The Sun in White Light - 30th June - My first!

[David Smith]

So, picked up a DSLR (1100D) a few weeks ago and had my first go at solar imaging today. Used the Live View zoom function to achieve focus, set the camera in manual at ISO 100 and 1/2000 second exposure. I used my usual white light observing setup, see signature.

I then put the best single frame (had a few trial and error shots to get the right exposure) into Gimp, cropped and tweaked the levels and colour balance to give me something that I am reasonably happy with.

Still lots to improve! I have never done any sort of image processing before and I am not completely convinced the image is properly focused. I do have some challenges, the SL80 isn't great for this as the focuser slips if I am not careful and the mount is not driven so I have to track the sun manually. Combine those two with the 30 mph gusts we are getting today and I suppose the image above is close to miraculous!

Critique welcomed, as are suggestions for improvement.

[Bizibilder]

Well done, an exellent first Sun.

You wanted picky? Well - you are very close to being in focus (that will come with practice) and, with the 1100D, don't be afraid to drop the exposure to 1/4000 sec. You need to get the image faint in the liveview finder! If you get the exposure right you will start to pick up surface granulation. If you take and stack 40-60 frames in Registax 5 you will see an immediate improvement. (Told you i'd be picky )

PS Have a look at the tutorial I've posted in the Beginners help and advice section (modest blushes ) - it may help you while you are getting started.

[David Smith]

Thanks Roger

Was hoping someone would do exactly what you have done, and point me in the right direction!

[Steve Ward]

Welcome to the party ,

That's much better than my initial attempts ...........

Give Rogers tutorial a look and you'll soon be on your way , Registax can be a bit daunting to start ( leave V6 alone) but you'll soon get the hang of it .

Steve.

[Bizibilder]

I'm pretty sure GIMP will do all the processing for you - I havn't reinstalled it on my computer yet (had to have a rebuild a while ago!) so I can't test it out.

[cgarry]

That is a good image for a single frame. Once you start stacking a few images I think the detail will really start to jump out.

Cheers,

Chris