Pappio

Any advice on photographing the solar eclipse? I have a Nikon D3200 camera.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

ND filter, the more opaque the better.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

You will need proper a filter to prevent camera damage and eye blindness. The only time that a filter will not be needed would be during the time of totality. If you are not on the path of totality, you will need a filter 100% of the time. The best places for information are the NASA eclipse website and Thousand Oaks Optical website. And remember, if the filter does not have the right spec cited for UV cutoff, the UV coming through the filter will be able to blind someone. One other filter source is welders glass. It will cut both intense sunlight and UV rays the same way it does for welding. ND 17, ND 18, or ND19 in welders glass should be sufficient. Of course, it is not as optically flat as a proper lens filter, but I have found it to be more than flat enough for solar photography. Have fun with this one since I am going to miss it because of my granddaughter's wedding.

druthven

Go to Search at the top of the page just above Watched Topics and type Solar eclipse and you will be deluged with all the info you could possibly need.

OldCADuser Loc: Irvine, CA

I have a thread which I started back before the October annular eclipse which covers many aspects of photographing solar eclipses. Anyway, it might be worth your time to give it a look:

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-785225-1.html

Judy795

Read everything you can find, watch the YouTubes, and get a real solar filter.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Welcome to the Forum, Pappio, enjoy.

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

Seriously, my advice is don’t. A total eclipse close enough to you is an extremely rare event. It occurs less than once in a lifetime event so get there and experience the event in person! Do purchase some glasses to protect your eyesight from a reputable source that is certified to meet ISO 12312-2 (2015). They are only a few bucks and there have been dangerous counterfeits. As far a photographing the event, filters that are also certified are relatively inexpensive but the sun and moon are guide small objects in the sky and unless you stick a long lens or a telescope on the camera you are going to be disappointed.

Regardless of the weather I am going to my chosen spot near the shore of Lake Ontario where the show will last 2:33 hours from the moon touching the sun until it pulls away. The totality will last 3m 39s during which it will become totally dark and we will experience offshore then onshore breeze as the air suddenly cools and warms. My grandchildren (9 and 11) AKA “The boys” are flying in on spring break to join me. Later we will watch many high quality videos of what went on above the clouds.

jamesl Loc: Pennsylvania

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The camera doesn't matter much. Take a good sturdy tripod, a long telephoto lens, a solar filter and I also used a wireless trigger. I would get to where you are going to shoot early, pick your spot and get setup so you sre ready to go.

levinton

While the sun is out you need a ca 15 F-stop filter(I use a Hoya ProND 100000 (5.0)). But when the full eclipse is happening you can use your full open camera without a filter (others will say whether I am wrong on this). But
you have just a couple of minutes of this blissful moment. When there is any sun, your electronic camera will be damaged by the sun. I used the Hoya filter mentioned for the entirety of the annular eclipse last fall in Albuquerque.

OldCADuser Loc: Irvine, CA

Yes, once it reaches maximum occlusion, which will last as long as four-minutes or more, depending on where you're at, you won't need to use any filters on your camera nor will you need to use special 'glasses' for your naked eyes. Where we're planning to see the eclipse, in the 'Hill Country' of Texas, that period will be close to 4 1/2 minutes, much longer than when we saw the 2017 eclipse in Nebraska.

BurghByrd Loc: Pittsburgh

Perhaps this will help:

https://photographylife.com/how-to-photograph-a-solar-eclipse