Ok to film sun with an ND 1/64, narrow iris?

Allen Ellis

Allen Ellis

Well-known member
Hi,

I captured this unplanned shot with no tripod one afternoon. I used full ND (1/64) and a pretty narrow iris (I don't remember, probably F8 or higher). Is this still harmful to my lens?

I'd love to capture more shots that are similar (especially the first few frames with the cloud covering the sun) but I won't do it if it's going to damage my CCD.

Here are some un-corrected shots to give you a sense of how much light was coming through the lens:



» 15 second Quicktime video (810kb)

Thanks.
 
I think that shooting the sun to get burn ins was a thing that happened more in the days of cameras having tubes and such. I've shot a lot of timelapses of the sun and it falling behind the horizon with everything dark but the globe and have gotten shots like this one you did. Maybe more techy savy people will disagree, but I don't think it's too harmful if it's not left on for like days or something... Back in the day, it was more about having an image burned onto it....
 
I always look for sun glares like the one you have for opening shoots, and also use them in love stories or park shoots... never had a problem before (nock on wood)

I agree with Justyn, i think its most of a burn image other than a sensor getting damage...

I just saw that shoot and I'm getting an urge to get some cloud time lapse!!! =)
 
shot this when I just got the camera.
But I stopped shooting when the sun was totaly visible.

1245261317.jpg
 
I don't think it's a good idea to film directly the sun during the day. Maybe at sunset, but not during the day. Usually, there is a warning about that in the camera's user manuals. Especially for the viewfinder.
 
The nd filter should cut out a lot of light.. Then a uv would take out even more... At that point your better off... I keep it down to the minimum unless it's a sunset... No probs yet
 
I've got a UV filter on it. Thanks - I think I'll avoid the sun generally but if I see a great shot then I'll go for it briefly using the ND's.

Thanks :)
 
I've never had a problem but for what it worth page 105 of operating manual it says

Do not point the lens or viewfinder at the sun. Doing so may damage the parts inside.
 
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