the 365nm frequency is quite dramatic with minerals. There are other lights that can be sourced that run towards the Shortwave range but there's considerable risk with using those so I've passed on them for the moment.
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My friends - who were probably thinking they should have worn their snake gaiters.
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The R6 continues to produce interesting pictures for me although I was amazed and the performance with the EF 100-400mmL II + EF 2x III Extender last week. I did not expect the R6 to track the eyes on moving bees. But I did experience a glitch that I made a thread on for others to find in case there's an issue with the R5/R6 cameras. In my incident, the camera simply froze up and the buttons and screen were entirely unresponsive. I can't explain why... although I was standing at the base of a massive communications tower with multiple high-gain antennas and microwave emitters. I guess that might be a cause or catalyst. You can see that tower in the distance in the picture below. My malfunction took place when I was standing right at the base of it. I'm sure if I asked Canon, they'd say "don't do that".
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My friends offered to drive me up to Black Mountain at night so I brought the UV lights up with us just to see if we could find some fluorescent fungi or something worth taking a picture of.
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R6 + EF 85mm f/1.2L USM - This was taken in pitch black darkness with only the lights in the tower and the violet hue from the UV flashlights on the ground being visible to the eye. I didn't even notice the trashcan until later. They were holding the 385-390nm flashlight in this image - which spills a lot of visible violet light.
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It was raining earlier in the evening (and was still raining when I arrived) so I had no expectations of finding wildlife at all and left my specimen containers at home. I took a handheld shot of my view (below) when we parked and then mounted the R6 to a tripod. My baseball cap has a set of LEDs built into it and I find it extremely helpful when doing astrophotography. I used it to enable a little more light in some shots but the cap-lights are pretty weak. Yet I turned on the LED's on my cap I immediately saw something glistening brightly in the grass. It turned out to be the largest Wolf Spider that I think I've ever seen. Easily as wide as my palm. A nearby "wrapper" that glowed incredibly bright turned out to be a small Black Rock Scorpion... mildly venomous. No doubt there were worse things on the ground. I scooped it up in a Peppermint flavored bubble-gum container and named her "Pepper". I've since brought her home with me and will return her with an 602km journey in the coming days.
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The thing that surprised us all was that our local Possums florescence quite brightly under UV light. The benefit of the UV lights I was using is that they are of the "throw" type instead of the "flood type" so targeting the possum for photographs was easily done. I saw the recent science paper on Platypus fluorescing under Shortwave UV but I've never seen a mention of our possums glowing in the dark. Very interesting and bizarre to see in person.
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Anyway, the flashlights worked fine for my needs.
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EOS R6 + RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens - not bad for a Handheld JPEG (no tripod)
My view from Black Mountain at night when I arrived. The rain had just stopped.
EOS R6 + RF 85mmL lens - So bright under 365nm UV that they lit up the ground.
EOS R6 + RF 85mmL lens - It turns out out Common Brushtail Possums fluoresce under UV light. Something I have never heard of or read about before. The white light is from a set of white LEDs in the brim of my baseball cap.
EOS R6 + EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro USM lens - a Net Casting Spider under 365nm UV
EOS R6 + EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro USM - Handheld shot of Lacewing Eggs on my house.
EOS R6 + EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro USM - Minimum Focus Distance with this lens got me to swap to the M6 + EF-M 28mm Macro lens instead. I was able to put the camera into the container and shoot at 1cm from the subject using Super Macro. Stacking with the R6 wasn't on the cards without a tripod and more light.
EOS R6 + EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro lens
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Regards,
Marco Nero.
