taking scenery..

[alvinkm]

i heard from my fren that its not good to have camera to point directly at sun as the camera will spoilt..is that true?...or the max is 8sec of exposure??...

[tanandrew]

yes direct point to the sun it will spoil you lens and camera

[Octarine]

Then how do you explain the existence of sunset and sunrise pictures without reports of damaged cameras?
Contrary to myths and rumours you can point your cam to the sun for taking pictures - but you need to pay attention to some important details. The question would be: What is the intended outcome and what is the time? Sunset and sunrise picture? That's clearly possible - and many people do it every day. Checking activities at the sun surface will clearly require special equipment and precautions, nothing that you want to do with a normal DSLR. Beside this: before your camera is spoiled rather your eyes will suffer due to the concentration of sunlight in the viewfinder. Taking backlight pictures? Not sure whether the camera can find suitable settings with the glaring sun in background. But mostly these situations are around sunrise / sunset when the sun is low above the horizon and filters are used most of the times.
For sunset pictures most people use different filters (GND, Reverse GND and additional ND) depending on the light conditions and your intended outcome.
Apart from that: don't leave your camera in the direct sunlight when not shooting, put on the lens cap. Heat is not a good thing for the electronics inside.

[giantcanopy]

To be fair it is not entirely untrue.

For the typical shots it is not a big deal.

Most of the issues arise if you are shooting ( frame filling ) solar pic with a ( very long ) telephoto lens, and without proper solar filters ( or even the H alpha filters if u r loaded ), the intensity can potentially damage the lens elements, the mirror, the sensor, and of course most horribly, blinding the eyes. The intensified IR from the sun is enough to do damage.

Ryan

[Shen siung]

Originally Posted by Octarine Then how do you explain the existence of sunset and sunrise pictures without reports of damaged cameras? Contrary to myths and rumours you can point your cam to the sun for taking pictures - but you need to pay attention to some important details. The question would be: What is the intended outcome and what is the time? Sunset and sunrise picture? That's clearly possible - and many people do it every day. Checking activities at the sun surface will clearly require special equipment and precautions, nothing that you want to do with a normal DSLR. Beside this: before your camera is spoiled rather your eyes will suffer due to the concentration of sunlight in the viewfinder. Taking backlight pictures? Not sure whether the camera can find suitable settings with the glaring sun in background. But mostly these situations are around sunrise / sunset when the sun is low above the horizon and filters are used most of the times. For sunset pictures most people use different filters (GND, Reverse GND and additional ND) depending on the light conditions and your intended outcome. Apart from that: don't leave your camera in the direct sunlight when not shooting, put on the lens cap. Heat is not a good thing for the electronics inside.

Hi,
Regarding backlight picture like the one below


(source: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Di..._sunshield.jpg)

Is it recommended to use filter? Normal UV filter can protect the camera?
If only use normal compact / PnS (without filter), can shoot this kind of picture without possibly causing a damage to the sensor?

Thanks a lot

[Slyanius]

Originally Posted by giantcanopy To be fair it is not entirely untrue. For the typical shots it is not a big deal. Most of the issues arise if you are shooting ( frame filling ) solar pic with a ( very long ) telephoto lens, and without proper solar filters ( or even the H alpha filters if u r loaded ), the intensity can potentially damage the lens elements, the mirror, the sensor, and of course most horribly, blinding the eyes. The intensified IR from the sun is enough to do damage. Ryan

I agree completely. If pointing a magnifying glass thru the sun can burn ants, imagine what pointing a powerful zoom lens at max focal length will do to your eyes.

Sunrise, sunset photos when the sun is not at its hottest should be fine though.

[night86mare]

i point a lot of times already

you don't do something silly like overexpose your photos will be no problem.

and of course, uncovered sun , i.e. no clouds, even your eyes will suffer, don't talk about camera, so just avoid that. in such a situation the contrast is too great even for film to handle, shoot for what?