Yesterday the Moon, Today the Sun

[James G]

Well not quite... the Moon was Monday, but today I took a look at the Sun.. quite a nice cluster of sunspots....




Shot on tripod with 7Dmk2 with 500mm Sigma lens and handmade solar filter (Baader AstroSolar safety Film)
Camera settings Manual mode, F5.6, 1/1500s, ISO 100 (oops! originally posted ISO 100)

[IzzieK]

Now unless the sun is going down or about a little bit going daylight, I wouldn't be able to take a shot of it. How did you this one? Does the filter help get the shape ?Do you have to use your computer screen to look at it? just some questions...

[James G]

Izzie, do not try to photograph the Sun unless you have the right kind of filter on your camera.
I bought a special medium Baader Solar Filter Safety film (http://astrosolar.com/en/). It cuts out 99.9% of the Sun's light, and is mounted on the front of the lens as usual. (It was a DIY job but not too difficult to do).

I believe there are alternatives to the Baader medium available in the US which are just as effective

Because I was using a 500mm telephoto the disk of the Sun takes about 1/16 of the frame and without a filter in place would either blind me or destroy the sensor.

The technique I use is to mount the camera on the tripod with the filter in place and then find the sun by zooming from 50 (wide field) to the full 500mm. Because I have to look in the general direction of the sun to do this I usually use a handheld ND10 filter rather than sunglasses to cut the glare while I get set up .

(I have tried using my Android Tablet as a remote viewer but in full sunlight the screen is just not bright enough.)

As regards camera settings I've just noticed a typo which I've corrected... the ISO was the lowest the 7D will do ie 100 not 1000
So Manual mode, F5.6, 1/1500sec, ISO 100


As regards the shape of the image, I guess you are referring to the image sitting against a black field? Since 99.9% of the light is being removed by the filter, the sky around the sun simply becomes dark.

[Rebel]

Thats cool, I've never seen a photo of the sun like this before!

Nice one James

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[DEAN01]

Nice capture.

[bnnrcn]

I haven't seen such a sun photo either. Thanks for sharing and explaining how you took the shot. Cool image

[IzzieK]

+1 to Binnur's comments here...I read the process of making your own filter and copied the link to it and read it thoroughly but then I felt it is too much work. I will just content myself with the moon shots...my aim to be able to do landscaping starscopes..