How to photograph a Solar Eclipse - my guide including gear, settings and locations! Solar Eclipse filters: bhpho.to/495Jq8Y Buy used gear from MPB at: prf.hn/l/YLqwRAP Buy Gordon a coffee: www.paypal.me/cameralabs Gordon's In Camera book: amzn.to/2n61PfI / Amazon uk: amzn.to/2mBqRVZ Cameralabs merchandise: redbubble.com/people/cameralabs/shop Gordon’s retro gear channel: ruclips.net/user/dinobytes My more detailed guide: www.cameralabs.com/solar-eclipse-photography/ April 2024 Eclipse info: science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/ April 2024 Eclipse map: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5123/ NASA Visualisation credits: Michala Garrison, Ernie Wright, Ian Jones, Laurence Schuler Future Solar Eclipse info: www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list.html and science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/ Thanks to Eric Cheng for his 2017 Eclipse timelapse: echengphoto.com/ Equipment used for producing my videos Panasonic Lumix S5 II: amzn.to/3Hf5IcI Sony A6400: prf.hn/l/pRO0wp5 Sony e 24mm f1.8: amzn.to/2TqWNzk Rode NT USB mic: amzn.to/3AdHcUp Rode Wireless Go II mic: amzn.to/3xkCvGo Rode Lavalier Go mic: amzn.to/3ygzzKY Godox UL150 light: amzn.to/2VpVbXE Godox QR-P70 softbox: amzn.to/3yQfGdF MacBook Pro 14in (16GB / 1TB): amzn.to/3PrKbPV 00:00 - Solar Eclipse introduction 01:44 - Finding the next Solar Eclipse 02:34 - The Eclipse Path 04:24 - Choosing the best location for an Eclipse 06:22 - Europe 1999 Eclipse - what I learned 08:03 - Zambia 2001 Eclipse - what I learned 08:25 - USA 2017 Eclipse - what I learned 09:45 - USA 2024 Eclipse - preparations and plans 10:36 - Solar Eclipse Photography 11:16 - Filters for Solar Eclipse photography 12:32 - Coloring partial phases in Photoshop 12:51 - Which lens for Solar Eclipse photography? 17:25 - Which camera for Solar Eclipse photography? 18:16 - Which tripod and head for Solar Eclipse photography? 19:30 - Best exposure settings for Solar Eclipse photography 20:11 - Recommended exposure for Partial Solar Eclipse 21:26 - Recommended exposure for Total Solar Eclipse 22:51 - Best exposures for Totality using long telephoto lens Music: www.davidcuttermusic.com / @dcuttermusic As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
I witnessed the 2017 eclipse and it was amazing. I was surprised at how my friends who were in 99% totality didn't really see much of a change but I was in 100% and saw the whole show of the sun being blocked, things getting dark, bugs making noise, and the most amazing vibrant white light passing around the edge of the moon.
If I knew of anyone at the edge of the path, I'd have to drag them inside it! As I mentioned, if you haven't seen 100%, you've missed the Grand Finale! Glad you caught it and hope you catch another soon.
The 2017 eclipse was the first for me and my wife. We stayed in LaGrande, OR, and traveled to just outside Unity State Park for the eclipse. I used the Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount to track the sun and set my camera to take photos every 5 min. I almost missed getting images at totality, because I used a screw-in solar filter. Never going to do that again! For this year's eclipse, we're traveling to Forney, TX to view the eclipse with our grandkids. This time, I'm using the Baader ASTF 80 filter (it's more obvious when on the camera), and the new Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi. I've mastered daytime alignment with that mount. During practice, I had it tracking with the sun dead-on for over an hour. And I now have the Smallrig Follow focus F60 to help focus with minimal vibration. Now, all I need are clear skies on April 8th.
