I take quite a few photos straight into the sun either to get the haze or to capture sunrise/sunset pictures and so when I heard about a solar eclipse happening tomorrow I figured it wouldn't be any different (83% coverage at 6-7am) however I have had many people tell me today I will send myself blind and damage my sensor today :-/
I was looking somewhere the other day (here or somewhere else online) where they said with a new DSLR and using a telephoto lens you can safely take photos as long as you keep your shutter speed high (around the 1/2000 1/4000)
So can anyone tell me how photographing a solar eclipse (about 1 1/2 hrs after "official" sunrise times) is different to say a shot below? Have you done it without filters and can you still see???
BTW - did try and get out to get a filter today but got it home and found it was the wrong size and they were sold out of the other size :-/
I was wondering the same thing...I guess we're just not meant to look for a long time
I'm sure we've all accidentally seen the sun.
I get to use my filters (for the 2nd time!)
Realistically you won't damage the sensor. Bear in mind every compact and bridge camera has the sensor always on (to produce the live image on the screen) -- if you could damage the sensor just by carelessly pointing the camera in the rough direction of the sun, there'd be a lot of broken cameras out there!
It would theoretically be possible to damage the sensor, but you would need to focus the sun's beam onto a very small section of the sensor, in the same way that you would use a magnifying glass to burn a leaf. In that case, where the light is all falling on a tiny area, you could potentially thermally damage a small part of the sensor. I don't believe that's a realistic possibility in normal camera use.
It would still be safest to avoid using live view for extended periods when pointed directly at the sun.
Eye damage is a different matter. General consensus is that any eye damage by staring at the sun is not a thermal issue -- you are not 'burning' the retina in the sense that many people would think. The actual temperature increase of the retina is, from memory, only about 3 degrees celsius, which is clearly not enough to do any damage. Damage is believed to occur instead as a chemical reaction in the cells of the retina when exposed to extreme amounts of UV light. If so, looking through a viewfinder, particularly at a magnified image of the sun, is likely to increase the risk of damage. (This also indicates why you are unlikely to damage the camera sensor, as it does not react chemically to UV light).
Note that reports of eye damage vary wildly, with some people (bizarrely) having tried staring at the mid-day sun for several minutes or longer and reporting no issues other than an afterimage that takes an hour or two to fade, whereas others have reported damage much earlier. However, permanent damage to your eyes is no joke, so my advice would be not to risk it.
Thanks for this Sarah - l wasn't sure ....l dont have filters, so not sure what to do....you know there is also a lunar eclipse on the 28th of this month too!!
@michelle58 I think I will just go to live view - have tested my camera out and it goes to 1/8000 of a second so don't think I can damage my sensor and I will just focus through live view instead of the view finder
So I found out today - yes you can take pics of the eclipse without filters and not go blind or damage your camera :-)
Set camera on a tripod and used live view to focus at ISO 100, F29 1/8000 on 300mm lens. I made sure I turned off the camera and put the lens cap on between each shot.
I did find a polarising filter which I held up to the lens for a few shots which made it a little clearer
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I'm sure we've all accidentally seen the sun.
I get to use my filters (for the 2nd time!)
It would theoretically be possible to damage the sensor, but you would need to focus the sun's beam onto a very small section of the sensor, in the same way that you would use a magnifying glass to burn a leaf. In that case, where the light is all falling on a tiny area, you could potentially thermally damage a small part of the sensor. I don't believe that's a realistic possibility in normal camera use.
It would still be safest to avoid using live view for extended periods when pointed directly at the sun.
Eye damage is a different matter. General consensus is that any eye damage by staring at the sun is not a thermal issue -- you are not 'burning' the retina in the sense that many people would think. The actual temperature increase of the retina is, from memory, only about 3 degrees celsius, which is clearly not enough to do any damage. Damage is believed to occur instead as a chemical reaction in the cells of the retina when exposed to extreme amounts of UV light. If so, looking through a viewfinder, particularly at a magnified image of the sun, is likely to increase the risk of damage. (This also indicates why you are unlikely to damage the camera sensor, as it does not react chemically to UV light).
Note that reports of eye damage vary wildly, with some people (bizarrely) having tried staring at the mid-day sun for several minutes or longer and reporting no issues other than an afterimage that takes an hour or two to fade, whereas others have reported damage much earlier. However, permanent damage to your eyes is no joke, so my advice would be not to risk it.
@abirkill Thanks Alexis... I don't use live view usually.. but you think that would be safer?
I'm going to be careful though, I dont want to be the stupid amateur blind photographer either lol
Set camera on a tripod and used live view to focus at ISO 100, F29 1/8000 on 300mm lens. I made sure I turned off the camera and put the lens cap on between each shot.
I did find a polarising filter which I held up to the lens for a few shots which made it a little clearer