ND Filters to just obscure the Sun

[dreed]

Are there any ND filters that have a dark patch in the middle of the glass that can be used to "dim down" the sun?

A big central black dot is not enough - the sun's light often produces a halo for some number of degrees that could also do with some dimming, so it needs to be dark to start with and fade to nothing as distance increases from the middle.

[stamper]

If the area of the image that is to be perceived to be the sun is blown out to pure white then nothing will "dim down" that area. The only "solution" to the problem will be a post processing one, such as infilling the area with a light yellow.

[Sheldon N]

A "dot" filter wouldn't work well, since the filter is so far out of the plane of focus it would blur to the point where it might not even appear in the image unless you stopped the aperture down significantly.

Try it out with a small round piece of black paper stuck to the front of your lens, look through the viewfinder while pressing the depth of field preview button at different aperture settings.

[carlb40]

Have you thought about a reverse grad? That is designed for use when the sun is on the horizon, but one of the lower strength one combined with a standard grad, might help?