Preparing to photograph the upcoming October 2023 and April 2024 solar eclipses...
Sep 4, 2023 17:41:26 #
Solar Eclipses 2023: The Definitive Photography Guide I Photopills is a guide that will tell you everything you might ever wish to know about eclipses.
In 2017 I got a twofer, traveling to Idaho, photographing the total eclipse and also spending a day in The Grand Teton National Park with professional photographer Daryl Hunter. Included is an exposure of the eclipse and Daryl's shot of me photographing a cow moose. Grand Teton is a photographer's paradise.
In 2017 I got a twofer, traveling to Idaho, photographing the total eclipse and also spending a day in The Grand Teton National Park with professional photographer Daryl Hunter. Included is an exposure of the eclipse and Daryl's shot of me photographing a cow moose. Grand Teton is a photographer's paradise.
Sep 4, 2023 21:59:53 #
jerryc41 wrote:
Thanks! The one in April will be a good 80th birthday present for me!
I knew it, I always knew there was something about you, Jerry. Now I know.
You share a birthday with Hellbitch (my ex-wife).
Sep 5, 2023 06:32:33 #
OldCADuser wrote:
I bought the material for my camera shrouds at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Note that while it's white on the outside, the best I could find was a charcoal gray for the inside. I cut it out (images below) so as to make it easy to protect the camera while using the long lens to hold it in place, using a couple of 'scrunchies' (like the ones girls use to hold ponytails in place).
Very clever!
Sep 5, 2023 11:28:20 #
Speaking of suggestions to help in photographing eclipses, I found this article at 'Digital Camera World':
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/why-you-need-to-plan-now-to-photograph-2024s-great-north-american-eclipse
And from the same site, an article about some of the places people might consider when planning for the April 2024 total eclipse (and yes, Lampasas is one of the suggested location, but I had already looked at it before I read this item):
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/20-quirky-photogenic-places-to-shoot-2024s-great-american-eclipse
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/why-you-need-to-plan-now-to-photograph-2024s-great-north-american-eclipse
And from the same site, an article about some of the places people might consider when planning for the April 2024 total eclipse (and yes, Lampasas is one of the suggested location, but I had already looked at it before I read this item):
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/20-quirky-photogenic-places-to-shoot-2024s-great-american-eclipse
Sep 5, 2023 15:11:38 #
Sep 6, 2023 18:52:47 #
OK, I got the first of my two new Solar filters, the 55mm version. So I decided to check it out getting a shot of the mid-day Sun. Now this is a true neutral density filter (ND100000) and since it was near mid-day, there is virtually no color (images below are untouched from a color or contrast point of view).
The first image was uncropped and the second is cropped so as to see more detail on the surface of the Sun (not much Sunspot activity today).
All in all, these new ND100000 'Solar' filters are looking like they're going to work just fine.
When I get the 67mm filter, I'll be testing my 400mm lens on my Sony a6500 where I can also utilize the 'Clear Image Zoom' option (not available on my A65) to get an effective 800mm (which would be equivalent to a 1,200mm lens on a full-frame camera).
The first image was uncropped and the second is cropped so as to see more detail on the surface of the Sun (not much Sunspot activity today).
All in all, these new ND100000 'Solar' filters are looking like they're going to work just fine.
When I get the 67mm filter, I'll be testing my 400mm lens on my Sony a6500 where I can also utilize the 'Clear Image Zoom' option (not available on my A65) to get an effective 800mm (which would be equivalent to a 1,200mm lens on a full-frame camera).
September 2023 - Sony A65, 300mm, f/8.0 @ 1/1000sec, ISO 100 (uncropped)
September 2023 - Sony A65, 300mm, f/8.0 @ 1/1000sec, ISO 100 (cropped)
Sep 12, 2023 19:06:17 #
OK, I've now gotten the 67mm ND100000 filter, which will fit on my 400mm lens.
I also bought a 67mm H-Alpha Emission, 656nm Narrow Band Pass, filter.
Anyway, all of the images below are un-cropped with the second and fourth image taken used Sony's 'Clear Image Zoom' option set to give it a 2X magnification.
I also bought a 67mm H-Alpha Emission, 656nm Narrow Band Pass, filter.
Anyway, all of the images below are un-cropped with the second and fourth image taken used Sony's 'Clear Image Zoom' option set to give it a 2X magnification.
