On Fri, 25 Aug 2000 19:12:20 +0100, "oasis" wrote:

>I would like to take some shots of the sun
>The effect I am trying to create is like with a polarising filter and cross
>screen filter so I get a nice blue sky and six to eight rays emitting from
>the sun .
>My concern is for my PC100 is there some special filter for this effect,
>Will it damage my CCD chip in my camera shooting into the sun even if the
>correct filter on
>could someone help with any tips or advice

Nothing is needed to produce the rayed-star effect - just
point the camcorder at the sun and shoot... If the diaphragm
has enough symmetrically-placed blades, you will see the
effect you want (though the vertical ray may be too long,
due to the shutter speed - use a ND filter to reduce light
level, shutter speed, and vertical-ray length, if desired).
If the diaphragm is not good enough to produce the effect,
a suitable effects filter will help. You may want to hide
the sun behind a tree or some such, and move to reveal it
for a few seconds before hiding it again. Unless you
leave the sun in one spot on the CCD (by not moving the
camera continuously, at least a bit), damage from short
exposures is unlikely. I have shot the sun a lot with
various recent Mini-DV camcorders, with no damage.