3 replies to this topic

[krag96]

...Or maybe I should say, light stars since a candle can produce them also. 

 

Sun stars/light stars can be one of those little joys in life and I like to include them in some images, a polished classic car or motorcycle with lots of chrome on a sunny day, a look through a tree with burst of sun light peeking through, a candle in a darkened room, street lights at night, or even a reflection of light on water. 

 

What are they?  They're rays of light coming off the sun or about any bright point of light captured by the diaphragm blades in the lens. These points of light can be brilliant reflections off shiny surfaces as well as the light origin, (the sun, a flashlight at night, candle or lantern, street lights, etc). 

 

How do we capture them?  I was always told to use a lens with straight aperture diaphragm blades,  that sun stars become more visible at smaller apertures, like f/16-f/22, and images including the sun can wash out the sky hiding the sun stars unless Exposure Compensation is used to darken the image, (usually -1 stop will do fine).  Now, about those straight diaphragm blades.  Peter has produced some nice sun stars using a modern Nikkor lens with rounded blades, and I hope he drops in to tell us how and what, (if any) limitations there are using a lens with rounded blades, (I'm here to learn, and if I can get nice sun stars with my nerw Nikkor AF-S 24-120 f/4  G-ED I'm gonna pay attention!..it's the lens I take with me most often).  The lenses I use get stars with are my Nikkor 20-35mm f/2.8 D. Nikkor 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 AF, and Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 D. 

 

I do have trouble with ghosting and artifacts shooting to the sun, even with a shade.  I understand this is normal, but if someone knows how to lessen or eliminate them, please do share your method here.  It's always good practice to use a reflection of the sun or partially block the sun with an object such as a leaf, tree, or rock-when rising or setting.

 

The number of ''rays'' you'll get are dependent on how many blades are in the diaphragm of a certain lens.  For Nikon SLR's and DSLR's, (since 1960) it's normally 2X the diaphragm blades.  A 9 blade will yield 18 points, (rays) of light, a 7 will yield 14.  The old Rangefinder lenses from the 1950's yield a 1-1 ratio since they have an even number of blades which stack the rays, a 10 blade diaphragm lens will give 10 points of light, not 20 since they're stacked.

 

Sun/light stars aren't right for all, or even most images, but do add a certain panache to some. 

 

 

[Merco_61]

In my experience, rounded aperture blades make it necessary to have point-light sources, smaller than what works with straight blades. I have never had much luck with the 9 rounded blade apertures, so the 24-120 is probably a difficult lens for this.

 

When shooting towards the sun but with the sun outside the shot, I tend to use an old Lindahl compendium left over from my MF days rather than the standard hoods. This makes it much easier to get shade over the whole front element without the hood getting in the shot. I also tend to leave protective filters off to minimize the risk of internal reflections causing ghosting.

[krag96]

I can see the effectiveness of using the Lindahl compendium as a lens shade now., the flare keeps it out of the lens view...   I'm wondering if I would have any luck finding an adapter/adapters or adapting one to a Nikon, did they make any for Nikon?  Were you able to adapt one from a Hasselblad?

[Merco_61]

The Bell-O-Shade fits most lenses, except ultra-wides as long as one has the correct extension rods for the length needed and the correct size 8 adapter rings for the filter thread. The rings cover 49 to 77 mm threads

 

The Lindahl Digital Shade System uses an Adapter Disk instead of the rings for the older system and is made for 35 mm and DX cameras. The disks cover 58 to 77 mm threads