September 2023 - Sony a6500, 400mm, f11.0 @ 1/640 sec, ISO 100
September 2023 - Sony a6500, 400mm (X2), f11.0 @ 1/640 sec, ISO 100
September 2023 - Sony a6500, 400mm, f11.0 @ 1/20 sec, ISO 100
September 2023 - Sony a6500, 400mm (X2), f11.0 @ 1/20 sec, ISO 100
Sep 25, 2023 16:55:55 #
I've been finalizing my plans for the October 14th annular solar eclipse and have decided to not use my Sony DSLR A65 as my secondary camera, for a couple of reasons. The primary reason is the it's not compatible with my wireless shutter release. Now that wouldn't normally be an issue since I have a wired shutter release that I could use if I was going to use that camera as just a back-up for my primary camera, the Sony a6500, but I've decided to use my secondary camera to capture a sequence of the eclipse as it moves across the sky. Now I could have used the wired release and just set a timer on my iPhone to remind me to trip the shutter on a regular basis. However, my wireless remote has an option where I can set a timed interval that will automatically trip the shutter, but as I said, that unit's not compatible with the A65, but it will work with my Sony a6000 (which is part of my macro kit).
Now since I'm going to be using my 400mm lens on the primary camera, the a6500, I was going to use my next longest lens, a 300mm on the A65, but now that I plan to shoot a sequence of the eclipse I don't need as long a lens. In fact, my mainline lens, the 18-135mm, will now work just fine. Based on my calculations, the entire period of the eclipse, from when the Moon first starts to occlude the Sun until it 100% clear again, is about three-hours, which works our to about 45˚ of arc of the sky. Based on the angle-of-view of my 18-135mm lens, a setting of 60mm should give me enough of a span where once set-up, I can just let it shoot a three-hour sequence unattended.
Now over the next few sunny days, I'm going to test this scheme to make sure that I've got the lens settings correct and that I can determine a good interval for the shots. I'm going to start with a 10-minute interval, which would give me close to 20 shots over the three-hour period. Of course, it also depends on how easy it's going to be to merge the full sequence into a single image (using Photoshop). I mean the interval needs to be long enough so that I can merge the images with them not interfering with each other. Perhaps I'll post some of my test results, albeit without showing an actual eclipse. Of course, I could just shoot a larger number of shots, say at five-minute intervals, and just keep those images which look good when merged together.
And for when I'm shooting using the primary camera, the Sony a6500, while I won't have the use of my more advanced wireless shutter release, I've still got another wired shutter release that's compatible with both my a6000 (that wired release is actually part of my macro kit) and the a6500. But since the shots using the a6500, with the long lens, will be more random and specific to what the eclipse looks like at the moment, a wired manual release will be just fine.
Now since I'm going to be using my 400mm lens on the primary camera, the a6500, I was going to use my next longest lens, a 300mm on the A65, but now that I plan to shoot a sequence of the eclipse I don't need as long a lens. In fact, my mainline lens, the 18-135mm, will now work just fine. Based on my calculations, the entire period of the eclipse, from when the Moon first starts to occlude the Sun until it 100% clear again, is about three-hours, which works our to about 45˚ of arc of the sky. Based on the angle-of-view of my 18-135mm lens, a setting of 60mm should give me enough of a span where once set-up, I can just let it shoot a three-hour sequence unattended.
Now over the next few sunny days, I'm going to test this scheme to make sure that I've got the lens settings correct and that I can determine a good interval for the shots. I'm going to start with a 10-minute interval, which would give me close to 20 shots over the three-hour period. Of course, it also depends on how easy it's going to be to merge the full sequence into a single image (using Photoshop). I mean the interval needs to be long enough so that I can merge the images with them not interfering with each other. Perhaps I'll post some of my test results, albeit without showing an actual eclipse. Of course, I could just shoot a larger number of shots, say at five-minute intervals, and just keep those images which look good when merged together.
And for when I'm shooting using the primary camera, the Sony a6500, while I won't have the use of my more advanced wireless shutter release, I've still got another wired shutter release that's compatible with both my a6000 (that wired release is actually part of my macro kit) and the a6500. But since the shots using the a6500, with the long lens, will be more random and specific to what the eclipse looks like at the moment, a wired manual release will be just fine.
Oct 5, 2023 20:10:57 #
OK, I've been doing some testing to try and get the proper set-up for a complete sequence of the eclipse and while I've worked out how to position the camera to capture the full 3-hour sequence, I'm still working on getting the proper exposure.
