A lovely horizon rise.

Very nice birds...

Do not use a CPL to shoot eclipse unless it is totality. CPL will not protect your retina from permanent damage. Use a solar filter. If you can't find a screw on one, get one that's used on a telescope. I ordered a third one just today so they are available.

Nice shot...

Beautiful...

Pretty...

Interesting; I would have turned the book and typewriter around but, still a nice photo.

Very nicely done...

Nice, interesting and creative photos. By the way, the sun doesn't set, the horizon rises...

I'd hold off a bit longer until the D850 hits the street, driving down the cost of the D810 even more. But is money is not a consideration, go for it...

Glad you resolved the issue. $9 devices tend not to last as long as say, $90 devices...

If he's only shooting during totality, no filter is needed. Just needed to be real conscious about timing and not attempt to shoot at any time other than totality.

I will be using a My Sigma 150-600 Sport with Sigma 1.4 teleconverter on one camera, my Nikkor 200-500 with Nikon 1.4 teleconverter on a second camera and possibly my Sigma 150-600 Contemporary with Sigma 2X teleconverter on a 3rd camera. The camera with the intravolometer activated will be taking shots leading up to and after totality. That one will have a solar filter attached to the lens. The camera I will be using when the sun is in totality will not have any filter on the lens.
I bought an ebook on Amazon.com that contains all the necessary instructions and camera settings to get great shots of the Eclipse. I've been using it for practice and so far so good. I have two solar filters so I'm covered there.
If you are only interested in the 2.5 minutes of totality, you don't need a filter but you do need to be extra careful. Just a minute amount of exposure Pre or post totality to the naked eye is enough to damage the retina. It is unwise to attempt a shot of the diamond ring unprotected.

I concur, the new Tamron has gotten very good reviews and the sample images on the Tamron Web site are quite impressive. It's more than your $500 budget but only $149 more and to me, a decent zoom lens with that coverage is well worth the $649 cost.

Nice photos. One of my favorite spots for night photography is a large cemetery near my home. It is far enough away from the major roads and buildings to be fairly light pollution free and unlike the nearby County park, is open 24 hours.