Posted on 12 Comments

Best lens for Technical Photography: Coastal Optical 60 mm TESTED

We tested Coastal Optical 60 mm lens on our Nikon D800 for technical photography (visible, ultraviolet fluorescence, ultraviolet reflected, infrared) and infrared reflectography.  This is an apochromatic lens in the range 310-110 nm.  Indeed, the lens didn’t need any refocusing while shooting technical photos in the UV, VIS and IR region. It really resulted sharply apochromatic. Coastal Optical Apo Macro 60mm lens is a superb lens for visible and macro photography and consequently for UV fluorescence (UVF). At CHSOS we were more interested to evaluate its performance in UV reflected (UVR) and Infrared (IR) to spot any differences.

The technical photos were comparable with those acquired with standard lenses but with the relevant advantage that no refocusing was needed.  Another advantage of an apochromatic lens is that the creation of infrared false color images is straightforward since no registration is necessary between VIS and IR images. The lens was also checked for hotspots in the infrared and test data enriched the Infrared Pho­tog­ra­phy Lenses Database. No hotspot even at the highest F-number was noticed. This property qualifies this lens for infrared photography but also for panoramic infrared reflectography since it can be stopped down in order to increase the depth of field without causing hot spots. Of course, this is also a perfect lens for multispectral imaging (bandpass interferential filters). Its only drawback, costly.

Coastal Optical 60mm
Coastal Optical 60 mm tested on Nikon D800 modified full spectrum for Technical Photography.
VIS
VIS photography on Pigments Checker. Coastal Optical 1:4 Apo Macro 60mm on Nikon D800 modified full spectrum.
UVF
UVF (Ultraviolet Fluorescence) photography on Pigments Checker. Coastal Optical 1:4 Apo Macro 60mm on Nikon D800 modified full spectrum.
UVR
UVR (UV Reflected) photography on Pigments Checker. Coastal Optical 1:4 Apo Macro 60mm on Nikon D800 modified full spectrum.
IR
IR (Infrared) photography on Pigments Checker. Coastal Optical 1:4 Apo Macro 60mm on Nikon D800 modified full spectrum.
IRF
IRF (Infrared Fluorescence) photography on Pigments Checker. Coastal Optical 1:4 Apo Macro 60mm on Nikon D800 modified full spectrum.
IRFC
IRFC (Infrared False Color) photography on Pigments Checker. Coastal Optical 1:4 Apo Macro 60mm on Nikon D800 modified full spectrum.
IRR
IRR (Infrared Reflectography) on Pigments Checker. Coastal Optical 1:4 Apo Macro 60mm on InGaAs camera.
Coastal Optical 1-4 Apo Macro 60mm test
Coastal Opti­cal 1:4 Apo Macro 60mm (dis­tance cam­era –tar­get 90 cm). No hotspots at any F-number.

12 thoughts on “Best lens for Technical Photography: Coastal Optical 60 mm TESTED

  1. Hello Antonino

    Is this lens mount F ready or you have to use mount adaptor? and how is the closest focus distance to the object ?

    1. Hi Carolina, it is ready for Nikon and it focuses at 35 cm.

  2. I love this lens. I used while at the NEDCC and I am working hard to get a copy it here at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

    Nevertheless, I am trying to figure out if you can special order a Canon EF mount for it, or if it is only Nikon. With the new Canon 5DS-R coming out, this lens and that camera might be a great pair.

    1. No idea if they make if also for Canon

  3. Hi Constantino! I have one Coastal 60mm UV-VIS-IR since 2008 (when it was launched to the market) and since then the lens is my main workhorse for Cultural Heritage photography… I love this lens! The range where this lens is apochromatic is the same range where the sensors of the modern digital cameras present is sensitivity too, so it is a perfect match for a modified digital camera. It is excellent for IR, UV and fluorescence photography, and as you mentioned on your article, ideal for perfect overlapping images without the need of registration! And, of-course, for multispectral imaging is perfect for the same reasons! The definition of this lens is great too, with MTF charts showing excellent resolution, and being probably as sharp as the famous and also expensive too “Zeiss Otus 55mm-f/1.4” (not adequate for multispectral photography!).

    About hotspots, however, some users (including me!) experienced with this lens in some rare cases the appearance of hotspots doing macro-photography, with invisible radiation and near of his closest focus limit!… in such cases, sometimes you can turn around the problem using extension rings, instead of close focusing with the lens.

    Cheers

    Luís Bravo Pereira

    1. Hi Luis, (my last name is actually Cosentino, but nevermind everybody misses it :-)) thanks for the info. Do you know of anybody selling an used one?

      1. Thanks, Antonino! For mortals such as we, who don’t have the resources to purchase one, this lens can sometimes be rented (try LensRentals). There are also a couple of other versions that might be of interest for some users and applications:
        105 mm UV-VIS lens (F-mount; color corrected for 250-700 nm):
        http://www.jenoptik-inc.com/coastalopt-standard-lenses/uv-vis-105mm-slr-lens-mainmenu-40.html
        And if you’re looking into wavelengths in the range of InGaAs sensors, a 25 mm hyperspectral lens for VIS-NIR (C-mount; color corrected for 400-1700 nm):
        http://www.jenoptik-inc.com/literature/doc_view/6-3-hyperspectral-lens.html
        Coastal Optics has also produced custom versions. There’s a lot of information available about the potential problem with flaring, but it only occurs under limited conditions and there are known workarounds, as Luís noted.

        Cheers,
        Taylor

        1. Hi Taylor, thanks for the info! Do you know if LensRental rents in Europe or is a similar service for Europe?

          1. I’m afraid LensRentals ships only to the U.S. They apparently have a Canadian counterpart as well, but I’m not sure if they offer this lens. I don’t know if there is a similar rental service in Europe that offers it. Sorry!

          2. yeah, that is what I was worried about :-(((((((

  4. Antonino, what InGaAs camera was used for the test above? Did it have a Nikon Mount?

    Thanks,
    Adam

    1. Adam, yes, Nikon mount adaptor for InGaAs. Cheers

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.