On Sun, 2 Dec 2001 00:01:37 -0500, "Greg Erken" wrote:

[...]
>Here's the quote from my Sony TRV 720 manual:
>
>"Do not place your camcorder so as to point the viewfinder, the LCD screen
>or lens toward the sun. The inside of the viewfinder, LCD screen or lens
>may be damaged."
[...]

This is good advice, particularly regarding storage or
carrying, where the sun (possibly without an ND filter in
place, and without the aperture stopped down - when off)
could damage the CCD (unlikely the lens, since the sun
would not be focused), or if in the VF, it could focus
on the viewing screen of the eyepiece finder (remember
this problem with the XL-1?).

>When you shoot the sun, are you using any kind of filter or technique, other
>than say a standard UV filter?

With the "fancy" cameras, one usually has a neutral-density
filter in place for bright-light shooting; in addition, as I
pointed out before, there would be the appropriate (small)
f-stop in use for the bright light, reducing considerably
the intensity of light reaching the CCD... Also, I keep the
camera moving (the "hot spot" moves, averaging the
temperture rise on the CCD over a larger area...).