Photographing the sun.

[SwissJon]

I'm wondering how many stops I'd need to adjust for to allow me to photograph the sun safely? I've got two ND10 filters coming my way (I ordered one and found I'd won one on ebay.. Never mind, I'm bound to break one eventually) and also have a ND6.

So that gives me 26 stops.. Coupled with a top shutter speed of 1/8000s and a max Aperture of around f/22 am I going to be able to safely photograph the sun with a 300mm lens without over exposing? Or with that kind of "stopping" power, am I going to end up with a black image? I've no idea how many stops to compensate for when photographing the sun directly.

I'd like to be able to get enough detail in the photo to be able to see sunspots, although my intention is to get a properly exposed sun orb with sillouettes in front. (i.e. With the sun's orb filling the frame, the histogram is in the centre.) I want to be able to look through the viewfinder without going blind.

I'm aware that the 300mm lens isn't very long, but I'm experimenting.. If I like the results, I'll consider investing in a longer lens and a proper solar filter, but at the moment, I just want to know how much is enough.

[sk66]

No idea, but I would suggest using live view and not the viewfinder....

[BuddhaPi]

Be sure to share your results, we had a cool sunrise here this morning and I ran out and snapped a few, unfortunatley from where I am there really wasn't anything worthwhile in the shot except for some wires.. I shot this with the 150-500, no filters..SOOC except for crop, no other adjustments

Aperture Priority
Aperture: 10.0
SS 1/250
ISO 100
Focal Lenght: 500mm

[drewdunnrespect]

buddhapi that is an ausome photo mate i would love to be able to get photos of that quality and have that sort of know how and ability

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by BuddhaPi

Be sure to share your results, we had a cool sunrise here this morning and I ran out and snapped a few, unfortunatley from where I am there really wasn't anything worthwhile in the shot except for some wires.. I shot this with the 150-500, no filters..SOOC except for crop, no other adjustments

Aperture Priority
Aperture: 10.0
SS 1/250
ISO 100
Focal Lenght: 500mm

Blimey, I think I'm going to be spending my spare cash on one of those 150-500's.. That must have been just at the horizon to get those Exif readings, mind you, you still have a bit of CA there Is that a 100% crop? I've got a bunch of trees on a mountain outcrop that I want to use.. I've noticed that there's a brilliant picture to be had when I walk my dog around dawn every morning.

Yes, you're probably right Steve, but I wanted to find out what settings other people used..

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

Blimey, I think I'm going to be spending my spare cash on one of those 150-500's.. That must have been just at the horizon to get those Exif readings, mind you, you still have a bit of CA there Is that a 100% crop? I've got a bunch of trees on a mountain outcrop that I want to use.. I've noticed that there's a brilliant picture to be had when I walk my dog around dawn every morning.

Yes, you're probably right Steve, but I wanted to find out what settings other people used..

yes 100% crop, sunrose here @6:35am I got the image @ 6:54 so not right on the horizon, this olny lasted like 3 minutes, before it was was to bright to look at. you've got trees and a mountain I have ugly wires and rooftops..maybe a trip to the beach is in order, it's less than 3miles.

[jdepould]

If you're shooting sunset or sunrise, that should be more than enough.