Question about Ultra Violet and enlarger lenses

[Marek Warunkiewicz]

Does anyone know if enlarger lenses eat up Ultra Violet light or do they transmit them?

[Bob-D659]

Yes they will eat up UV as they are not made from quartz or UV transmissive glass, but how much depends on the wavelength.

[Ian Grant]

Normal optical glass passes very little UV light, special quartz based optics are used for lenses designed for specialist UV photography, most companies made a few lenses for medical, forensic and scientific applications.

Ian

[Marek Warunkiewicz]

OK. I think that destroys that idea. I wanted to print negs to cyanotype paper... I thought that this was the case and before I went crazy thought I would ask the gods of photography. ;-)

[jgjbowen]

This has been discussed at length over on the Azo forum. A UV light source exists to enlarge on Azo paper. Late model Nikkor lenses are recommended because they pass much more UV light than Schneider or Rodenstock lenses.

If you don't own a Nikon enlarging lens, see if you can borrow one to try with the cyanotype paper.

Good Luck,