2012 Transit of Venus Options

[michael.jenkin]

A low res 100% crop for you, taken in my lunch break .. just so I could say I tried to take the photo and proof .. I was here !



I only had a 70-200 lens with me. I should have brought my 500mm with teleconverter to work or my 800mm.

For those that need to know ... ND400 filter, full manual mode, set to 200 mm, ISO 50, 1/8000 sec with 32 Aperature, hand held, manual focus at infinity. Taken on a canon EOS 5D.

[Antraman]

Ah hah! A use for an ND filter! I recently got a ND2-1000 Variable filter, and was wondering if it was D enough to take a pic of the sun...I was a bit worried about doing it because Nikon warns about aiming the camera to bright light sources in case of damaging the sensor. So thanks for trying this out.

[Chancellor]

Very cool pic :) It's not an overly easy image to take, especially with the clouds today.

Antraman: Even the ND400 is not enough of a filter and not the right one if viewing the sun. It will still let through the UV and IR light, so definitely be careful if pointing the camera at the sun. The sensor itself will have a UV and IR filter on it, so it's safe (at least for your eyes) to use live view, but definitely don't look through the view finder. In terms of the sensor, I took the chance and still got some images without damage to the sensor, but it's not something I want to do often, or for an extended period.

This post has been edited by Chancellor: Jun 6 2012, 03:29 PM

[michael.jenkin]

Very cool pic :) It's not an overly easy image to take, especially with the clouds today.

Antraman: Even the ND400 is not enough of a filter and not the right one if viewing the sun. It will still let through the UV and IR light, so definitely be careful if pointing the camera at the sun. The sensor itself will have a UV and IR filter on it, so it's safe (at least for your eyes) to use live view, but definitely don't look through the view finder. In terms of the sensor, I took the chance and still got some images without damage to the sensor, but it's not something I want to do often, or for an extended period.

There is a lot of debate out there about sensor damage. Most people think the sensor will be fine but the plastic parts of the metal shutter, may deform due to the concentrated heat through the lens.
The consensus is as the shutter is open for a very short time, the sensor is quite safe but the shutter gets the full heat.

[Chancellor]

Very true. In any case it's best to minimise the time that the camera is pointing to the sun.

The ND400 filter is definitely on my one day purchase list though.

[michael.jenkin]

Another

[MandoTiM]

Another

other than Venus are those bits of grot on the filter or sunspots?

[Chancellor]

Another very nice image :) You get a real 3D feeling in that one.

[michael.jenkin]

Another

other than Venus are those bits of grot on the filter or sunspots?

Great question. Comparing heaps of the photos I took, they are sun spots. I took the shots handheld and this means the sun appears in different spots in the photos.
The sunspots are always in the same spot.

[Antraman]

they are sunspots.

[MandoTiM]

Another

other than Venus are those bits of grot on the filter or sunspots?

Great question. Comparing heaps of the photos I took, they are sun spots. I took the shots handheld and this means the sun appears in different spots in the photos.
The sunspots are always in the same spot.

realised they were today when I saw the shots of the transit on Quantum (ABC), they all had the same 'smudges'. A great shot there!