Author Topic: Weird sunspots  (Read 3179 times)

simato73

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Weird sunspots
« on: February 28, 2016, 18:42:16 »
When you say serendipity...

I was doing test shots with my Mamyia 500/5.6 that has an infinity focus problem.
I figured the best infinity distance object to do a test on is the Sun, so I put on the Astro-Baader filter and started shooting with my X-T1.

I was shooting single shots, varying aperture, and had come to the end of my sequence at f/32.
(You might think the results at f/32 are crap due to diffraction, and normally I would agree. Except that the lens does not reach infinity focus and the improvement I get from increased depth of field is greater than the degradation from diffraction.)

At that point  - what are the odds - a plane crossed the Sun just at the equator! I managed to trigger the shutter three times before it crossed.
Overall the event must have taken a couple of seconds.
Images cropped to 6MP from 16MP.
Simone Tomasi

Jakov Minić

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2016, 19:19:14 »
Simone, that's amazing!
The odds in life can be rewarding at times and you definitely got your rewards!!!
Free your mind and your ass will follow. - George Clinton
Before I jump like monkey give me banana. - Fela Kuti
Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem. - Woody Allen

simato73

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2016, 19:50:49 »
Simone, that's amazing!
The odds in life can be rewarding at times and you definitely got your rewards!!!

Thanks, you have always nice words for everyone  :)
Simone Tomasi

Anthony

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2016, 20:02:11 »
I agree, amazing.  The last is particularly spectacular!
Anthony Macaulay

Thomas G

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2016, 20:31:29 »
Chemtrails are dangerous!!  8) ::)  ;)

Great series shooting, climaxing in the last amazing shot.

The title message though puzzled me,- isn't it more like 'stark sun activity'?

-/-/-

Jakov Minić

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2016, 21:01:19 »
Thanks, you have always nice words for everyone  :)

Simone, I am going to use your words for my yearly appraisal at work :)

Now, on a more serious topic, I am looking at your photos again (I like the 1st the most), I am thinking of buying the Astro-Baader filter.
I will most likely use it on mu 300/4.5 AIS that has a 72mm thread. So which one to buy and where?
I know it's dangerous and precautions need to be addressed but your image inspired me so much that I would like to give it a go :)

Free your mind and your ass will follow. - George Clinton
Before I jump like monkey give me banana. - Fela Kuti
Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem. - Woody Allen

BW

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2016, 21:01:47 »
Very nice! These shots are hard to time properly, but you have succeeded this time. The only way to actually see this scene was probably thru the lens or welding glasses? I tried the same thing with the moon and a plane the other day, but I was unable to foresee the path of the plane, because I only heard it. On top of everything, the tripod didn't cooperate very well. I hate arguments with equipment in critical situations ::)

Jakov Minić

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2016, 21:05:56 »
This thread should be named the air-craft eclipse :D
Now I see myself shooting at the moon too, thanks a bunch Børge ::)

All these NG photographers with all these inspirational images and all these feelings of pride to be among you people... :)

Free your mind and your ass will follow. - George Clinton
Before I jump like monkey give me banana. - Fela Kuti
Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem. - Woody Allen

Thomas G

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2016, 21:14:52 »
Very nice! These shots are hard to time properly, but you have succeeded this time. The only way to actually see this scene was probably thru the lens or welding glasses? I tried the same thing with the moon and a plane the other day, but I was unable to foresee the path of the plane, because I only heard it. On top of everything, the tripod didn't cooperate very well. I hate arguments with equipment in critical situations ::)

Another great one!
-/-/-

Mongo

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #9 on: February 28, 2016, 21:24:15 »
Great series and idea. Also, very well executed.

simato73

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2016, 22:00:59 »
Thank you very much everyone for the comments, however I would like to stress again that this was 100% serendipitous.
I had planned absolutely nothing, I was just there taking boring shots of the Sun.

Obviously I have seen photos of planes silhouetting the moon and like them, but I was not planning to do this shot.
I was just there with the right equipment and everything just set up when the opportunity came.

I was looking through the viewfinder when I realised something was moving from the edge of the Sun.
Then I understood it was a plane, thought I should take pictures, ordered my finger on the shutter release to press.
By the time all this had happened the plane was already where it is shown in the first frame.
No time to change anything; I just had time to press twice more. The last time I hurried to get another shot before the plane went "out of the Sun" and just about succeeded.
 
PS: The title was just a teaser, to lure people to watch ;)  It worked...  ;D
Simone Tomasi

simato73

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2016, 22:20:08 »
Simone, I am going to use your words for my yearly appraisal at work :)

Now, on a more serious topic, I am looking at your photos again (I like the 1st the most), I am thinking of buying the Astro-Baader filter.
I will most likely use it on mu 300/4.5 AIS that has a 72mm thread. So which one to buy and where?
I know it's dangerous and precautions need to be addressed but your image inspired me so much that I would like to give it a go :)

I got the filter from Amazon, but you can buy it directly from the manufacturer too.
The best value is to buy just a sheet, it comes with instructions on how to make a cardboard filter for it.

There are two kinds of Baader Astro Solar filters.
The first, and the one I used here, is for visual observations. It is the same used in eclipse specs and it attenuates the light by 5 orders of magnitude (the light passing through is weaker by a factor of 100000). There is also another filter for photo use that attenuates by 3.8 orders of magnitude. Is is not safe to use for visual observations (specs).
I did not buy the second kind because it was available only in quite expensive sheets that are much larger than what I needed. Obviously you would get about 20 times more light in, which is useful for photography. Instead mine was A4 sized.

There is also another brand that is also 5 orders of magnitude but is not a neutral filter; it does intead give the sun a deep yellow colour. It was not available in the size I wanted when I was shopping so I have not tried it.

Regarding lenses consider that you will need a very long lens to get a reasonable size on the sensor. The Moon and the Sun have an approximately similar apparent size in the sky.
As Bjørn said when I was inquiring over a year ago, for every 100mm of focal length the Sun/Moon is rendered as a 1mm diameter circle; so 3mm in your sensor if the lens is 300mm.
So on a full frame it is a really tiny part of the sensor.
Even with a 500mm you get a rather small circle; in my case, with a DX sensor, the Sun took less than a third of the short side of the picture.

Whatever you do, remember to NEVER point the lens focused at infinity toward the sun, without having the filter already on. Even a very short time would almost certainly destroy your retina and/or the sensor of your camera (which might even catch fire).
Simone Tomasi

Jakov Minić

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #12 on: February 28, 2016, 22:28:09 »
Thank you Simone for the detailed reply!
My longest lens is the 300mm so I it will have to do or might mount it on my AW1...
It's not always about size... :)
Free your mind and your ass will follow. - George Clinton
Before I jump like monkey give me banana. - Fela Kuti
Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem. - Woody Allen

simato73

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #13 on: February 28, 2016, 22:39:12 »
Thank you Simone for the detailed reply!
My longest lens is the 300mm so I it will have to do or might mount it on my AW1...
It's not always about size... :)

I think this is exactly the setup that Akira has used in the past (probably a different Nikon 1 but same format)
Simone Tomasi

FredCrowBear

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Re: Weird sunspots
« Reply #14 on: February 29, 2016, 01:58:20 »
Very cool! 
Given the choice of being good or lucky, I had rather be both!
For this shot, you were both good and lucky!  Well done. 
Frederick V. Ramsey