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LDP is the only company in the world capable of removing the Color Filter Array (CFA) from the surface of a color camera sensor.  The CFA blocks most of the UV light, so unless, you can remove the CFA, the camera will see very little UV.  Every other company that sells a UV capable camera that has been converted from a normal color version will have very poor UV sensitivity because they do not know how to remove the CFA.

When Fuji sold the Fuji S3 Pro UV/IR and IS Pro cameras, they originally marketed them as seeing to 280nnm because they were using Schott WG280 glass to replace the stock ICF/AA.  In fact, Fuji contacted us about performing these modifications for them before deciding to do the modification in house.  Their cameras were direct copies of our UV-VIS-IR conversions for the S3 Pro and the Fuji S9000 / S9100.  Eventually, someone pointed out that just because they were using 280nm glass in front of their sensor that it didn't mean the sensor could actually see to 280nm.  Unfortunately, Fuji Japan wouldn't provide Fuji USA with the spectral transmission curves, so Fuji USA couldn't really say what the UV response of the camera was.  They changed their marketing to reflect that the cameras were UV capable without ever specifying exactly what the cameras could see in the UV..  Fuji has since withdrawn these cameras from the market.  Because their cameras still had the CFA on the sensor, the cameras actually had very poor UV sensitivity.

In addition to LDP being able to remove the CFA from camera sensors, we also have the ability to measure the spectral response of cameras.  None of the big camera manufacturers such as Canon, Nikon and Sony release the spectral response curves for the consumer cameras.  If you are in the market for a UV sensitive camera, it is important to know just what sort of sensitivity the camera has!

Another solution to produce a UV camera is the method used by Oculus Photonic's UVCorder and UVScanner.  They team a UV sensitive video camera to a camcorder or viewing device.  The UV video part of the setup is a Sony XC-EU50 UV video camera which is a real UV capable camera, but, the XC-EU50 is a 0.38 megapixel camera (less than 1 megapixel) that can only take standard definition video (not HD).  In contrast, our UV capable monochrome cameras can take an 18 megapixel image and shoot HD 1080P video.  The LDP monochrome UV camera has over 47x the resolution on the Sony XC-EU50 for a still image.  In addition, our 18 megapixel T2i UV monochrome camera that can shoot both video and stills retails for less than half the cost of the UVCorder solution.  But, to the Oculus Photonics credit, at least their product can take a real UV picture without very long exposure times unlike almost everyone else marketing a UV capable camera that has been converted from a stock color camera.

Sony XC-EU50

Sony's UV sensitive video camera module

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Last modified: June 18, 2015