"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...
I shot the eclipse with my Sony A700, and a Perkin-Elmer 800mm catadiptric
lens. Only thing I had that would cover that were my gold coated full face
lenses. I did some test shots in my driveway mid-day to try and get a
handle on shutter speeds and such (since the lens is a fixed f/11), and
noticed that after only a few minutes of experimenting trying to get an
idea where I needed to be for the actual event, my right eye was starting
to get that scratchy eyeball feeling most welders have experienced.

I ended up shooting through a #13, ISO 160, at 1/4000 sec.
Here's 6 of the best:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10986502@N08/sets/72157629865291990/

Obviously late WRT to the eclipse, but for someone wanting to view or
photograph the Venus transit, this might give a clue what you're going to
need to dim the sun enough to see Venus against a full sun. I don't think
a welding lens is going to cut it for the Venus transit. Search ebay for
'solar filter', there's special films available pretty cheaply that blocks
99.9999% of visible light.

BTW, a neat tool for photographers, is The Photographer's Ephemeris, a
freebie that integrates with Google Earth data. You can specify a date and
pick a location, it'll show where the sun and moon will rise and set. You
can also use it to determine of there's anything in your line of sight
that will interfere with the shot you wish to compose. (well, big things
like hills...) I used it to make sure I picked a location where I could
get a clear shot at the eclipse. Wouldn't have been able to shoot it from
my driveway due to trees.


Jon

I think you have definitely shown your welding filter is not flat enough for
full aperture photographic or telescopic use.

This site sells a variety of filter types including just the aluminized
mylar and black plastic sheets.
http://thousandoaksoptical.com/solar.html