On Wed, 28 Nov 2001 02:20:55 -0500, "Greg Erken" wrote:

>I've got a Sony TRV 720, and I know you can't point the thing directly at
>the sun, but I'm wondering if filming a sunset would be OK. Anybody tried
>this?
>
>I'm sure that when the sun is so bright it hurts to look at with the naked
>eye, it would hurt the camera as well, but by the time the sun is setting
>and the brightness is considerably diffused, it would be OK?

I would hesitate to aim a tripod-mounted camcorder at the
sun (sunsets, with the sun behind some cloud cover much of
the time, should be OK), but I often include the sun in
hand-held work (even mid-day sun in a clear sky), figuring
that with motion of the camera a burn is unlikely (and, so
far, that has been true...). Remember that the CCD probably
would have a ND filter in place in front of it, plus the
aperture would be at a small stop in order for the exposure
to be nearly correct - and these would reduce the intensity
of the light that reaches the CCD considerably...