AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Lucky you!

CliffMcKenzie Loc: Lake Athens Texas

Judy, Dallas is close, but you can do better. From Dallas, take 175 to Kaufman, very short drive but you will maximize your return. As you look at my map you will notice a line 200 miles SW and NE of Kaufman. Kaufman has a 67% chance of cloud cover and Fredericksburg is half that. Early that morning, if needed, you will know which direction you might need to take. If you are in the Plano\DFW area 2/24, I am speaking on the eclipse. PM me and you can come as my guest

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

For assistance with timing during the eclipse there’s an app for your smartphone called “Solar Eclipse Timer”. I used it in 2017 and it does a verbal countdown for the point of totality and when the sun will show again.

Mr Bill 2011 Loc: southern Indiana

I dug out the solar filter and glasses I used for the 2017 total eclipse, and also found the settings I used for that one. I photographed the 2017 total eclipse from Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky using a Nikon P-900 using a solar filter from Thousand Oaks. With practice, I finally set up at around 1000 mm equiv., and with the solar filter on, used 1/320 sec., f 5.6, iso 100, daylight W.B. and manual focus. Something like that would be a good place to start, and adjust for your solar filter, lens, etc. and spend a little time practicing. Hint: set up on grass, not pavement;that way you won't be bothered as much by heat waves coming from the ground.

wmurnahan Loc: Bloomington IN

Got a partial eclipse shot last year that I didn't think I was going to get by going out and looking despite heavy cloud cover. Discovered that the clouds got thin enough, every once in a while and I got this shot, I was not in the path but still managed a partial with no solar filter.

(Download)

kenJN

If totality is, let's say, two minutes, it will be the shortest two minutes in your life! In 2017, when it was over, I found myself asking for a re-do! Practice is everything. You won't have time to fiddle.
KenJNagel
Grand Rapids MI

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

Here is an example (screen shot) of PhotoPills planning for the April 8 eclipse for my camp on Lake Ontario. Obviously, the Lake is the water to the north. The underlying satellite view is not current. This is after the record high flooding and storm damage a few years ago. The white to the west of the garage isn’t snow. It’s sand bags placed by the National Guard to limit erosion. My red van you can see through the trees which was purchased in June 2021 during COVID. Almost two years ago I acquired the necessary permits (none then) and ca$h to erect a seawall to recover some of the eroded land and prevent further erosion.

The gray line points to the sun/moon at the time of the eclipse. The yellow/red and lite blue/dark blue lines point to the sun and moon at sunrise and sunset. At the upper right I circled the azimuth and elevation at the time of the eclipse so you can see that the sun/moon are pretty high in the sky, 43 degrees, so clear viewing is easy in this case.

The good stuff is down at the bottom of the right side. The data in all the panels is particular to the location and time entered. I have circled the data showing the time of the phases of the eclipse. And if you to roll the time back and forth the sun in the black box will change accordingly. The box above it is a summary of this particular eclipse. Magnitude is the ratio of sun diameter to the moon diameter.

PhotoPills provides lots of “personalized” photo data in addition to what you see here. I have bought a license quite a while ago. I just learned learned that the Apple App App will not tell you the current price if you already “own” it so I can’t say what it cost but it must be reasonable because I am frugal (cheap) with regard to in tested apps.

The camp is located about one and half hours from home and it was conveniently scheduled 7 week after my knee replacement (or vice versa) so I will be able to drive by then. If not I will con someone to drag by fat ass up there. So even though the April weather is not kind, cold and cloudy, I have received my order of 25 solar glasses (minimum quantity) from a reputable vendor an I am going to witness this event of a lifetime. No matter what. And I am NOT going to be distracted by fooling with photographing it. There will be plenty of better results posted probably here. Actually, I friend on mine who has been a astrophotographer for years has invited himself and have volunteered the get me up there might take a shot at it.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

Here is a great source of info for the upcoming event.
Much data and an animated map of the path across the continent.
Certainly worth the watch.

Total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 over Mexico, the USA, and Canada

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

I haven’t noticed anyone addressing a couple of basic things that may be more difficult than expected. Focus and exposure. Yes, the moon is small and you want a long lens and you should ONLY use a certified filter such as sold by Thousand Oaks Optical to for eye and equipment safety. Another advantage to a mirrorless camera is there is no direct optical path to your view finder. So if you screw up the filter thing you can safely watch your sensor go up in smoke.

But using any cameras automatic focus likely won’t work. Either might start hunting for light to focus with at just the wrong time. You need to find out where infinity for your lens is and how set it quickly manually. I wouldn’t expect accurate focus at the stops for all lens. I don’t know how to achieve reliable focus but I bet the astrophotographers know how.

Similarly selecting appropriated exposure cannot be expected at game time. The sunny sixteen rule is not involved even though it is used the ISO specification of ISO film speed. Again there is no doubt a similar rule for a known filter the brightness of the sun is clearly a known consent. Somewhere the rule the must be published and practice of your set up is a good idea.


On the other hand the entire even takes upward of an hour before totality which can be used as a final test for debugging. Shutter speed need be only fast enough to eliminate shake and the suns motion during exposure. Note, however, it will move across a fixed camera at the same 15 degrees per hour the stars move during long exposures. And you might want to practice that tracking. I wouldn’t recommend trading higher ISO for shutter speed. Use the base ISO I this case.No stinking auto ISO.

df61743 Loc: Corpus Christi, TX

That's a very good site regarding the April eclipse. Here's another one worth looking at:

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html?Lat=32.79091&Lng=-96.95168&Elv=138.0&Zoom=8&LC=1

It's interactive. You can zoom in and out on the map, and wherever you click on the map a popup will show you detailed eclipse data for that specific location. I'll be observing from Irving, TX.

Dick

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

Excellent.

rfarris1 Loc: Maryland, USA

And your eyes if you are not careful.

Hugo H Loc: SJ, CA

During a partial, I took many shots >300 every couple of minutes. Afterwards I cropped them so the sun would be in the same place (accuracy not absolutely necessary). Then I can scroll through the shots like a video showing the progression. Can see the sun spots. Set your focus distance to manual before the eclipse. Sony RX10 m4, zoom to nearly full screen. Good tripod needed to smoothly adjust.