Partial Solar Eclipse - 300mm

Just spent a little bit of time this afternoon messing around with some Baader Astrosolar safety film, and the 75-300.

I'm happy, especially considering my bodged together setup. (Viewing film whacked on the end of the lens and held in place with a spare filter.)

It's nice and sharp, pretty good for focusing at the sun.

Lumixdude wrote:

It's nice and sharp, pretty good for focusing at the sun.

Well, the focussing was pretty easy actually. If you look at the exif information you can see just how much light the film cut out.

Was funny getting this stuff sorted. The first camera shop I tried suggested using just a variable ND filter, which I thought sounded bloody dangerous. I did test it at ND400, as with an EVF I couldn't hurt myself and, as expect, it failed. The sun was still very blown, even through clouds. Pretty bad advice, imo. I'd hate to see what the results would be if someone tried it with an OVF.

Martin.au wrote:

Well, the focussing was pretty easy actually. If you look at the exif information you can see just how much light the film cut out.

Was funny getting this stuff sorted. The first camera shop I tried suggested using just a variable ND filter, which I thought sounded bloody dangerous. I did test it at ND400, as with an EVF I couldn't hurt myself and, as expect, it failed. The sun was still very blown, even through clouds. Pretty bad advice, imo. I'd hate to see what the results would be if someone tried it with an OVF.

Wow. The last solar eclipse I went to say (May 2012) said that you needed at least a 14 stop filter, and ND400 is only 9 stops. The Baader Astrosolar safety film you used says it has an optical density of 5.0, which is between 16 and 17 stops, and you still shoot at 1/1600. That would put a 14 stop filter (or say a ND1000 + ND16 stack) at about 1/8000. ND400 is terrible advice.

I didn't get nearly as nice photos as you did. I used a VND with max rating of ND1000, 1/4000 SS (max for my D5100), f/22 on a 18-200mm at 200mm, and even with the clouds the sun was burnt out until it was mostly covered. I knew I was using an under-strength filter, so I never looked though the OVF. I wish I knew about the eclipse more in advanced, as the films like you used were all sold out by the time I started looking for them.

Great photo and thanks for sharing!

uRebel Rob wrote:

Martin.au wrote:

Well, the focussing was pretty easy actually. If you look at the exif information you can see just how much light the film cut out.

Was funny getting this stuff sorted. The first camera shop I tried suggested using just a variable ND filter, which I thought sounded bloody dangerous. I did test it at ND400, as with an EVF I couldn't hurt myself and, as expect, it failed. The sun was still very blown, even through clouds. Pretty bad advice, imo. I'd hate to see what the results would be if someone tried it with an OVF.

Wow. The last solar eclipse I went to say (May 2012) said that you needed at least a 14 stop filter, and ND400 is only 9 stops. The Baader Astrosolar safety film you used says it has an optical density of 5.0, which is between 16 and 17 stops, and you still shoot at 1/1600. That would put a 14 stop filter (or say a ND1000 + ND16 stack) at about 1/8000. ND400 is terrible advice.

I didn't get nearly as nice photos as you did. I used a VND with max rating of ND1000, 1/4000 SS (max for my D5100), f/22 on a 18-200mm at 200mm, and even with the clouds the sun was burnt out until it was mostly covered. I knew I was using an under-strength filter, so I never looked though the OVF. I wish I knew about the eclipse more in advanced, as the films like you used were all sold out by the time I started looking for them.

Great photo and thanks for sharing!

What really surprised me, in a good way was: VND = $150. Astrosolar film = $40 for an a4 sheet, which is enough for a whole bunch of lenses.

Looks good and sharp.

a bit more sharper and more purple tinted than what I can get with my Minolta 200mm and similar Solar filter film.

Nice picture, wish it would have been visible from here too.

What gave it the red tint, was it near sunset?

iansmith wrote:

Nice picture, wish it would have been visible from here too.

What gave it the red tint, was it near sunset?

A little bit, but it was mostly, just me playing around with the white balance.