Viewing the sun on ground glass

Hi,

It just came to my mind taking pictures the other day, I know you
don't look directly into the sun and especially not with binoculars,
but what about on the ground glass of a view camera? I've got
two objectives, one 90mm, the other 270. What's the practical
difference between these two here? What about extension, aperture
and the use of a loupe in focusing? I'd just like to know the general
idea. I've got an old TLR as well, so how does this relate to it?
Would the use of an UV-filter make it safe for the eye, or?
I haven't been making pictures that long, but I've been shooting
more film this winter and spring and since the sun's been pretty low
most of the time, I've more often come across the situation where I'll
be shooting almost into the sun. Even if you don't have the sun
itself on the ground glass, there may be quite intense reflections
on it before you're able to find an angle that'll give a decent
negative.

Thanks in advance

Antti

I have no scientific knowledge to pass forward, but when I shoot
sunsets/sunrises I always use sunglasses to focus with regardless of
the camera being used. If you can stare at the ball of the sun (the
body is very good at protecting itself) it should be okay to look
through a camera. I recommend the added protection of glasses, then
look only long enough for focusing and framing the image.

George

wrote:
I have no scientific knowledge to pass forward, but when I shoot
sunsets/sunrises I always use sunglasses to focus with regardless of
the camera being used. If you can stare at the ball of the sun (the
body is very good at protecting itself) it should be okay to look
through a camera. I recommend the added protection of glasses, then
look only long enough for focusing and framing the image.

I disagree. The retina generates no pain. The Sun outputs a lot
of UV and infrared. Probably most UV is blocked by camera
optics (but not necessarily all). The IR can be burning your
retina and before you know it, its damaged.

I would recommend extreme caution any time the sun is in the
field of view.

Roger
http://www.clarkvision.com

A.Aalto wrote:
Hi,

It just came to my mind taking pictures the other day, I know you
don't look directly into the sun and especially not with binoculars,
but what about on the ground glass of a view camera? ...
I haven't been making pictures that long, but I've been shooting
more film this winter and spring and since the sun's been pretty low
most of the time, I've more often come across the situation where
I'll
be shooting almost into the sun. Even if you don't have the sun
itself on the ground glass, there may be quite intense reflections
on it before you're able to find an angle that'll give a decent
negative.


I rather like shooting into the sun and have done it a lot, both SLR
via prism viewfinder and MF and LF via ground glass. I have never felt
a serious problem. I suppose it does depend a bit on whether you
relatively quickly (as far as LF allows) set up things and shoot or if
you take half an hour composing a picture with the sun squarely in the
middle, but for practical purposes, again, I've never felt troubled by
the sun's image. I suppose if you take longer to compose, you could
just cover the sun with whatever's at hand - I strongly assume you
won't focus on the sun itself.

At any rate, shooting into the sun almost always makes for interesting
pictures, although the effect is difficult to gauge in advance, there
always is an element of surprise until you see the developed picture -
which doesn't make it less interesting, IMO. One thing is that AFAIK
different individual lenses can behave quite differently when shooting
into the sun - between giving a sharp image of sun and possible
reflections and just producing a diffuse washed-out blob - I don't know
if there are ways of determining beforehand what you lens will do, but
I suppose you'll have to try.

(... Your name sounds finnish? I LOVED two stays in Finnland over
midsummer and in february, the sun and light conditions just held me
breathless nonstop. It's a dream. This February, four nights of aurora
borealis in a row :-)), and the (35mm) pictures actually turned out
great!!)

All the very best,

Steve

You will have no problems and should take no special precautions. With your
lenses you will have much dimmer sun image on the ground glass than you can
see with your eyes - about as much dimmer, as image on the gg is dimmer
than Real World ;o)
Just try not to look through the loupe on the Sun image on GG - THEN you
may cause eye irritation and even more serious problems.
Also, please try not to point sun image onto bellows inside. You will burn
a hole through them very soon..

Even if you don't have the sun
itself on the ground glass, there may be quite intense reflections
on it

That's why we use adjustable shades in photography..

I've got an old TLR as well, so how does this relate to it?

Exactly as I described above..
Also please note that _quick_ glance INTO the sun with naked eyes doesn't
have detrimental health effect - and with dimmer image on the ground glass,
you won't be facing a serious danger ;o)

--
Message posted via http://www.photokb.com

Thanks! Not that my eyes weren't important, but I wouldn't have
thought of the bellows hadn't you mentioned them. I've got a shade
myself, but I didn't think I should set it up as the first thing after
putting the objective in, just in case the shutter's been left open
and I should leave the camera standing for a while.

Antti

On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 12:35:24 GMT, "Stanislaw Stawowy via PhotoKB.com"
wrote:

You will have no problems and should take no special precautions. With your
lenses you will have much dimmer sun image on the ground glass than you can
see with your eyes - about as much dimmer, as image on the gg is dimmer
than Real World ;o)
Just try not to look through the loupe on the Sun image on GG - THEN you
may cause eye irritation and even more serious problems.
Also, please try not to point sun image onto bellows inside. You will burn
a hole through them very soon..

I would make sure the image of the sun does not strike the inside of
the bellows. At larger stops it might burn a hole.
This is also a problem with 35mm and other cameras with focal plane
shutters which are directly exposed to the back of the lens (not
SLR's).

--
Richard Knoppow

I would make sure the image of the sun does not strike the inside of
the bellows. At larger stops it might burn a hole.
This is also a problem with 35mm and other cameras with focal plane
shutters which are directly exposed to the back of the lens (not
SLR's).

--
Richard Knoppow

In article . com,
Richard Knoppow wrote:
I would make sure the image of the sun does not strike the inside of
the bellows. At larger stops it might burn a hole.
This is also a problem with 35mm and other cameras with focal plane
shutters which are directly exposed to the back of the lens (not
SLR's).

I think this is a problem with SLRs that do not have instant return
mirrors. You need to wind the film/cock the shutter after taking a
picture so that the mirror comes down and the focal plane shutter is
protected from the image of the Sun.

--
Brian Reynolds | "It's just like flying a spaceship.
| You push some buttons and see
http://www.panix.com/~reynolds/ | what happens." -- Zapp Brannigan
NAR# 54438 |