Shooting the Sun

jonnyh1968

jonnyh1968

Well-known member
OK I know and I've read it a million times to never point your camera directly into the sun. But is there some way that I would be allowed for a nice time lapse morning sun-rise shot? HVX200 with the 1/64 ND on? or with some normal ND filters in the matte box plus a UV for extra protection? We will not fill the frame up with sun, it's probably a small circle just off on one side or something. But still we'll be sitting there for 30-40 minutes without moving the camera while the sun rises into frame.

Thanks!
 
I've done it quite a bit with no problems. In fact, I did a sunset tonight with the sun in the frame. :)

I just crank up the shutter speed and put on the ND's and I've never had any problems.

Usually sunrise and sunset the sun's light has to go through so much atmosphere, it's not as strong as it is once it climbs above the horizon.

That's not to say that it couldn't damage anything but fast shutter speeds and ND's will make the possibility of damage pretty small.
 
Anything that doesn't blow out the highlights with a vengeance through the judicious use of ND or CP filters while using fairly normal exposure settings should not damage the CCDs.

Shutter speed doesn't help prevent damage, however, since that is all electronic and does nothing to prevent light from hitting the CCD in the first place.
 
Will the ND filters in camera suffice? What if I allow the sun to zebra at 100% but only one or two stops away from no zebras at 100%? Does this sound reasonable?
 
As long as you don't still have to compensate with really short electronic shutter speeds, I would think so, yes.
 
Anyone else want to chime in? we shoot the sunrise Friday morning and I really don't want to destroy my new cam. thanks.
 
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