Bob Sull wrote: >Don't know how to look at a Solar Eclipse with a camera, but with out I >use my welding hood. Bob, 'special' solar eclipse filters are available. These are practically opaque and make safe viewing of partial eclipses. When in totality one must remove the filter. Since the filter is so dark it actually makes finding the sun quite tricky - until it is in the frame one cannot see a thing! Practice beforehand on a clear sunny day :) Some filters (IIRC those containing mylar) will cause a colour shift (towards blue) however the photographic filters should not alter colours. There are a number of good websites out there with details and 'now-tos' to photograph eclipses. It's worth making the effort to see a total solar eclipse - I was lucky enough to see the August 1999 eclipse in (mostly) clear skies from Northern France. I'm still not sure if the original author was joking about spot metering an eclipse. However, if not, then can I advise against such a thing for two reasons: 1) Totality will go much faster than you would think. Basically, bracket exposures and watch the event :) 2) Be warying of 'diamond ring' whereby the sun peeks over valleys on the moon - catching one of these while spot-metering could damage your eyes! To bring this (slightly) on topic. AE on my Eos 50e (with EF 2x & 70-200/2.8L) worked quite well... subject to wide bracketing! AF was a little tricky through the solar filter but worked when it had an edge (i.e. the sun) to lock onto. A 100mm lens will produce an image of the sun 1mm across - hence 400mm is okay for sun+corona shots... Do not expect to record all the details on an eclipse on a single frame - I made a composite digital image from a number of frames which shows both solar flares near the edge of the lunar disk as well as corona. Stuart * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
