Sun stars

mitch brown · Feb 19, 2023

It stands to reason that if you can capture sunstars with digital that may be you can also get sun stars with B&W film but i havent seen a image with a sun stare in it . can film not record one ? cant find any info on this >
Thanks
Mitch

Truzi · Feb 19, 2023

Do you mean something like this?

It's not B&W, but it is film, so yes, film is capable of it.

I forget the details and even the film (Kodak or Fuji), but it's 35mm developed and printed (and scanned) by a drug-store minilab. Also, I'm not sure how I did it. Obviously I used a small aperture, but I basically take snapshots as memories, and any good or interesting photo is mostly accidental.

Brendan Quirk · Feb 19, 2023

Here is one taken in Chicago in 1982 on Panatomic-X with a Ricoh Singlex TLS and a 55mm f1.7.

mitch brown · Feb 19, 2023

great thanks for the info

Daniela · Feb 20, 2023

Capturing starbursts is achieved by using a small aperture when taking your picture, from f16 onwards. This doesn't only work for sunlight but for any light source.

Kino · Feb 20, 2023

You can also place a section of screen material (like window screens) over your taking lens, which will cause a starburst over every point of light, but it tends to be a bit much most times and it tends to degrade the image a bit.

Daniela · Feb 20, 2023

Kino said:
You can also place a section of screen material (like window screens) over your taking lens, which will cause a starburst over every point of light, but it tends to be a bit much most times and it tends to degrade the image a bit.

That's a good DIY alternative. I forgot to mention that there are actual filters you can buy, but even with those it's very easy for the effect to become too much.

faberryman · Feb 20, 2023

Tiffen made a fortune selling star filters in the 1970s. Maybe earlier and later too.

Kino · Feb 20, 2023

Daniela said:
That's a good DIY alternative. I forgot to mention that there are actual filters you can buy, but even with those it's very easy for the effect to become too much.

Yes, all one has to do is look back at the old Spiratone Photo catalog to find a large variety of "creative" filters that, to my great embarrassment, I bought several and used just once!

I keep the 3 sided prism "multimage" filter on my shelf as a cautionary tale to myself...

Tim Stapp · Feb 20, 2023

faberryman said:
Tiffen made a fortune selling star filters in the 1970s. Maybe earlier and later too.

I had one of those once upon a time, before I went to d*g*t*l and came back to film. Haven't seen the need for one since.

reddesert · Feb 20, 2023

The name for this is "diffraction pattern" of the aperture and it is induced by a polygonal aperture shape (it's the Fourier transform of the aperture shape). If your lens's aperture is near round, you will not see diffraction spikes.

To see them you need to have the light source in the frame and expose such that the overexposure from the source doesn't blow out the spikes or the rest of the frame, and that flare isn't bothersome. Film should record it just as well as digital, but contrast control may make it hard to get a pleasing image.

Sun stars

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