Very basic setup for the eclipse + quiet sun?

[pluto]

I'm not really planning on any serious photography at the eclipse, as I have to fly up and can't take my scope/mount, so I've just got a simple setup. I've just butchered some solar viewing glasses and used a cheap uv filter as a frame to hack up a basic solar filter for my camera. Works a treat!

Also I noticed there are no sunspots at the moment?
When I used a similar setup for the transit I could clearly see some sunspots.

[04Stefan07]

I followed your tips and advice and made the same thing.

Wide-angle shots are fantastic but close one's not so.

Ignore all the dots and marks everywhere, I need to clean my sensor.

As I zoom in you can start to see the white paper which I placed in the filter.

Any advice?

Images attached
1) Filter with solar film from glasses on white poster paper.
2) Filter attached to lens of the camera
3) Wide angle shot
4) Zoomed in shot.

[leon]

Yep, it sure can be simple and cheap to achieve the same results, while others spend thousands, well done guys.

Leon

[04Stefan07]

Slowly looking better lol.

[04Stefan07]

The side with the gaffer tape faces outwards, the other side is in.

[pluto]

Cool :thumbsup:
I recon a line of tape along the inside of the ring and the edge of the cardboard would get rid of the last of that light leakage.

[04Stefan07]

Just added more tape and took another shot, the picture is looking much better but now the sun has gone in!!! :(

[04Stefan07]

After taping more of it up I am getting MUCH BETTER results and I am happy with them now.

Thank you so much!

[andyc]

Nice setups, well done! There are actually quite a few sunspots on the disk at the moment, more than I've seen for a while, but all are fairly small. Not as active as the last solar max, that's for sure. I just came in from testing my setup for tomorrow morning (5" reflector, projection onto white card), and could see all the groups and most of the individual spots on the image from SOHO (http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/sunspots/), plus some of the white faculae near one edge of the Sun. It should make for some really nice images/views for those lucky enough to see the eclipse tomorrow!

If I could offer some small advice to Stefan (though my photography skills are somewhat limited): It looks as though the last image you posted is possibly not quite focused sharply or is maybe (??, probably not) overexposed? I have a similar camera/lens, and would hope you could get some crisp images, so long as the filter is not blurring the image. I certainly appreciate it's not always easy to achieve a sharp focus on a tricky target like this! With luck, it may be possible for you to clearly image those sunspots on the Sun just now. If it's as clear where you are as it is here in the eastern suburbs, and of course if you haven't already done so (you probably have), then have a good try out of different focus points and exposure settings (manual exposure/aperture or +/- stops) to see what might work best tomorrow!

Best of luck, and of course clear skies :thumbsup: