Shooting the sun
 

Has anyone seen the videos at the Canon website? They show an example of the interval recording mode of a sunset. I thought you shouldnt shoot the sun, that it could damage something in the camera. But on the Canon website it they do what they tell us not to do? Any comments?

That's a wide-angle, filtered shot that you're referring to.

All camera manufacturers reccomend against aiming directly into the sun as a matter of course. In the proper hands of a skilled DP, it's not an issue. For the general public, however, it's simply good advice.

the main problem is that when you aim at the sun at the right angle, the lens will focus the suns energy onto a spot on the CCD detector and burn a hole....just like when you were a kid and lit newspaper on fire with a magnifying glass(at least I did that once or twice). Anyway, if you can meter the exposure, ie the meter isn't pegged, and the sun itself is off axis to the lens( not directly inline with the lens axis) you're gonna be okay. Be sure to put the ND filters in place before checking exposure.

Hi,

The key words are sunset and sunrise. Try setting the newspaper on fire at sunset. It's pretty hard if not impossible. Don't aim your camera at the sun at high noon or you'll have problems. If you want to have some fun tr yusing the EF adapter and a telephoto EOS lens. You can actually see sunspots.

Jeff Donald

That's right, Jeff... you can actually see sun spots... for the last time... ever.

;-)