is there anything in manaul not to do?

Well, you mean like "don't submerse in water", etc? There are many cautions, and it's well worth reading it to discover what they all are. Off the top of my head I believe they give prohibitions about not trying to move the zoom ring when it's in "manual" mode, and don't point the lens or the viewfinder into the sun...
 
Hey guys!

Does anyone have any definitive advice re: pointing the camera into the sun? It's hard to believe that it's not possible to shoot a sunset or sunrise with this camera...is there a way to do it safely? I know there are other posts out there that discuss this, but they don't seem to reach any conclusion, they just have some people saying it's ok and others saying it's not.
 
Sunrise and sunset are very different than high noon! The sun intensity at high noon will fry your retinas in a few seconds flat, whereas you can sit and watch a sunset comfortably. So treat the camera like you would your eyes. If you're comfortable looking at the sun, then so's the camera. If looking at the sun hurts your eyes, then it'll probably do no favors to your CCD block either!
 
Im pretty sure the manual says this "PLEASE READ CAREFULLY" so use it as your starting point and youll be fine.

Fritz Ive read stories from members here who went right ahead and pointed their cam at the sun with no ill after effects.
 
Thanks Barry! That's a great way of explaining it.

While I can't look at a sunset or sunrise with my naked eyes, if I put on my sunglasses it's a lot better. Which I suppose is the equivalent of shooting it with an ND (grad) in front of the lens. Now I come to think of it, if the internal ND filters are on, do they protect the CCDs at all, or are they just an electronic adjustment?
 
Thanks guys! What would I do without this forum?! Don't worry, I'd never point my camera at the sun when it's high in the sky, but it's good to know that I don't have to worry when trying to get a nice sunset or sunrise.
 
Barry_Green said:
Sunrise and sunset are very different than high noon! The sun intensity at high noon will fry your retinas in a few seconds flat, whereas you can sit and watch a sunset comfortably. So treat the camera like you would your eyes. If you're comfortable looking at the sun, then so's the camera. If looking at the sun hurts your eyes, then it'll probably do no favors to your CCD block either!
Click to expand...

What about the low angle shot in Texas Fortune where the Cowboy Opens the trrunk and is back lit by the Sun?

Are shots like this possible but not adviseable? Does a UV filter help?

Or did Curogon just do it in post?

BTW I've heard don't point it at a laser's origin. There was a guy on here that fried one of his chips doing that for a medical industrial.
 
Well, the owner's manual is what freaked me out about shooting sunrises and sunsets in the first place!

I have actually read the thing, and I know that it says never to point the camera into the sun. I just couldn't believe that it was not possible to get such classic shots, shots that many (if not most) people at some point would want to get with any camera they had. The explanation about treating the camera like you treat your eyes just seems to make more sense.

I guess the dire warning in the manual is a bit of a cover your arse for Panasonic, to get around the stupid people who will point a camera directly at the midday sun for an hour or so and then complain that it doesn't work so well any more!
 
YES!!!

It very CLEARY states that you should NEVER take your DVX to a nude beach, because there are only very ugly people there and it will break your camera!
 
Oh god! I think I'm guilty of that one too!! Mind you, there was only one person on the beach at the time - an old guy in a terry towling hat and nothing else, proudly displaying his 'assets'...so I didn't actually get the camera out...
 
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