photography

I’m a keen photographer and my work brings together photography and animal vision.

I’ve uploaded various photos to this website. These cover my PhD working on New Caledonian crows, my travels around the world, and the fascinating world of ultraviolet photography. The post categories can be used to navigate the various image themes.

Equipment

I have become a fan of the Sony Alpha 7 range of mirrorless full-frame cameras. This has replaced my old Canon 5D MKII, with adapters so I can use my Canon lenses (e.g. 24-105mm and 100-400mm EF L lenses, plus my favourite, the 50mm F/1.4 amazing for low-light). But I also use manual lenses more these days such as the Super Takumar 50mm F/1.4 and Voigtlander 15mm. I used Magic Lantern customised firmware on the canon (highly recommended), but prefer the lightweight Sonys now. For cheap full-spectrum cameras the Samsung NX1000 still works very well and I don’t worry about the expense if it breaks/gets pinched, but obviously it’s no good for wildlife stuff.

Then I’ve got a growing range of full-spectrum cameras. The Sony A7 is now the best option, though I’ve got a A Canon 7D (also with Magic lantern) that I’ve built an automated filer wheel for (it takes five shots through five filters for maximising the spectral resolution). I had this body converted to full spectrum with a quartz sheet by ACS. Then I’ve got a couple of NX1000s picked up cheap on ebay and converted to full spectrum myself. I use all these cameras with the Nikkor EL 80mm (old, metal body version) also cheap on ebay, or the Novoflex Noflexar 35mm. The Nikkor 80mm requires a helicoid for focussing (25-55mm works well once you’ve got the NX to M42 adaptor and M42 to M39 step down ring required to attach it to the NX1000), the Novoflex works straight off with just the NX to M42 adaptor. Both lenses are really good in UV down to around 320-350nm and have minimal chromatic distortion (meaning no refocusing between UV and visible shots). Dr Klaus Schmitt has done lots of work finding these old lenses that transmit UV.