PLEASE READ ............... It cannot be mentioned too often, NEVER look at the Sun through anything that magnifies without proper filtration, IT WILL DESTROY YOUR EYE !!!!! When I was a kid I had a cheap 3" refractor that came with a Sun filter that screwed into the back of the eyepiece, it worked well, I then bought a 4" refractor and tried using the same filter. it worked for about a minute and then the extra power of the telescope cracked the filter, luckily I heard it crack and had the sense to get out of the way in time. If you think I'm being dramatic think back to when you were a kid and found out that you could set things on fire just by using a small plastic magnifying glass.
The filter should ALWAYS go on the very front of the instrument, not midway or on an eyepiece. In your scenario, the scope would have concentrated the full power of the Sun onto the filter, you're lucky it didn't end up worse!
@@cameralabs The filter was designed to screw into the back of the lens, I was using it as the designer intended, my mistake was putting it on the more powerful telescope. I agree the best filtration should be before the magnification rather than after and yes I know I was very fortunate to have not been blinded, that is why I shared the story.
@@nigelwest3430 you were definitely using it as the designer intended, but I'd say that's bad design on the part of the manufacturer. It's not the safest way to filter the sun. Glad you're ok! If it's any consolation, I momentarily forgot to redeploy the filter after my first eclipse and it burned through an eyepiece cap!
I came back to say a huge thank you for this fantastic video. I was able to use it as a guide to get some beautiful images from Texas today. It was a life changing experience that I was able to share with my loved ones. I’ll remember it until my last day.
Thanks so much for coming back to comment! It was amazing wasn't it? My fourth and I still cried! I used my settings again and they worked well for my setup, see my Instagram if you're interested! Glad I was able to help. Now for Spain 2026!
Great video. I photographed the 2017 eclipse from Wyoming. It was an amazing experience. I automated various exposure times during totality using a sequence in BackyardEOS which worked great. My biggest mistake though was having it do the range of exposures only once while there was time to do more. Still very happy with what I got. It was an amazing experience to say the least. I could go on and on about it. :)
I like the idea of a programmed exposure ramp, but I'm not sure I'd fully trust it for such a rare view! I'll have one camera on an interval meter for a partial timelapse, but the main one will be manual!
@cameralabs I absolutely agree! I was ready to disconnect the camera and go manual if needed. I did a lot of testing ahead of time which I would highly recommend anyone do especially if planning programmed exposures. I lean toward doing the same this year. Even though that worked well for me I haven't ruled out manually doing the exposures just because there is a little less to go wrong. Best of luck to you!
I'm flying to Houston from Germany on the 4th, four days before the eclipse. My plan is to monitor the weather forecast and travel wherever it takes during the night preceding the event. I did a similar thing back in 2017 (stayed in a small town in Wyoming about 150 miles from the totality path) and it worked 100%.
I live in Houston and planning on driving to Dallas the day before and the day of..hotels are extremely expensive and weather this time of year is unpredictable…
I highly recommend the city of Killeen or Copperas Cove as we are direct line of totality and have tons of open areas awell as local high school clubs putting on events for us photographers to get out there and photograph and watch the Eclipse
Stopped back in to say thank you Gordon for this video! I was in Missouri and we got a great view, and great pictures. Glad it worked out for you, too.
Coming back to thank you for this video! I, too, was able to capture epic photos in April '24 by following the guidance you shared in this video. Very much appreciated!
@@cameralabs Cool, I was in Dallas, Texas, facilitating the experience for a school of children and their parents. I'm a Science Teacher, living in Colorado. It was cloudy all day, right up until totality-when the skies suddenly cleared! A tremendous experience.
@@bjmhmd great to hear you saw it, and bonus points for being able to share it with a group! I'm so involved with taking my photos it feels like a mission from first contact! But even though this was my fourth, it remains a fantastic experience every time!
For 2017 we chose Wyoming. The path of totality ran very close to a main highway for most of the way across the state. The morning of we chose a spot just north of Riverton. It was quite a party at that road intersection. I photographed the partial phases but didn't waste any time on the camera during totality. I just wanted to be in the moment. It was euphoric. This time I'm going to try photographing totality. Which is why I'm here.
