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Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

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Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#141

Post by rbobby »

howlgram wrote: post #125
nolok wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you misunderstood his point, which was: there is no more energy coming from the sun at any given point during the eclipse than in a clear day. The sun isn't "sending" more energy on the path that aren't blocked, nor is the energy blocked going around the obstacle and concentrating on the areas still visibles. The reason for the damage is entirely due to the receiver behaving/being differently, be it your eyes…

"tricked into thinking it's dark" is kind of misleading, because it is in fact darker, but for some reason unknown to me there the energy from the sun harms you as much. I thought the issue with looking at its sun was its brightness, but i guess it isn't?

Your iris reacts to visible wavelengths and not ultraviolet wavelengths. So your iris is open much wider than it ought to be given the amount of UV present (especially given that UV is much more damaging than visible). If you see what I mean :)

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#142

Post by exodust »

Anyone who doesn't take their glasses off and look at the total eclipse for a moment when the sun is completely covered, is missing out. It's a beautiful sight.

Caution is needed of course. Get ready to put those glasses back on any moment now!

Incredible hues and glow and the surrounding twilight. Can't see any of that with glasses on. At totality, sneak a peek with your naked eyes, it's fine.

Same for camera equipment, it's the setting up and pointing the camera at sun before the eclipse that does the damage. Keep lens cap on until last moment, then take off, and nothing will happen to camera. I've done it at two eclipse festivals, no clouds, didn't even use ND filter! Cameras and eyes fine.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#144

Post by nullc »

ars wrote: post #133
wlesieutre wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth noting that on the 600mm with melted iris, the user did use a solar filter. Unfortunately for the lens, the 600mm lens's drop-in filter slot is behind the iris. So the camera was fine, the lens not so much. http://shuttermuse.com/canon-drop-in-filter-guide/

Why do they even make a drop in filter rated for the sun, if it's going to damage the lens? What use could you make of this filter?

There is a drop in filter holder that takes 52mm filters designed to screw on to the front of lenses.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#145

Post by throwanem »

nullc wrote: post #144
ars wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do they even make a drop in filter rated for the sun, if it's going to damage the lens? What use could you make of this filter?

There is a drop in filter holder that takes 52mm filters designed to screw on to the front of lenses.

(For those unfamiliar - it works this way because the objective element of this lens is far larger than anyone makes filters for. 52mm is a very common diameter, so placing a drop-in mount further along in the focal path means you can use a wide range of filters with minimal cost and inconvenience, and to identical effect - except, of course, in the rare case where you have enough energy coming down the barrel to damage the iris.)

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#146

Post by Coincoin »

howlgram wrote: post #125
nolok wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you misunderstood his point, which was: there is no more energy coming from the sun at any given point during the eclipse than in a clear day. The sun isn't "sending" more energy on the path that aren't blocked, nor is the energy blocked going around the obstacle and concentrating on the areas still visibles. The reason for the damage is entirely due to the receiver behaving/being differently, be it your eyes…

"tricked into thinking it's dark" is kind of misleading, because it is in fact darker, but for some reason unknown to me there the energy from the sun harms you as much. I thought the issue with looking at its sun was its brightness, but i guess it isn't?

It is brightness, but brightness at a single focused point, not total brightness.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#147

Post by dekhn »

stan_rogers wrote: post #124
lostlogin wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the thread above, the telescopic lens is safer to use than a shorter one. Only here would someone give a mathematical proof!

No, a slower lens (higher f-number, or, actually, T-number) is safer than a faster lens. It's only a practical accident that a long "telephoto" lens is usually significantly slower than a lens closer to normal for the format (and that the long end of a consumer zoom is usually slower than the wide end). A 600mm f/4 lens is an eye-wateringly expensive hulking monster; a 50mm f/1.8 lens is the proverbial cheap-as-chips…

Actually, this was a self-built telescope. It was a 3.5" apochromatic 900mm focal length lens adapted to a T-mount.

If you remove the camera, and point the scope at the sun, there's a good sensor-sized beam of intense sunlight at focus.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#148

Post by manarth »

jdavis703 wrote: post #14
jmiserez wrote: post #2

Now imagine that kind of damage being done to your eyes. It hurts just thinking about it, yet some people don’t seem to really believe the warnings.

FWIW me and my coworkers looked at the eclipse with no protection (it was too foggy to use our pinhole cameras). I didn't develop any vision issues, and I don't think the others did either.

NASA says it's safe - for the brief period of totality.

  During the short time when the moon completely obscures
  the sun – known as the period of totality – it is safe
  to look directly at the star
https://www.nasa.gov/content/eye-safety-during-a-total-solar...

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#149

Post by odbol_ »

Does the eclipse make the sun stronger or something? I've pointed my camera at the sun for all day long taking timelapses and nothing bad happened to it. I guess maybe you need a really hardcore zoom lens to get damage like that...

P.S. Here's the video pointing at the sun all day long: https://youtu.be/HgbG--t3Bd8

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#150

Post by rocqua »

4ad wrote: post #55
penagwin wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue this is slightly worse because the cameras have higher magnification lenses* vs our naked eye. This might be more akin to looking into a telescope with your eyes. Edit: To elaborate - Higher magnification lenses (depending on the camera lens used of course) Edit 1: - /u/corndoge Suggests that people may take this the wrong way. I mean to say in the amount of physical damage it's worse for camera's because o…

Focal length has nothing to do with it, in fact, longer focal lengths are generally safer because lenses are slower. Aperture is what matters, lenses gather much more light than our bare eyes.

Is the issue aperture or aperture over focal length? The actual aperture (squared) determines how much solar energy you are gathering. The aperture over focal length (again squared) determines the energy per surface unit.

I'm not sure which is more damaging here.

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