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I have never photographed or even witnessed a total solar eclipse. This year on April 8th, North West PA is in the path of totality for the 2024 Solar eclipse. My front yard will have 3 min 4 sec of totality, unfortunately my property is surrounded by 200 ft tall trees so I will have to go elsewhere. There are several good vantage points within a few miles of home and I will be checking for the best place for my set up.
I have done some research on solar filters to protect my eyes and camera from damage and decided on Solarlite film from Thousand Oaks co. I constructed a filter from an old sun shade that fit my lens and some foam board from Walmart.
The rest of my junk will be: Canon R6 camera, RF 100-500mm, f4.5-7.1 L, lens and an IOPTRON German equatorial GoTo mount.
Other necessities will be: An accurate level for setting the mount, a gpsr to detect my exact location and a compass both to aid in setting up the mount.
I am hoping to get many practice sessions in to solidify my camera settings and get a feel for shot to shot timing. Also some sun spot pics would make me a happy camper.
I'll keep you posted on my practice images and share the settings that work best for me.
Thanks for reading, Jerry
In 2017 we was able to view my first Eclipse as the line of totality was just south of St. Louis so a short drive for us.
I plan on driving to southern Illinois for this year's Eclipse.
Here's some pics I took of the 2017 Eclipse from Meramec State Park in MO.
My old Canon T3i, EF 100-400 and solar filter. Totality was super cool and eerie, even the birds went quiet. At the far left is the star Regulus. Just past totality, I was able to capture some surface solar flares.
In 2017 we was able to view my first Eclipse as the line of totality was just south of St. Louis so a short drive for us.
I plan on driving to southern Illinois for this year's Eclipse.
Here's some pics I took of the 2017 Eclipse from Meramec State Park in MO.
My old Canon T3i, EF 100-400 and solar filter. Totality was super cool and eerie, even the birds went quiet. At the far left is the star Regulus. Just past totality, I was able to capture some surface solar flares.
Awesome. Thank you for sharing. Did you leave the filter on during totality? From what I've been reading, some do and some don't.
Thanks, Jerry
Awesome. Thank you for sharing. Did you leave the filter on during totality? From what I've been reading, some do and some don't.
Thanks, Jerry
Jerry, to be honest, I don't remember as it's been a few years. I believe that I left the solar filter on for the whole event.
I'll be digging out the solar filter, eclipse glasses etc from '17 and start practicing with them. Hopefully I made some notes. Charles
I went to a location about 3 miles from my home to do some test shots of the sun. I am 90% sure this is where I will be on eclipse day. The first 2 pics are of my location the second 2 are my test shots. The new section of an old cemetery overlooking a golf course near home. Wide open sky in the azimuth range of the April eclipse. This is a very quiet place and a great place to walk and think.
SUN IMAGES ARE SHOT WITH AN APPROVED
SOLAR FILTER
Canon R6, 100-500mm f4.5-7.1
Shot at 1/640, f7.1, iso160 on a standard tripod.
Bottom image is heavy crop of top image.
The sun spots are a pleasant surprise I didn't expect to see anything that detailed this early in my journey.
I will be trying different settings to try and clean things up a bit. I have some bugs to work out with my motorized mount but those tests will be coming soon.
MY thanks to Nitro for being willing to listen when I had a problem with the rear display on my camera.
Thanks for reading, Jerry
Very nice Jerry! Here is a collage I put together of the Solar Eclipse a few years back using the Sun Filter. From where I was we did not get full coverage
Very nice Jerry! Here is a collage I put together of the Solar Eclipse a few years back using the Sun Filter. From where I was we did not get full coverage
I saw this image in one of our previous contests and think it is very well done. I hope to have images this clean so I can do something similar.
Taken on 6/5/2023. No filter other than a natural ash fallout.
Amidst the devastating fires that ravaged Canada, their far-reaching impact was evident in south central Pennsylvania, where ash fallout has led to an unusual occurrence: sunspots visible to the naked eye.
In the wake of this extraordinary event, I managed to capture some captivating photos of these sunspots using my camera, without the aid of any special filters. The images clearly depict the striking features of the sunspots, adding a rare and mesmerizing sight to the ongoing environmental situation.
As described by the National Weather Service, sunspots are areas where the magnetic field is about 2,500 times stronger than Earth's, much higher than anywhere else on the Sun. Because of the strong magnetic field, the magnetic pressure increases while the surrounding atmospheric pressure decreases. This in turn lowers the temperature relative to its surroundings because the concentrated magnetic field inhibits the flow of hot, new gas from the Sun's interior to the surface.
Note: I am not recommending taking photos of the upcoming eclipse without a filter.
Today's effort. Very windy and cold. Had to put the image stabilizer on to mitigate the wind but it only helped a little.
I was trying out my equatorial mount to see if the tracking would improve the image over my tripod, I can't tell any difference.
1/800, f11, iso800
I also tried 3 HDR images at different settings, all garbage.
Please feel free to post your sun or eclipse images on this thread.
I'll watch the cloud forecast for Monday tomorrow. If decent, think I'll be trying Carbondale, IL or Jackson, MO.
I found my old solar filter from 2017 and shot some practice pics this afternoon. Looks like some small sunspots going on.
Running more trials today. I have the start settings figured out but my location is far from locked in. Erie. PA weather is calling for rain in the morning but clearing after noon. I might have to head West to get away from the clouds.
With 2 hours to go the clouds weren't going away so I got on my horse and headed west. After an hour drive things started looking better so I stopped at a friend's office building and set up. I have never seen anything so impressive even through the high thin clouds. I'll have more pics later but here are a few to start.
It turned out my area was as good as where I stopped but you can't take chances with a once in a lifetime event.
02-02-2024, 06:27 PM
My journey toward 4/8/24
