radioactive

Radioactive Glass: Can Using Vintage Lenses Ruin Your Photos?

Some lenses produced from the 1940s through the 1970s were treated with radioactive thorium oxide to curb chromatic aberration. But as Andrew Walker explains in this 7.5-minute video, modern digital cameras can actually "see" that radiation as image noise that has the potential ruin your long exposures.

The Sarcophagus: Photographing the Most Radioactive Places in Chernobyl

It’s been 3 years since the giant, 36,000-ton New Safe Confinement (better known as The Arch) was put over the damaged old sarcophagus that helps contain the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster. A symbolic moment that also summed up my 10 years of work documenting the Chernobyl Zone. However, just as the building of the new sarcophagus didn't finish the work inside related to eliminating the radioactive threat, I still have a reason to come here.

My Visit to the Abandoned Radioactive City of Pripyat

Before you read the rest of the article, and it will be a long read, please allow me to share a few thoughts with you. Visiting the abandoned city of Pripyat and the disaster site of Chernobyl was an experience that I was looking forward to for a very long time.

Fukushima Photographer Defends Photos After Accusations of Fakery

If you follow just about any major news outlet, you're bound to have seen the photos of "Fukushima Kid." We published them ourselves. But today the photographer behind those shots, Keow Wee Loong, is on the defensive as another photographer accuses him of lying about the photos in search of fame.

Using a Radioactive WWII Bomber Lens on a DSLR with a 3D-Printed Adapter

Originally produced for the US military in WW2, the Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm f/2.5 is a large-format monster of a lens. Mounted in bombers, facing down at Europe, this lens was sold to the US government for the price of a family car. It found its way into military surplus after the war, and was widely used in journalism and by professional photographers.

Decades-Old Lenses May Be Radioactive, Especially if They’re Made by Kodak

Late last year, we shared a video in which a photographer tested the radioactivity of an old Pentax 50mm f/1.4 lens that is really popular with film photographers. But that is far from the only lens you have to worry about when it comes to radioactivity.

Camerapedia lists 54 lenses that have been reported as radioactive and that, if you use them often enough, you may want to take note of.