2017 Solar eclipse photography advice

[Charlie22911]

Howdy all, I'll be taking a trip starting on the 18th to an as yet undetermined location (narrowing it down by cloud cover, east coast) to witness the North American eclipse within the path of totality.
Does anyone have any tips on photographing such events? I'm a complete novice with outdoor photography.

So far my plan is to use my full spectrum NEX-5R (crop sensor) with the 70mm-200mm lens for additional magnification together with an IR pass filter, and the a7s for either video or a time lapse with the 16mm-35mm.

Any suggestions would be helpful, I'd also like to know what others plans are for recording the event.
Above all though I don't want to spend all my time fiddling with gear and not observing with my eyeballs .

My gear consists of:

Sony a7s gen 1
Sony NEX-5R full spectrum modded
Sony G 70mm-200mm f/4
Zeiss 24mm-70mm f/4
Zeiss 16mm-35mm f/4
Zeiss 55mm f/1.8
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4
Cheap manfroto tripod
Screw-on IR pass filters

 

[Rottie]

You asked "Any suggestions"? Take me with you! I always wanted to see Total solar eclipse!

 

[Charlie22911]

You asked "Any suggestions"? Take me with you! I always wanted to see Total solar eclipse!

Shoot if you were on the way and could provide beer I'd pick you up, sports car with leather bucket seats doesn't do the best on longer trips though

 

[Spoooon]

Be ready to remove the filter for totality. I live in Columbia, SC, hoping for clear skies.

 

[Red Squirrel]

We will get about 60% coverage here, I originally thought we were not going to see anything so never bothered to prepare till now. Planing on getting a couple pieces of welding glass that I can look at affixing to my telephoto lens. Anyone familiar with this glass, is it actually glass, or more like a plastic? Ex: can you easily cut or drill it? Too late to order anything online at this point but I can probably get it locally, will check tomorrow. If I can drill holes in it it will make it easier to make a jig of sorts to fit it over the lens.

Also lot of PSAs etc seem to indicate that if you're going to be outside during the eclipse sun glasses are not enough to protect you, but I don't see why the sun would be any brighter than normal, so I did more research it it seems to me that sun glasses are fine. You just need welding glass or solar glasses for actually looking directly at it. Am I right here or am I missing something? If I do look directly at it, then yeah, I will want to hold welding glass up to my face.

I'm far from totality area, but GL to those in that region, get some cool pics!

Try to get the shimmering waves too, though those are rather hard to capture. There is a really odd effect that happens in middle of totality where you will get waves on the ground.

 

[Charlie22911]

Found a detailed article for shooting the eclipse for those interested:
http://www.mreclipse.com/SEphoto/SEphoto.html

We will get about 60% coverage here, I originally thought we were not going to see anything so never bothered to prepare till now. Planing on getting a couple pieces of welding glass that I can look at affixing to my telephoto lens. Anyone familiar with this glass, is it actually glass, or more like a plastic? Ex: can you easily cut or drill it? Too late to order anything online at this point but I can probably get it locally, will check tomorrow. If I can drill holes in it it will make it easier to make a jig of sorts to fit it over the lens.

Also lot of PSAs etc seem to indicate that if you're going to be outside during the eclipse sun glasses are not enough to protect you, but I don't see why the sun would be any brighter than normal, so I did more research it it seems to me that sun glasses are fine. You just need welding glass or solar glasses for actually looking directly at it. Am I right here or am I missing something? If I do look directly at it, then yeah, I will want to hold welding glass up to my face.

I'm far from totality area, but GL to those in that region, get some cool pics!

Try to get the shimmering waves too, though those are rather hard to capture. There is a really odd effect that happens in middle of totality where you will get waves on the ground.

According to this it seems the material can be glass or polycarbonate:
http://blog.phillips-safety.com/glass-welding-lenses-vs-polycarbonate-welding-lenses/

As for sunglasses, they do not block infrared which makes them especially dangerous since IR will not trigger your blink reflex resulting in retinal burns; the damage happens and you won't even know it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hmm does the eclipse cause more IR to make it to Earth or something? What about UV? Too late to order solar shades online, anything else I can do to stay protected, I don't plan to stare at it direclty unless I hold welding glass to my face, I'll mostly be looking at the camera LCD and adjusting tripod to frame shots. My surroundings will be mostly grass as I'll probably just go in the school yard in front of my house, so not too many refraction sources.

Just picked up some #12 (they did not have 14) and #9 welding glass to experiment with. 2 of each so I can stack and experiment or use alone. #12 is considered bare minimum protection but is considered safe. Tested it real quick with the sun. Anything I should be aware of, like is it letting through any spectrum (like infrared) that I may not realize? The #9 is actually quite dark too, I think it may actually be good enough for the camera right? (to protect sensor)

Now the tricky part is to figure out a good way to affix it to the camera lens. I'm thinking I can maybe use rubber bands or something. Open to ideas. The telephoto lens is fairly large and the lens itself is recessed enough that the glass sits flush on the end, so it may make options easier.

With my luck it's probably going to be raining here anyway.

 

[Fir]

Why look at it directly?
I remember being in Portland February 26, 1979 and learned a cool trick of using a spaghetti colander to filter the the light. It projects tiny little crescents all over the ground. Reminds me of 50 people getting their nails clipped and the clippings are all over the place!

For those of you old enough to remember here was it covered live by Frank Reynolds. RIP

It seems so strange seeing that TODAY when they said 38 years later and wow, here are now!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah there's lot of ways to see it without looking directly. That's why I'm asking if sun glasses are ok while it's happening if I'm not going to look at it directly, there seems to be mixed answers depending on where I look. Some say "NO WAY U GO BLIND!1!!" and some say "sure, it's no different than any other day". I'm kinda leaning towards the "no different than any other day" park unless there's a phenomenon of the eclipse I'm not aware of where it produces more UV, ifrared or other dangerous spectrum and I can get eye damage from surface refraction? Even NASA is telling people to not worry too much and that the media is often over exaggerating the risks.

