UV exposures for collodion???

I'm hoping that someone out there might know the answer to these two questions.

First, exactly what is the UV range needed to expose a collodion wet or dry plate? And what artificial sources do any of you use to get reasonable exposure times?

Second, does anyone know if an Ascor Sungun 800 series strobe would produce enough UV to use with this process. I know that most studio strobes are out of the question.

thanks

Wet plate or Dry plate depend upon UV light for exposure. I would expect a strobe to be very useful in providing light!

Corey

Q#1: For wet plate Collodion images, you need light on the brink of visible and UV. In the area of ~490 nm - 500 nm. Very blue, violet/purple and some green. No red or yellow. The best results with artificial light sources come from black-lights and/or bio-lights, or full spectrum lights. A big bank (8-10) of these work fine if your Collodion is fresh.

Q#2: Most strobes are (imo) worthless for use with wet plate. A bank of black or bio lights are your best best. Check out the wet plate forum for all of the details on using artifical light with wet plate Collodion: Dead Link Removed

A light with a color temp of 5000K- 6500K works well.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I'll probably be doing some research to figure out the specifics.