Warning observing the Sun is dangerous – never look at the Sun through a telescope or camera without the use of a properly secured, working solar filter.
I made my own solar filter from a circle of Baader solar film and two 62mm camera skylight filters.
Solar_filter_construction Solar_filter_assembly Sunspot
The two filters are simply screwed together with the solar film sandwiched between them. I wound electrical insulating tape around the outside of the filters to stop them from unscrewing when taking them off the lens. I tested the filter by holding it up to a halogen desk lamp to make sure there were no gaps or holes before testing on the Sun. The filter threads straight onto my 300mm lens and so it will not fall off.
This kind of filter will show sunspots, like the lonely spot in the photo below. This was taken with the EOS350, a 300mm lens, 2x converter, ISO400 and an exposure of 1/250 seconds. The shutter speed is so fast that I don’t use a tripod and just aim the camera in the right direction, find the Sun and just fire the shutter.
This is a good way to observe sunspots and appreciate the rotation of the Sun’s surface but if you want to see prominances and flares then you need to use a hydrogen alpha filter or solar telescope.
In case I didn’t mention it….observing the Sun is dangerous – never look at the Sun through a telescope or camera without the use of a properly secured working solar filter.
