I was over in the Wet Plate Collodion forum and there were a couple of posts on using a cheap UV flashlight to illuminate indoor scenes for wetplates. So I decided to try it out . I used a 41 LED model uv flashlight from the big auction site , painting over the scene at about four feet ( same distance as subject to camera ). I used a Speed Graphic with a 127mm lens and a 20 second exposure at f8, using Osterman's recipes for colliodion, developer and fix . The image came up a little thin, but seems very usable. Also I found that the UV A+B bulbs that are sold for reptiles do not work. I tried a similar exposure using a 25w CFL bulb of this sort and got no image at all. The bulb was about a year old, and that could have an effect, but I did expect some image to appear. Now I can keep working thru the winter, and am thinking of getting a couple of hi-power LED modules to play with
Rob
Rob
