How the Sun Sees You

I found this video to be totally captivating. The message is an important one. But the soundtrack is also nice. And then… how did they record this? See for yourself.



I love the "Oh My God!" moments. The appearance of the sunscreen didn't surprise me. We try to incorporate the opacity of sunscreen in our ExploratoRio Purple Haze exhibit. What I came away really wanting to know was… how can I set up a similar rig to capture live video in UV? Cameras with glass optics and glass filters and glass over their sensors are well protected against ultraviolet light.

The Exploratorium's Paul Doherty shared this informative Photonics article.

Ultraviolet Reflectance Imaging

The article mentions fused silica optics. Paul recalled grinding sodium chloride lenses for use in UV imaging. Fused silica and salt lenses? My ignorance is so vast, sometimes it hurts.

Here's a video tutorial on getting a DSLR modified and configured to shoot in the UV range. It's, well, a nontrivial affair.