Thanks for the advice. Photographed the annular eclipse in Rockport Texas in 2023 with good results and plan to try the total eclipse at Fredericksburg Texas in April! Good year for Texas eclipses! I'll try to put your thoughts into practice.
This is awesome, I’ll definitely bookmark this video for later. I appreciate the images of totality you provided with different shutter speeds and ISOs, that will be very helpful. I live in the USA and I’m planning to travel & photograph totality. I’m on a budget, so I’ll have to roll with my old Sony NEX-C3 and probably a more inexpensive telephoto lens. I’ve already purchased a Thousand Oaks solar filter in the form of a polymer sheet, and that filter has worked perfectly so far. Thanks again for this info, awesome video you’ve made.
@@cameralabs My NEX is an E-mount, which from my research seems to be a well supported lens attachment. The 70-350 you mentioned would probably fit but I'm looking more in the 500-700 range, just for better picture quality of the solar disk. I haven't bought a telephoto yet but I'll have to look for one on the cheaper end, ha!
Awesome, informative video. I’m an astrophotographer taking my shot at this eclipse and going to a suburb of Niagara Falls to shoot. Using a telescope with an astro-modified Nikon D5500 to capture the partial and total phases, and practicing in the meanwhile on the Sun from my yard. Thanks for the great information and good luck on shooting the eclipse! May you have clear skies.
I've already booked my room for Arkansas, so I appreciate this video very much. I was hoping my 300mm would be enough but looks like I need to rent something. Thanks!
Depends what the 300 is mounted on! If it's smaller than full-frame and the body is high res, then you may be fine. Sure, a 500-700 equivalent would be even better, but you'll still get a good shot.
I live in Arkansas will be shooting from my driveway. I will be using a 55-300mm zoom lens too. I fumble when changing shutter speeds and iso because of a stroke I had in 2009 and may have to just leave everything set at the beginning. I will practice, practice, practice and hope for the best. Good luck and lets hope for clear skies. Last year at that time it was raining.
Thanks! Hopefully N.E. Weather cooperates. Your video mentioned static shutter speed and manipulate iso during totality. I’ll have my iOptron tracker, would you recommend static iso and manipulation of shutter speed?
Thankyou very much for the tip! If you're tracking the Sun, then yes, I would keep the ISO fixed at a nice low value and just keep reducing the shutter speed one stop at a time. By the time you reach, say, half a second at 100 ISO and f8, you should have a big corona shot. I would however test this setup on the Sun with a filter or the Moon before the event and check for sharpness at the slower shutter speeds as there are a lot of other variables including your polar alignment in daytime as well as how you physically trigger the shot. Then you will know what's the slowest shutter you can get away with using your setup. Good luck and maybe see you in the NE!
Thank you for the wonderful insights and tips for this upcoming event. I've actually been practicing capturing images of the sun on here and there days leading up to April with a Thousand Oaks solar filter on my tripod...and being able to quickly take it off! I loved the insights on camera settings and plan on using that! Thanks again!
Gordon, been watching your RUclips channel for years. Great video. One part of the video I glossed over and shouldn't have was the location. The forecast for Niagara Falls and the surrounding region was rain and clouds for eclipse day. I drove one hour drive in another direction from where we were staying to clear sunny skies. With a Superzoom camera I picked up for a song several weeks earlier, I got some great video footage of Totality. Thanks.
You're very welcome! Do you know if they saw it in Niagra in the end? I know they were expecting a LOT of people and the conditions can change rapidly.
@@cameralabs From news reports I watched on 📺, it was cloudy and the eclipse broke through for a few seconds and quickly clouded up again. A bust for most people that chose to view it in Niagara.
