Photography - equipment, help hints

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I bought one for my old SLR. It was a 2x extender, and the place I bought it from warned me I may not get very good images with it, as I was using it with a telephoto pens. Apparently they work best with a prime lens (fewer elements I guess). I got such bad abberration that I had to take it back.

I'd defininitely try one out before committing.
 
Thanks for all the info., I also read that the 1.4 is best. I was just thinking that for times you don't want to take a large lens, if it would be worth while to get the extender. From what has been said it appears that the straight lens is better Might have to borrow one to just play with it.
 
Extenders can help, but you also pay an f-stop penalty for it. So if you lowest lens f-stop is 4, you will have to multiply that by whatever x factor the extender gives you. If it's a bright sunny day, it probably won't be an issue, but when you have morning like Chino where it's gray hazy and not real bright, it could become an issue. I had a 2x in my old film days that really softened the images and I stopped using it after blowing a bunch of shots at Mildenhall. Definitely rent before you buy, or find a place with a good return policy.
 
Merv, a good place to go for glass rentals would be borrowlenses.com

Actually, they have all sorts of cool stuff there, but it's a good place to check out

* by the way, Eric, were you able to get any shots of the Annular Eclipse last Sunday?
 
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I saw the shadow shots, those looked really cool!

I was able to score some great shots of the eclipse with my improvised setup. I had planned on getting an R-G glass filter from Thousand Oaks Optical, but they were (and still are) backlogged. The Annular Eclipse and the Venus Transit put thier filters in high demand.

I used a number 13 gold-plated black polymer filter for arc-welding over my 300mm prime, securing it with rubber bands. I made sure to align the lens by looking momentarily through the viewfinder wearing my polarized sunglasses. The aperature was set at f/32 with high shutter speeds (a bit slower as the clouds rolled in) and the ISO at 200.

I had some pretty good results and will use the same rube goldberg setup for the Transit on 5 June.
 
You wouldn't have seen it, Aaron. The area of viewing was the Pacific Rim. Folks as far east as Texas could see it, but only in partial degrees. If you've seen that awesome photo of it taken from space, you'll clearly see the eclipse's shadow and that defined the optiumum viewing area for folks where that shadow was.

Glad you liked my idea, Eric, I was pretty proud of my last minute idea (more like panic), so I have to show off my Rube Goldberg setup...I was pretty pleased how it performed!

Before I start, I will put up serious words of caution to folks who may not be aware of the SERIOUS dangers of solar photography!!

First off, NEVER look at the sun through a welding lens! You run the risk of burning your retinas and you will go permanently blind.

Also, avoid looking at the sun through your SLR/DSLR for any length of time as you run the risk of damaging your eyes. When I take my sunset/landscape shots, I usually have my sunglasses on when looking through the viewfinder, especially during this last eclipse.

You can also damage your camera by allowing the sun's rays to burn your CCD. Just use common sense and be careful.

Remember, aiming your camera at the sun is no different than roasting ants under a magnifying lens...

Anyway, here's some shots of my "eclipse catcher" essentials:
Two stout rubber bands and the Gold plated black polymer lens. (a #13 arc-welding lens)

This shows all the goodies in place on my Sigma


This is the setup being tested last Sunday to make sure there weren't any bugs.


And this is what I got: (these are only cropped, otherwise, what you see is what I got)
At 5:50 p.m. Specs. f/32 - 1/4000 - ISO200


At 6:03 p.m. (I was really worried because clouds were rolling in!) Specs. f32 - 1/500 - ISO200


At 6:26 p.m. Specs. f/32 - 1/750 - ISO200


And the Money Shot!
At 6:29 p.m. Specs. f/32 - 1/350 - ISO200
 
Great stuff, Dave. I was way less prepared than you were so what I got of the eclipse itself was not even close to what I would call quality. But I did play around with the funky shadows the eclipse produced. I moved my van into the shadow of a tree to get this one. All the areas between leaves had that crescent shape. It looked pretty cool.
 

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DEFINITELY a money-shot there, GG!!!! I live too far into the city to have been able to see the eclipse, there are too many trees/houses in the area. Saw one about 10 years ago (used a pair of binoculars to "project" the eclipse onto the side of a car, and took a pic of the crescent "sunspot" from there), still pretty awesome.
 
Man...am I slacking or what? lol

I got some shots of the Venus transit on the 5th, but clouds rolled in and broke up the party.

At least I was able to land a few good images using the same setup as I did for the eclipse.

I also just got my new Sigma 50-200mm f/4-5.6 DC OS HSM High Performance Telephoto Zoom for my up-coming trip to Europe, though I haven't had a chance to shoot with it yet...perhaps this weekend to get the "feel" of it before it goes into action...lol

Anyway, here's a few shots of the Venus transit:

Venus is just starting it's transit at about half-way into the Sun's disc. And yes, those are sunspots you see scattered across the face of the sun. The slower shutter speed was to compensate for the high altitude clouds rolling in.
Taken at 3:18 p.m. f/32 - 1/1000 sec @ ISO200


Venus well into it's transit across the face of the sun. As mentioned before, those "specks" across the sun's disc are sunspots. Since there was a breif break in the clouds, the shutter speed was higher...but the joy was short lived, the clouds came back in force and brought a quick halt to any further shots :/
Taken at 4:53 p.m. f/32 - 1/3000 sec @ ISO200
 
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