Posted by Brian Gatlin on February 22, 2012 at 5:59 PM
I'm fortunate enough to live in the path of an upcoming annular eclipse of the sun on May 20, 2012, and am interested in photographing the event. (In this type of eclispe, the moon moved directly in front of the sun, but does not completely block it, leaving a narrow "ring of fire" showing all the way around the moon.
I'm curious what type of filter is necessary to photograph the sun without frying the sensor? Or what other approaches might be successful?
Posted by Richard Ditch on February 22, 2012 at 6:26 PM
I can't help with a filter recommendation but I advise being careful. I melted part of the mirror chamber on my Nikon D200 just by carrying it on the tripod over my shoulder with the 300 and 2x mounted. I was distracted helping my wife while she could still get out and wasn't watching the camera for a couple of minutes, and that's all it took. I ended up with a glob of melted plastic on the bottom of the mirror that kept it from swinging completely out of the light path. It was a $250 repair.
Posted by Phillip Noll on February 22, 2012 at 7:32 PM
In addition to damaging your camera, you could very easily damage your eyes! This will not be like a lunar eclipse. You can't look directly at the sun during an annular eclipse or you risk eye damage, Be careful out there!
Posted by Peter Cross on February 22, 2012 at 8:52 PM
In astronomy there are highly specialized (read expensive) units for viewing the sun live. I haven't heard of an attachment for using with a DSLR but there maybe something out there. Care is the name of the game here.
Posted by Brian Gatlin on February 22, 2012 at 9:55 PM
thanks--I appreciate and totally agree with the words of caution--looking directly at the sun, even 4% of the sun is obviously a BAD idea. a quick internet search turned up some pretty cheap glasses that enable safe viewing, but so far the only solar filters I've seen seem to be for telescopes.
Posted by Roger Kirchen on February 22, 2012 at 10:29 PM
As kids we were told to use a fully exposed (and developed) 35 mm B/W film to look at eclipses, i.e. layer of metallic silver. There was enough of that around. It did work and there was no harm done to my eyes, though in retrospect I don't know if it was truly safe. I'd be concerned about the UV and IR besides the VIS. A welder's glass might be a better choice for observing though they probably do not have the optical quality required for photography (plus the tint).
Posted by Howard Cihak on February 23, 2012 at 4:05 AM
As a kid, I experimented and found that a fully exposed and developed piece of transparency film (e.g. Ektachrone) would allow direct viewing. It rendered the sun as a dull magenta spot to the unaided eye. I never suffered any apparent damage from doing this, and after 66 years I would think it be apparent by now.
The key, I suspect, is how large you intend to make the sun as a part of the entire image in your frame. The larger, the greater the danger. If, as some are suggesting, you use the sun as part of a larger landscape scene by means of a wide to normal lens, then you should have far less difficulty than if you're planning on using a telephoto to shoot the image.
Posted by David Graham on February 23, 2012 at 8:51 AM
Big, long, corrugated cardboard carton for a water heater or refrigerator...
1/4" "pinhole" hole in one end...
White paper taped to inside of opposite end...
Cut a head-sized hole allowing insertion of head below and not obscuring the pinhole...
Easily and completely safely observe the projected image of the sun , it's flares, eclipses, and sunspots on the white paper...also easy to photograph the projected image.
Have fun safely!
Discussion
7 repliesI'm curious what type of filter is necessary to photograph the sun without frying the sensor? Or what other approaches might be successful?
The key, I suspect, is how large you intend to make the sun as a part of the entire image in your frame. The larger, the greater the danger. If, as some are suggesting, you use the sun as part of a larger landscape scene by means of a wide to normal lens, then you should have far less difficulty than if you're planning on using a telephoto to shoot the image.
1/4" "pinhole" hole in one end...
White paper taped to inside of opposite end...
Cut a head-sized hole allowing insertion of head below and not obscuring the pinhole...
Easily and completely safely observe the projected image of the sun , it's flares, eclipses, and sunspots on the white paper...also easy to photograph the projected image.
Have fun safely!
Dave Graham
East River, SD