Now I had to make a couple of changes. First off, I miscalculated the zoom-setting for the 18-135mm lens that I'm going to be using on my mirrorless APS-C camera. At first I thought something around 60mm would work but I was off by a bit. It turns out that a setting of 30mm is perfect. Also, the 18-135mm lens is a good choice as it also uses a 55mm filter, the same as the 300mm lens which was what I had originally planned on using with my Sony A65 DSLR, so I didn't need to buy any additional ND fliters, and it has a switch on the barrel of the lens so that I can switch to manual focus (my 400mm is already manual focus so no issues there). With my other auto-lens, I have to go to the menus to turn-off auto focus, so this is just one less issue to worry about while setting set-up (a piece of advice, I'm going to use some painters tape to hold the infinity focus setting of my lens to keep from inadvertently changing the focus while messing with something like the shroud or aperture setting on my manual 400mm lens).
The other change that I had to make was switching the mirrorless camera I was going to using for the sequence shot versus the random shots that I'll be taking manually. What happened was that during my testing using my older Sony a6000 camera with the 18-135mm lens and my remote shutter release using it's intervalometer option set to take a shot every 10-minutes, the camera kept skipping frames, at least two or three during each 3-hour test that I ran. I made sure that I had new batteries in the remote shutter release as well as a fully charged battery in the camera, but it just kept happening (the a6000 is much older having shot 28,000 images versus less than 7,500 for the a6500). So I duplicated the test using my Sony a6500 and it's worked perfect for two test sequences.
Now this shouldn't a be a problem as the s6000 has the same resolution as the a6500 and while it doesn't have some of the more advanced features of the a6500, none of them should impact me shooting randomly triggered shots using the 400mm manual lens. I've never had it skip a shot that was manually initiated, so we should be OK.
Now, my limitation is tripods. I only have two while I have three 24+ mp APS-C cameras, my Sony A65, Sony a6000 and Sony a6500, and while I'll probably take all three cameras with me (including my older Mylar-film based sun filters) at the moment, only the two mirrorless cameras will be used to shoot the actual eclipse (the A65 will be an emergency back-up). As for local photos of my set-up and what's happening around us during the eclipse, between all of us, we'll have at least a half-dozen or more iPhones
Now to what I've accomplished so far with my testing. Below are two images. The first shows the full 3-hour sequence of shots, each taken 10-minutes apart (this image consists of the 19 original images merged together using Photoshop). Now since this results in an accurate rendering of what the sequence period will look like, due to the lens zoom-setting of only 30mm, the images of the Sun is very small. So the second image has been further modified (using Photoshop) to 'compress' it, as it were, the positions of the Sun so as to make for a more pleasing image of the sequence, even if it's not spatially accurate.
Keep in mind that I've still got to do some exposure testing as these images are way over-exposed. I suspect that it'll be closer to f11 @ 1/500sec or even faster. I'll report back with what I learn from these next set of tests.
Anyway, any comments would be appreciated:
Now I had to make a couple of changes. First off, I miscalculated the zoom-setting for the 18-135mm lens that I'm going to be using on my mirrorless APS-C camera. At first I thought something around 60mm would work but I was off by a bit. It turns out that a setting of 30mm is perfect. Also, the 18-135mm lens is a good choice as it also uses a 55mm filter, the same as the 300mm lens which was what I had originally planned on using with my Sony A65 DSLR, so I didn't need to buy any additional ND fliters, and it has a switch on the barrel of the lens so that I can switch to manual focus (my 400mm is already manual focus so no issues there). With my other auto-lens, I have to go to the menus to turn-off auto focus, so this is just one less issue to worry about while setting set-up (a piece of advice, I'm going to use some painters tape to hold the infinity focus setting of my lens to keep from inadvertently changing the focus while messing with something like the shroud or aperture setting on my manual 400mm lens).
The other change that I had to make was switching the mirrorless camera I was going to using for the sequence shot versus the random shots that I'll be taking manually. What happened was that during my testing using my older Sony a6000 camera with the 18-135mm lens and my remote shutter release using it's intervalometer option set to take a shot every 10-minutes, the camera kept skipping frames, at least two or three during each 3-hour test that I ran. I made sure that I had new batteries in the remote shutter release as well as a fully charged battery in the camera, but it just kept happening (the a6000 is much older having shot 28,000 images versus less than 7,500 for the a6500). So I duplicated the test using my Sony a6500 and it's worked perfect for two test sequences.
Now this shouldn't a be a problem as the s6000 has the same resolution as the a6500 and while it doesn't have some of the more advanced features of the a6500, none of them should impact me shooting randomly triggered shots using the 400mm manual lens. I've never had it skip a shot that was manually initiated, so we should be OK.
