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[starbux]

Seeing was mediocre, but at least the sun was out. Hardly an hour before it was cloudy and actually drizzled earlier. Took out the PST to view it and found that I had to underexpose compared to previous shots of the sun where the target was prominences. Some tweaking of the image. It was shot in black-and-white mode and later colorized for aesthetics. Attempted several times to video image (camera in movie mode) but regular snapshot was better this time. Sunspot on the limb, and Mercury to the left of center.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Malcolm,

It's interesting to view the same event from all parts of the world, including yours. Even with marginal skies there in California, I think it's a good image of the rare event you have there. You also captured the faculae around the spot. Did the other two dimmer sunspots appear in your image on the opposite side of the solar limb?

Why did you feel the b/w imaging was better from the onset?

Thanks for sharing with us...

[starbux]

Mercury was a low contrast feature. The view in the pst just overwhelmed it with the color saturation. B&W offered the best contrast with what I had. Video imaging gave a better dynamic range, and perhaps I should post them, although I wasn't as satisfied with the results.

[katodog]

I've noticed that alot of pictures I have taken in black and white mode on the camera have come out better than the color ones. I took some black and whites of the transit and they came out clearer and sharper than the color ones.

Plus the ones I take of the sun or the full moon get better detail and I think it's because the camera doesn't have to interpret a million colors. Not sure