Thank you, Mr. Gordon Laing. As is so often the case with me, I could have prepared better, but I was prepared enough. I got the shot! Got some nice photos of totality through wispy clouds. I had an interesting exchange shortly after the eclipse. A lady with a Nikon Z6 and I compared her pictures and the ones I got with my R7. I got some nice shots of the corona; she didn't capture that, but she caught some flares around the edge. It's the first time I've compared pictures with another photographer like that, looking at each other's cameras just after the event, and it was almost as fun as the eclipse. Totality lasted 3.5 minutes where I was, so I had time to just gawk between photos. It was one of the most weirdly beautiful things I've ever seen.
I witnessed the 2017 eclipse in Nebraska, and it was amazing. I already have my plans to be in upstate New York right in the center of totality. Maybe we will see you there.
Went to France for the 1999 Eclipse and got stuck in a town with French TV when a huge black cloud came over and stopped above us during totality! I "experienced" the Eclipse but didn't see it! On Saturday the 4th we are flying to Houston and staying just south of Fort Worth and depending on traffic, driving down to Hillsboro some 40mins away. ........I just hope the forecasted thunderstorms dissipate! Using a Z8 with 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 with 1.4x teleconverter on a geared K+F mount and a Z6 with 14-30mm F4 for interval shooting including the landscape and using a 16.6 stop solar filter from K&F with both! My thoughts on settings were just as you suggested! Now...........fingers crossed!!!!! And if it's cloudy or rained off, then it's hopefully Spain in 2026!!!!!
I watched the 2017 eclipse from just north of Madras, OR, right on the center line of totality. What an experience! I was riding my motorcycle so I didn't have any bulky camera gear and used my iPhone. The photos I got were okay for the ambiance of the event. I was on high ground and could see far enough south to see past the edge of the moon's shadow while I was in the midst of totality. It was a fascinating perspective and I highly recommend seeking out higher ground. For this year's event I'm flying into Dallas, TX and renting a car to head towards the clearest predicted skies. Weather permitting I'll head for the Texas hill country northwest of Austin. I'll be using my Nikon D750 and a 200-500 mm zoom.
Hi Gordon, this is my first eclipse but I do have a photo background. As I practice with full sun with my tracking and exposures I'm finding that I have to hit a high ISO like 3200 and shutter speeds like a 30th at f11 rather than the native 100 or 200 for my Fuji XT3 in order to get even an underexposed photo of the sun on a clear day. I keep seeing experienced eclipse shooters talking about ISO 100 and 1/250th of a second at f8. I'm using the Thousand Oaks film but unless there are various densities of it, do you have any idea why I'm having to use the exposures I'm describing? I do have a Fuji 2X on my 400, so f11 is as wide open as it gets.Thanks very much. .
That does sound quite different to the experience I've had with my filters. Maybe yours is extra dense? I'd suggest contacting the manufacturer to see if it's performing as expected. Even at f11, I'd expect to shoot the Sun at a low ISO and reasonable shutter.
Thanks for the tips, am flying to Indianapolis from NYC for a few hours then back home again. No traffic, no hotel, just have to wander out to the airport parking lot and set up for shots. Stills and video will be the order of the day. Just after totality this time, got plenty of partial shots 5 yrs ago. I'll let you know how it went!
Thanks so much for this. I had got my gear at B&H Photo (in New York) - a 400 mm telephoto lens for my EOS 70D and a solar filter for it. I then went into Sun study mode. I took numeous shots on sunny days, with all sorts of ISO, fstop and time settings, recorded my results and was led to the same conclusion you had. It was great to see I'm on the right track. I'm also using my tablet with the Canon app on it to control the settings and shooting in real time so I don't need to fiddle with that part of the camera. Unfortunately, spending the additional $$ for gear tripod was beyond what I was willing to spend (the lens and filter were enough!) so I will be using my (sigh) ball head tripod. Fortunately, the Canon has a live shoot LCD display which lets me manually adjust the camera position to stay focused on the Sun. Thanks again for this informative video!
