Solar photos the inexpensive way

[Martyn_Bannister]

OK, I'm new to all things astro.

Since about the only thing I can guarantee to be able to see at some stage is the sun, and given the fact I absolutely love the pictures on this forum of the "red fireball" type, what is the best and least expensive way I can take photographs like that?

I have a home-made Baader film filter for my camera lens. But this only gives me a white light view in which I cannot see the surface details of the sun.

I have looked into H-Alpha filters (which I think is what is required), but they only seem to be available for telescope eyepieces i.e. up to 2" diameter. They are therefore not suitable for use on a camera lens.

I haven't (at the moment) got a scope of any sort, so I am relying on a monster 500mm russian mirror lens and 2x converter (hmmmm... there a thought, wonder if a telescope eyepiece filter would fit inside the adapter????)

I cannot seem to find a Baader film equivalent for H-Alpha wavelength, but would a normal red acetate of the right tint give me a similar effect in combination with my Baader filter?

Any advice on what I have to have in order to do this in the most inexpensive way possible would be appreciated.

If it isn't possible, then I can accept that, but I'm hoping that I can get a pretty definitive yes or no from the experts here.

Thanks in advance.

[Merlin66]

Unfortunately there's no cheap way of imaging the Sun in H alpha.

The Deep Sky Ha filters you see, don't work on the Sun. The bandwidth of these night-time filters is much to wide to separate the Ha band.

Either the small Lunt or PST Ha scope is the cheapest entry point.

Sorry.

[Martyn_Bannister]

Unfortunately there's no cheap way of imaging the Sun in H alpha.

The Deep Sky Ha filters you see, don't work on the Sun. The bandwidth of these night-time filters is much to wide to separate the Ha band.

Either the small Lunt or PST Ha scope is the cheapest entry point.

Sorry.

Any news is good news to mis-quote a common phrase

From your comment, I take it that the only way of getting the "red fireball" type of photo is to use a very narrow bandpass Ha filter? And that there are other filters out there which are relatively inexpensive, but are designed for night-time deep sky viewing and which therefore have too broad a bandpass to get the photo I want?

Looks like I'm not going to do it for less than about £500 then. The sites stocking the Lunt scopes and filters don't even quote a price, which equates in my mind to very expensive The PST's seem to start around the £500 mark

Oh well, have to have a re-think then

Many thanks for your info.

[Abernus]

Keep an eye out on Astro Buy and Sell they often get second hand PST scopes in for about £350

Here is a link to thier search page, just pop either PST or Lunt in and see what you get. Don't foget to kep checking back in on the site.

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell

[Martyn_Bannister]

Keep an eye out on Astro Buy and Sell they often get second hand PST scopes in for about £350

Here is a link to thier search page, just pop either PST or Lunt in and see what you get. Don't foget to kep checking back in on the site.

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell

Thanks, I will

[russ]

You'll need a webcam or Imaging Source camera to image with the Pst. The DSLR and Pst will be hopeless.

[Martyn_Bannister]

You'll need a webcam or Imaging Source camera to image with the Pst. The DSLR and Pst will be hopeless.

Is solar imaging in Ha a minority sport or what? The expense continues to mount .

Is there no way I can do something with a Baader film and a red filter?

[Peter Drew]

A DSLR/PST combination will give satisfying Ha images if you mount the camera afocally. After previous abortive results I finally purchased a front lens filter ring which I modified to fit on to a zoom eyepiece. The camera was set to infinity, connected to the zoom, the zoom placed into the PST, focused and click. It took a bit of experimenting to get the correct exposure and ISO settings, but thanks to the wonders of digital photography you can make a note of successfull settings for future use. The results are not as good as the specialist cameras plus image processing show but the main details plus representation of the prominences better than most of us could draw make it worth the effort.

[Martyn_Bannister]

A DSLR/PST combination will give satisfying Ha images if you mount the camera afocally. After previous abortive results I finally purchased a front lens filter ring which I modified to fit on to a zoom eyepiece. The camera was set to infinity, connected to the zoom, the zoom placed into the PST, focused and click. It took a bit of experimenting to get the correct exposure and ISO settings, but thanks to the wonders of digital photography you can make a note of successfull settings for future use. The results are not as good as the specialist cameras plus image processing show but the main details plus representation of the prominences better than most of us could draw make it worth the effort.

Now that's interesting. Just a question of getting the focus length right by the sound of it. Thanks for the info. Still need a PST though

[Martyn_Bannister]

Found on another thread a really informative series of videos about the basics of solar observing.

There are a series of 1 through 7. Gives a very good background.

[Helen]

Yep, great videos from our very own NickH

Helen