Basil Loc: New Mexico

Forgive me if this is repeat but I did do a search for "Eclipse" specific to this forum and, while I saw a lot of general eclipse threads and discussions of previous eclipses, I did not see anything specifically dedicated to discussing the upcoming April 8th 2024 eclipse. I'd like to propose that this thread be pinned to the top as a place to consolidate discussions of the upcoming April 2024 eclipse. (again, apologies if such a a tread has been started and I just couldn't find it?).

I am lucky in that I have a friend who lives in Kerrville, Texas and his house is close to dead center on the path of totality! Based on calculations made for that location, totality should last about 4 minutes and 25 seconds from where I'll be shooting. I will be driving my Kia Telluride from New Mexico and pulling a small teardrop (T@B 320) trailer which my friend will let me park on his property to camp out (he will have a full house of kids coming to view the event otherwise he'd have put me up). Here is a website I'm using for location and eclipse phase timing:

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2024-april-8

This will be the third total eclipse I’ve seen in my lifetime and the second I’ll be photographing. The first I saw was in Feb 1979 and the path of totality came right through Great Falls, Montana where I was stationed with the US Air Force. I was not into photography back then so didn’t attempt any photography. I did, however, photograph the eclipse in August of 2017 and was very happy with the results. I managed to capture Baily’s Beads (by pure chance) but didn’t capture any diamond ring. (Will try that this time). For the Corona I took a series of shots with ISO 100, F8 at 500mm and varied the shutter speed starting at 1/1000th and stepping down 1-stop at a time all the way to 2 seconds in order to capture the corona at increasingly further distances from the suns’s surface. I then blended the images with a Photoshop procedure I found on Youtube that worked great. My resulting image had a nice, uniform corona all the way from the surface out to the very edge of the frame. I was extremely happy with the results.

I plan to follow essentially the same process this time (I’ll take some test shots early on to get the f-stop adjusted if necessary). I also plan to use my iOptron Star Guider this time to track the sun. This will, I hope, preclude me from needing to constantly adjust the image in the camera view. When I shot the recent Annular eclipse I used this method with great success. I will align the tracker with true north the night before. I’ll actually set Polaris in the reticle according to the location indicated at the time I do the polar alignment. This should point the tracker at true north which will not (should not) change over time even though Polaris’ location will change. Once set, the tracker should still be aiming at True North the next day, assuming I don’t move anything). That’s what I did for the Annular eclipse and it worked perfect - the sun stayed dead center. This should also allow for sharper shots for those longer exposures when I’m shooting for the corona. Attached is the setup I used for the recent annular eclipse, and I plan to use this same setup for this April even. The only difference will be the tripod I'll use. In the picture you see my Sirui Carbon Fiber tripod, but for the April eclipse I'll be using my new ProMediaGear TR344LBL. The camera will be a Canon R5 with a Sigma 150-600mm lens set at 500mm and mounted on my iOptron Star Guider Pro tracker. I'll be using a Firecrest 95mm Eclipse Filter (ND 5.4, 18-stop) by Formatt Hitech for the pro-totality shots. The filter will come off while shooting totality. (I plan several shots at varying shutter speeds to capture corona further and further from the surface of the sun, then blend in Photoshop).

What are your plans, if any, for shooting the April eclipse?



I have been contemplating

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

I'll be travelling to Plano Tx to stay at a friends house. I am very new to photographing an eclipse. I currently am using a solar filter made by 1000 Oaks. Based upon my test shots (posted in the photo gallery) I don't think the filter is dark enough. I'm still looking for a solar filter.
BTW I looked at the filter you mentioned and came across this.
"This filter is designed specifically for photography applications. This filter is not suitable for direct solar viewing with the naked eye, including with optical viewfinders." I need something I can look at the sun thru the camera viewfinder with. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

I have a SeeStar S50 (see my reply to an earlier message), and my plan is to try and take a timelapse of the eclipse with it. We will not get totality, but it should still be fairly decent. Depending on the weather, of course...

Basil Loc: New Mexico

Does your camera have an EVF or rear LCD screen?

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

It's my understanding the Thousand Oaks filter is a solar filter. I've viewed the sun many times through the viewfinder or just holding the filter up to my eyes without a camera or lens.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

It makes no difference, it would not be a good idea to point a lens at the sun without a solar filter on it. I am looking for suggestions for a filter for the front of my lens.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

Perhaps I was not clear; I am asking for suggestions for a solar filter to place onto the lens of my camera.

Basil Loc: New Mexico

Yes, it does make a difference. You said, "I need something I can look at the sun thru the camera viewfinder with." You were specifically asking about a filter that would allow you to "look through the viewfinder." The reason I asked whether you have a EVF (electronic viewfinder) or a rear LCD screen was NOT to suggest in any way that you should point your camera at the sun without a filter. I didn't say that at all and sorry if you inferred that.

The reason I asked about whether you have an EVF or a rear LCD view finder is because, with the filter I use (Firecrest 16-stop Eclipse filter) you can safely point the camera at the sun AND can view the sun on a rear LCD screen OR an EVF. BUT, if you have an optical viewfinder, you should NOT look through that with this filter nor should you use this filter (Firecrest) to look through it directly at the sun. I hope that makes sense.

By the way I shot the 2017 eclipse with this filter but I ONLY looked at the sun on the back of my LCD screen (WITH the filter attached until totality, at which time I removed the filter). Because my camera at the time (5D Mark IV) had an optical view finder, I did NOT look at the sun via the viewfinder, only via the rear LCD screen. My current camera is the R5 which has an EVF (but I'll still probably only view the sun via the rear screen as it's a lot easier).

Me shooting the 2017 Eclipse from a ranch near Glenrock, WY


My composite total eclipse image from the 2017 eclipse.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

I bought one from Thousand Oaks for my camera lens. They make several sizes for different lenses.

(Download)

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

I’ have an Rv site booked in Medina Texas for the event and plan to have my refractor set up to take shots. I have a Thousand Oaks filter that I used for the total eclipse in 2017 and it worked great. Remember that once totality starts and you remove the filter to recheck your focus.

Basil Loc: New Mexico

The one I used is this;

https://formatt-hitechusa.com/products/firecrest-ultra-neutral-density-irnd-solar-eclipse-filter?variant=43967732089081

Note this filter will not add any additional tint to the image. The sun is actually white and this lens will yield a white disk

Basil Loc: New Mexico

Anyone else planning to shoot with two cameras? I'm hoping to have one camera set up to shoot the eclipsed through all phases, including totality, with phases on both sides. I will be shooting at a high angle with a stature as my foreground (want to have the eclipse arching over the top of the statue). Since the sun will be pretty high in the sky, this was about the only was I could figure to get something of interest in the foreground.

Does any one know of any videos or tutorials that show how to do the post processing for such a shot? I'm assuming I will be making a composite but just not sure what the process is for this kind of shot to get all the su shots with an evenly light sky. I don't want a fake composite, I want the resulting image to show the sun in the actual locations relative to the statue (foreground) throughout the entire shooting period.

Basil Loc: New Mexico

I just learned of two eclipse programs to automate the shooting of the eclipse. One for PC called Eclipse Orchestrater and one for MAC called Eclipse Maestro. Has anyone used either of these? Or plan to for April 24?