Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

I have been posting in the Gallery and just noticed this section:
Just an FYI: I am not a novice photographer, I am a novice at photographing anything astronomical. I have been reading online articles about photographing eclipses and have gotten some advice from the folks in the Photo Gallery section. Any tips on how to get the best shot I can will be gratefully accepted.
I will be using a Nikon Z9 mounted on a secure tripod with a 600mm PF lens + a 1.4TC. I will have a Sun Finder mounted on the camera and I will be using a remote shutter release.

I had been using 1000 OAKS Solar filter and could not get rid of the "Halo" Photo 1 (3366) / ISO 400 f9 1/80th. In photo 2 (3370) the halo is finally gone/ ISO 400 f9 1/200th. The 3 photos in between the first and second also had the halo, but it was dimmer and you might not have understood what I was trying to show.
The third photo (3483) is through a Seymour Solar filter. The settings were ISO 800 f11 1/250th
When the math is done to compare the exposures, they are ROUGHLY the same amount of light to the sensor.
The 4th photo is a screenshot showing the histogram of #3483; there is nothing to the right of what you see. Based on that, I think those would be the settings to use ..... ISO 800 f11 1/250th
I will do more photographing of the sun over the next few weeks, any suggestions as to settings, technique, whatever, will be appreciated. I am already getting nervous.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

It’s almost looks like an internal reflection. Make sure the lens and filter are clean as any smudges can cause some scattered light. I would test just the lens without the filter on the full moon to see if the halo occurs to see if it was just the filter or perhaps the combination on lens and 1.4 teleconverter and try the different combinations

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

It’s almost looks like an internal reflection. Make sure the lens and filter are clean as any smudges can cause some scattered light. I would test just the lens without the filter on the full moon to see if the halo occurs to see if it was just the filter or perhaps the combination on lens and 1.4 teleconverter and try the different combinations

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

Thank you; per Occam's razor, I'll go with the simpler answer ... the difference is in the filters. I will be using the Seymour Solar filter. However, I will be taking photos of the moon to practice my focus. If there is an equipment problem, I'll notice it.