Now, my limitation is tripods. I only have two while I have three 24+ mp APS-C cameras, my Sony A65, Sony a6000 and Sony a6500, and while I'll probably take all three cameras with me (including my older Mylar-film based sun filters) at the moment, only the two mirrorless cameras will be used to shoot the actual eclipse (the A65 will be an emergency back-up). As for local photos of my set-up and what's happening around us during the eclipse, between all of us, we'll have at least a half-dozen or more iPhones
Now to what I've accomplished so far with my testing. Below are two images. The first shows the full 3-hour sequence of shots, each taken 10-minutes apart (this image consists of the 19 original images merged together using Photoshop). Now since this results in an accurate rendering of what the sequence period will look like, due to the lens zoom-setting of only 30mm, the images of the Sun is very small. So the second image has been further modified (using Photoshop) to 'compress' it, as it were, the positions of the Sun so as to make for a more pleasing image of the sequence, even if it's not spatially accurate.
Keep in mind that I've still got to do some exposure testing as these images are way over-exposed. I suspect that it'll be closer to f11 @ 1/500sec or even faster. I'll report back with what I learn from these next set of tests.
Anyway, any comments would be appreciated:
A spatially accurate sequence of the Sun during a 3-hour period - October 2023 - Sony a6500, 18-135mm (set to 30mm), f9.0 @ 1/50 sec, ISO 100
A compressed sequence of the Sun during a 3-hour period - October 2023 - Sony a6500, 18-135mm (set to 30mm), f9.0 @ 1/50 sec, ISO 100
Oct 6, 2023 07:06:58 #
OldCADuser wrote:
I'm starting this thread in anticipation of the up... (show quote)
This is a very good and informative thread. Thank you all for this good information. It helps me a lot because I’m getting prepared for the annular eclipse coming soon.
Bruce.
Oct 6, 2023 11:32:20 #
OldCADuser wrote:
I'm starting this thread in anticipation of the up... (show quote)
Nice idea of the coverings. I may use a towel, but this looks like it really helped you. I will post more of my home made filters and a few images. But today I am going to test the latest upgrades and try to use a mono pod to stabilize. My others were all hand held.
Bruce.
Oct 6, 2023 16:03:43 #
OK, I've completed my exposure testing and it looks like a setting of f11.0 @ 1/125sec, ISO 100, will be about right. I also intend on setting-up automatic bracketing and at the moment I'm considering doing a 0.7EV setting with a burst of five shots, which would result in images taken at 1/45, 1/90, 1/125, 1/200 and 1/350sec. This should give me a chance of getting at least once good shot of each image in the 3-hour sequence.
Now I need to repeat a full 3-hour test to make sure that the battery will last for the full sequence, now that the number of shots has increase by a factor of five. At the end of my previous tests, the battery level was still at about 40% so hopefully it will be good enough. If the battery doesn't cut it, I might have to reduce it to three-shot bursts and maybe expand the EV setting to 1.0, which would result in images shot at 1/60, 1/125 and 1/250sec.
Now I need to repeat a full 3-hour test to make sure that the battery will last for the full sequence, now that the number of shots has increase by a factor of five. At the end of my previous tests, the battery level was still at about 40% so hopefully it will be good enough. If the battery doesn't cut it, I might have to reduce it to three-shot bursts and maybe expand the EV setting to 1.0, which would result in images shot at 1/60, 1/125 and 1/250sec.
Oct 6, 2023 16:48:44 #
OldCADuser wrote:
OK, I've completed my exposure testing and it look... (show quote)
Thank you, since I will be using my Nikon D300s, the ISO only drops to 200 BUT it is reported that 100 is somehow utilized ?
I have mine set to Shutter priority and change it around. I need to look at F11 and see how to try this too. I made some test shots this morning using my mono pod but it was still shaky.
I will share some results.
bruce
Oct 6, 2023 16:57:52 #
Yes, I'm using full manual mode for virtually everything, shutter, aperture and focus. Of course, for my big shots using the 400mm lens, everything is manual by default. The only 'automatic' feature that I'll be using is the auto bracketing with burst-shots.
Oct 6, 2023 17:17:12 #
OldCADuser wrote:
Yes, I'm using full manual mode for virtually everything, shutter, aperture and focus. Of course, for my big shots using the 400mm lens, everything is manual by default. The only 'automatic' feature that I'll be using is the auto bracketing with burst-shots.
I have never used auto bracketing and do not know how but I will read up on this. I change the shutter speed with the command dial then shoot another picture. So far it seems like 500-850 seems to the best so far.
This is latest filter I made. I wanted to use the shield to prevent random glare, and it works better.
bruce.
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
this is the fiest one I made which works good but glare ?
(Download)
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.