Shooting the sun

Hello everyone,

 

What kind of filter do I need to get to shoot the sun directly so that I do not damage my eyes. There are

some amazing sunrises where I live and I want to be able to compose the shot in the viewfinder without

worrying about permanent damage

 

regards,

 

f stop

A piece of a 35mm negative film thats developed usually has nice and black areas that you can use over your viewfinder or if your camear has small enough lens you can stick it right on the lens to line up the camera with the sun and then remove it right before you take the pic with small aperture and or high shutter speed. few years ago i was able to take a picture of the reddish sun low and it wasnt damaging bright.

You could focus on the horizon (infinity) and just swing your camera on a tripod. Shoot one frame (try to avoid staring at the sun ball) then quickly move the camera to one side. If you wear sunglasses and avoid trying to examine the sun, you should be OK.<div></div>

Gerald, how did you shoot that in the future? That's 8 days from now.

 

Just kidding. NIce shot.

The way the guys with telescopes do it is to place a piece of mylar film over the front of the telescope. This film is available from Oceanside telescope in O/S ,CA 92054. Place it over the sun shade and tape it in place since if it falls off you can get blinded permanently in a very short time. This is like the damage caused by arc welding only worse.

...1 Nov. 2006 is the right date. #)&!* keyboard-operator error..:]

Some people shoot sun photos with a waist level finder. They point the camera away from the sun to get correct infinity focus and then turn the lens toward the sun.

I use a piece of glass from a welder mask against the viewfinder. Never use developed film to direct sunlight!

Since the D3 will have live preview you could use it to compose the shot. But that is an expensive solution.

Phil this is one of the nicest excuses to get a D3 so far :-)

I guess I need to shoot the sun soon^^.

"Since the D3 will have live preview you could use it to compose the shot. But that is an expensive solution."

 

 

 

This may (may not) be a great idea. The sunball _ through a lens _ may create heat and damage the sensor if you spend a couple of minutes enjoying the live preview feature. (Paper will burn with a magnifying glass...live viewing of the sun may cause a like result....)

Gerald

 

Is that true, the shutter would not be open obviously.

 

Phil

The shutter will be open in live preview, as the image on the viewfinder comes directly from the sensor. I don't think nikon would recommend this. My intuition is that the image on the screen would be totally blown out as well, unless preview can be with the lens stopped down?

 

My approach would be to screw everything dark I had on the end of the lens (e.g. clear UV (to protect eyes?) plus a 8x ND, polarizer, etc. Maybe a hoya R72 (a visible block, IR pass filter) would be interesting). This probably could hurt image quality, but it would hopefully help your eyes.

Andy, this does not sound right to me, if the shutter is open then the mirror has be be raised. I don't actually know, but I don't think that live preview would work this way. Live preview would have to react to shutter speed and f stop or it would not be useful at all really. I am thinking that you are off the mark on this one.

In live view, the image on the LCD indeed comes straight from the sensor. The mirror is raised and the shutter is open. Essentially your D3 or D300 (or Canon 1D Mark III, 40D, Olympus ....) is working as if it were a digicam that has no mirror.

I think chances are high that your D3 will go up in smoke :-P

A work colleague is into astronomy. He's tells me you need a hydrogen alpha filter. You can get telescopes with such filters - they are designed for viewing the sun, without damaging your eyes. Also have special finders that allow you to line up the scope without having to look at the sun either.

 

I bet one these scopes plus a camera adapter is cheaper than a new D3 ;-)

Here's a good article to have a look at: <a href="http://www.photo.net/learn/nature/sunmoon">http://www.photo.net/learn/nature/sunmoon</a>.