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I tried today to get a decent picture of the sun, and it was alright, but I want to know if I should have been able to get better based on my gear I had.

Lens: Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 DI LD IF Macro
Body: Pentax K5II
Filter: 10 Stop ND
Settings:
Shutter: 1/8000th
Aperture: f/32
ISO: 100
Tripod? No.

I took this handheld because I didn't figure much would happen at 1/8000th of a second.

Here is the shot, please let me know if there is anything(without buying more gear) that I could do to improve it.

Thanks,
Isaac

ND filter alone? Nothing specialized? That is cool!

Pretty good for using what you had on hand. The sun is generally a 300+ mm target. Stopping down all the way to f32 limits sharpness.

The image looks dark. Was that the brightness straight from the camera? If yes try f22; that should still be dark enough to not burn the sensor. You'll gain sharpness in the process.

If you are interested in pursuing this more, you can buy solar film made by Baader or Astrozap. Sandwich it between foam core board with a circle cut to snugly fit your lens. You'll be able to use a more moderate aperture setting like f8.

Nice effort! This page might give you some ideas for improving things (even though you aren't photographing an eclipse):
https://photographylife.com/how-to-photograph-a-solar-eclipse

I've seen lots of warnings not to look through the viewfinder with an ND filter but instead to use LiveView. The page above also recommends focusing on an infinity terrestrial object prior to putting the filter on the lens. I've also personally found that slightly soft images can be improved by stacking as few as three images using software like RegiStax to sharpen up details like sunspots.

Keep swinging and keep us posted!

Thanks for the tips! I didn't realize that there was decreasing sharpness past f/16, but it looks like diffraction can cause problems. I will try it tomorrow on f/22. Also, are there any filters I can use to increase the clarity and effectiveness of photographing the sun? I cannot seem to find anything other than ND filters but I would love to take photos that have a lot of detail. I realize of course that atmospheric turbulence are going to cause problems(like shooting through heat waves above a grill) but I want to get as good of pics as I can without strapping my camera to a telescope(no budget for telescopes). Here are some pics: The first is the original picture I took before editing in Lightroom. My workflow was basically to alter White Balance to reflect what we see, bump up exposure, increase contrast, and decrease blacks and shadows to bring out the sunspots and granulation. The next picture is a Partial Solar Eclipse pic I took last year with a terrible 75-300mm Tamron lens. The shot was taken at f/45(didn't know f/45 existed) but is a bit soft.

ND filters aren't recommendable for solar photography. They absorp light and hence build up heat leading to turbulence around the lens (and in the worst thinkable scenario the heat build-up may cause filters to crack).


As said above, you should go for dedicated solar filters such as this type:


AstroSolar


or this type:


Thousand Oaks Optical - solar filters, solar eclipse viewers, H-Alpha filters, nebular filters, dew heaters, minus violet


These types work by reflecting most of the light; they are availble as (inexpesive) filter foil that can be cut to any size and come with instructions how to mout and use them: http://www.gyes.eu/documents/R-G_Solar-Film_Information.pdf

I will definitely order a solar filter for better images, and honestly I think a big help is going to be renting/buying a 400mm or longer lens. I did however put 16 stops of ND filter in front of the camera today and take 4 pictures. I used registax to combine them which helped a TON, and then photoshop to process the image. Hopefully the turn around time on the solar filters isn't long but for now I am pleased. The result:

I think you dont need new lens - just get some old 2×TC with electronic contacts (so your body can control aperture). I am using my DA*300 + Kenko 2×TC MC7 (older one without AF screw) and Baader AstroSolar foil. Baader AstroSolar Safety Film ND 5.0 - First Light Optics
It reflect most of light and do not absorb like NDs. Cheap and nice thing to use This film is also designet to be used on large telescopes for direct observations. Is very thin so even if its undulated you wont recognised it. But you must be careful not to stretch it! I have created something like this http://cdn.instructables.com/FMU/WCOW/HBHGLTWW/FMUWCOWHBHGLTWW.LARGE.jpg - just put it on boxboard paper with hole and fasten it with some ducktape carefully without stretching it and its done!

Images directly from DSLR are a bit pinkish so i convert them to BW images and tone them and/or invert them...

This is result:

K-3 + DA*300mm + 2×TC on cheap tripod + IR remote control + Baader AstroSolar Safety film

f/5 - 1/250s - ISO 100 - 600mm




Its from this weekend when sky was finally clear just with some cirrus clouds and ocasional cumulus fractus and altocumulus clouds...