If I do choose to look at it directly I'll hold up the welding glass but even then I'd be a little worried it might be letting through a certain spectrum of light that is dangerous so won't look at it long. I will probably just look at the camera LCD via the pictures I take. Not the view finder though. Well it would probably be safe given the welding glass will be at the end of the lens, but still.

Probably should setup some kind of pin hole camera too.

 

[Fir]

Um, no-no-no-no!
NEVER use sunglasses!
And only a No. 14 welding shield is adequate. Most common is No. 10. While it's quite dark it's not enough because this is something you'll stare at.
And staring is bad.
If you stare at a beautiful woman with her bouncer boyfriend watching you may get punched and while that may hurt, you stop and no lasting damage done.

The risk is very real. Especially if you're in an area closer to totality. The sky gets dark, your irises are wide open letting dangerous amounts of harmful light in.
And like staring at a welding arc, it doesn't feel painful at first.

For extended viewing, a pinhole box works and is so simple to make.

I like the neutral density filter idea. The sun looks white through it unlike the green hue of a welding shield or orange from a stack of negatives (or dollar pair of eclipse glasses).
The stop number should be pretty high, in the double digits at least if you plan on staring for a while.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm not talking about using sun glasses to stare at it, but while being outside during the eclipse, while looking at instruments (camera LCD etc). Would hold welding glass to actually stare directly at it. A lot of people, news media etc seem to imply that simply being outside during the eclipse you need special protection but I'm not sure whether or not this is the case.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Any sunlight slipping through gaps in tree branches, will cast a crescent shape on the ground below, during the eclipse, (if the hole the light passed through is small enough). So at the appointed time, just look at trees' shadows, you'll see a ton of tiny crescents.

I imagine there are neutral density filters designed for shooting the sun. Whether or not they are presently available, is the question. Neutral density filters are preferable because they don't discolor the light passing through.

 

[Charlie22911]

From what I have found via a quick google, ND filters don't block IR unless specifically designed to. That means crispy retinas/camera sensor.

As for overreaction, I think we can blame litigious jerks for that; no one wants to give bad advice.
FWIW I don't have eclipse glasses and don't plan on getting any at the moment. I'll be trying to see/photograph the "shadow snakes" and some other weird optical phenomena up until totality.

 

[Fir]

I'm not talking about using sun glasses to stare at it, but while being outside during the eclipse, while looking at instruments (camera LCD etc). Would hold welding glass to actually stare directly at it. A lot of people, news media etc seem to imply that simply being outside during the eclipse you need special protection but I'm not sure whether or not this is the case.

Protection is only necessary if you plan on looking at the sun OR looking through something pointed at the sun.

Good luck finding a decent ND filter designed for solar photography now!
The ones that DO have them have jacked the prices to the stratosphere. Beware of the ones with material sandwiched between glass elements. They may be safe and work but if you want a distortion-free pic, not so good.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Protection is only necessary if you plan on looking at the sun OR looking through something pointed at the sun.

Good luck finding a decent ND filter designed for solar photography now!
The ones that DO have them have jacked the prices to the stratosphere. Beware of the ones with material sandwiched between glass elements. They may be safe and work but if you want a distortion-free pic, not so good.

Kinda figured that was the case.

Too late to order anything online at this point such as dedicated filters but I picked up welding glass at a local welding shop so I'll use that. Keep forgetting to go buy rubber bands, I figure that is probably the easiest way to affix it temporarily.

 

[Red Squirrel]

All set for tomorrow!

 

[Charlie22911]

I like! Unfortunately I haven't been able to find eclipse glasses. That may not be a bad thing though as everyone with the glasses is going to miss the more subtle events like shadow banding.

I made it down to South Carolina to Lake Moultrie, traffic was pretty sketchy. If anyone drove be safe and keep your head on a swivel!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Quick test shot with #9 glass, might put a #14 when I go back out. Getting some glare, I think that's from an imperfect seal around lens.



I'll want to adjust colors, this one is just raw unmodified.

 

[EXCellR8]

someone at the office had a pair of the glasses but there wasn't too much too see and it was hazy and humid here. what I could see just looked like a role reversal of the sun and moon... still kind of neat though

 

[Red Squirrel]

Some pics. Kinda turned out blurry though.

 

[Nohr]

Here's the eclipse from east Texas. I used a Canon T4i DSLR on the back of a Celestron 127mm telescope and Baader solar film. Max eclipse here was 74.9%.

62.6% eclipse, 20min before max.


Maximum 74.9% eclipse.


40.3% eclipse, 42min after max.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Nice! Much clearer than mine.

 

[Nohr]

Nice! Much clearer than mine.

Thanks! Your last shot of the strainer shadow is really cool.

 

[Ajay]

Quick test shot with #9 glass, might put a #14 when I go back out. Getting some glare, I think that's from an imperfect seal around lens.



I'll want to adjust colors, this one is just raw unmodified.

Well, welders glass isn't AR, obviously Or optically flat, etc....

Nohr used an ~5" diameter Celestron telescope and appears to have good experience photographing celestial bodies with it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah I think the blur is from the glass itself and not the lens as I prefocused it with a cloud and it seemed pretty dead on to me. Probably why actual solar filters are so much more expensive as they are optically designed for this. I was looking at them way before the eclipse craze even started and they were more expensive than my lens lol.

I need to look at investing in an actual telescope though, and then a DSLR mount. Could get pretty awesome pics with that compared to my cheap lens. haha.