Making a DIY Polymer Lens for my DSLR for the Solar Eclipse. Want to make sure i'm not ruining my new camera

Question:

I was wondering if using this film would I need to use a certain f/stop or ISO to ensure the sensor is not damaged while shooting. Would simply using this film would prevent this from happening?

Details:

Recently bought a Nikon D3300, this would be my first time owning a DSLR. I have taken classes during high school and I know how to use and take care of a camera (no concern there).

There's a solar eclipse happening this weekend and I want to be able to take images of the event. I understand that you can damage the light sensor inside the camera if pointed directly at the sun. I have seen lens that you can use and apply, but unfortunately would not deliver in time for my trip ( poor planing/ buying the camera was unexpected and not originally intended for this). My friend purchased this polymer film (he gave me the link below) that is suppose to be used for telescopes and was kind enough to give me some.

This would be my first time attempting to take pictures of the sun and would like to preserve the quality of this camera to the best of my ability.

I'm typically resourceful when researching this information online but l was unable to find specifics to ease my concern. Any personal experience / feedback would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

eBay link for polymer sheet being used:
http://m.ebay.com/...mwBanner=1

You can shoot the sun directly but use low ISO and very fast shutter speeds (a real challenge if you don't have and or polarizing filters). More importantly, you shouldn't look through the optical viewfinder to look at the sun. That will blind you.

Can't tell what that sheet can do. Seems too dark for me.

You're making a filter, not a lens. That stuff is very dark, so you're not going to damage anything, just make sure there's nothing wrong with it before using it - hold it up to the sun to make sure there are no holes in it. A couple of things to bear in mind - wrinkles don't have any effect so don't worry about them. If you're using a long lens it can be surprisingly hard to find the sun - put a card / piece of paper behind the camera and judge the camera's position by the shadow. It's worth practicing!

From the number of consecutive posts asking about photographing the sun and the eclipse, either you do not like the answers or are very impatient.

BEFORE you do anything, make sure that the filter material you are using meets the safety requirements of one of the following organizations.

* American Astronomical Society
* American Acadamy of Ophthalmology
* NASA
* American Acadamy of Optometry
* American Optometric Association.
* National Science Foundation

When composing and focusing the sun, use ONLY live view. This will further protect your eyes from perment damage.

I got my sun filter from B&H Photo and they are mounted on my 70-300 mm and 500 mm lenses.

I will be using two cameras, each mounted on a sturdy tripod and at NO time will I be looking through the camera's viewfinder

The setting was 1/500th second, ISO 200 at f/8 with the sun filter attached to the lens

On Monday, I will be shooting using a shutter speed of 1/1000th second to reduce camera movement with the ISO set to 400. The most difficult part of this process is making sure that the sun is in sharp focus. Using the cameras tilting LCD and magnifying the image view, focusing while not easy is doable

I just did some test shots of the Sun today using a Nikon D500 and Nikkor 500 mm lens with a sunfilter attached

Here are three links you should find helpful

The product in the link certainly looks like it would work. Filters designed for people to look at the Sun block out something like 99.99% of the light. While this seems crazy dark, considering you're only allowing in .01% of the light into the camera, the Sun is so incredibly bright that this actually is what is required to safely look at the Sun during an eclipse or otherwise. For better options than what you'll find on eBay or Amazon, go to camera store sites like bhphotovideo.com or adorama.com. These sites carry every possible filter by every brand. For buying photo gear, these two sites are "the" place to go.