@@cameralabs Yes, that has been the challenge. I've spent the last couple of weeks with each sunny day (and several clear nights with the moon), practicing keeping the sun in focus area of the live view window. I've learned to keep the knob and handle slightly tightened - enough to keep camera in place, but not so tight as to cause jerky motions as I reposition. Maybe someday I'll move up to a tracking telescope that lets me attach my camera... that'll be another year's birthday gift.😄
Thank you for all the information! I appreciate it so much! Question: Do you know if a solar eclipse filter was used to record this scene? 1:38 Thanks in advance!
That sequence was filmed by a friend with a wide lens on a mirrorless camera. You shouldn't need a filter for a wide lens, but equally you won't see the phases of the partials if you don't.
Thanks Gordan! I will be attempting to shoot totality from Hueston Woods, OH in April 2024. I am going to be using Celestron 127EQ and mount my Sony a6400 to it. This will be my first total solar eclipse and I decided to go full send with the gears I had.
I have watched every video I could find on the Solar Eclipse and yours is the most informative. My question is this. I will be using a Pentax K-70 with a 55-300mm zoom lens with filter; and a Pentax K-30 with a 50-200mm zoom with no filter; both on tripods, both with cable release. Because of a stroke I had in 2009 I am slow about changing ISOs and shutter speeds. If I am unable to change ISOs and shutter speeds fast enough what would you recommend for camera settings through out the whole thing? I will also be shooting form a power wheelchair.
As I think you've already figured out, you'll be using your camera with the filter for the partial phases, and the good news is you can use the same exposure for ALL of these. But I don't know how strong your filter is, so you will need to experiment by taking some photos of the full Sun at an earlier date. I suggest starting with 100 ISO (or the lowest base ISO), a shutter speed of 1/500 and an aperture of f8. Then adjust the shutter speed until you're happy with the brightness - take a note of this and use it on the eclipse day. Note you may still need to adjust this a little on the day, but you will be close. Also shoot in RAW+JPEG so you have some latitude for making adjustments afterwards. Meanwhile your camera without the filter should be for totality only. I suggest using a shutter of 1/60, aperture of f8 and ISO 800, but if you can manage to adjust the ISO during totality even for one more shot, try it at 100 or 200 for a different looking shot. Good luck!
You could "hire" an assistant photographer for the day to change the settings for you. I you pass your knowledge of photography to an aspiring photographer, and get the shot you want.
@cameralabs 1 quick question. If I wanted to do a wide angle timelapse as a 2nd setup, would that still need a solar filter? And if so, have I been damaging our gear all this time doing landscapes with the sun in the frame? Or is it just the magnification from the longer telephoto lenses that’s the problem?
If the Sun is small on the frame then it's fine to point directly at it - we all do it all the time, especially with small apertures for the starburst effect. So I'd say 35mm or wider, you'll be fine without a filter, especially if its 24 or wider.
Thanks for this video! For that clip at 1:35 mark is that a video or timelapse? What tips can you anyone give me to capture a clip like that with the R5??
@@cameralabs thank you thank you for the reply!! I was getting desperate. I guess I need to limit the upper range of the ISO so the camera don’t try to crank up the exposure during totality?
Thanks, Gordon. Good video. For those living in populated areas, this is a great time to get away from the light pollution and venture into a lower Bartel location. A total eclipse of the Sun means there is a new Moon. Why not take advantage of the early morning hours when there will be no Moonlight to obscure the dimest stars and shoot some wide angle pics of the Milky Way? Happy shooting and God bless. 🙏🌌🌚
Immensely helpful video. I’m lucky enough to live in the path of totality in Texas and will be photographing from my back yard (weather pending). This will be my first. I can’t wait!
I couldn't properly photograph the annular eclipse we had here in the USA last October, because I didn't have any solar filters, but I still "photographed" it as a practice run. Set all the gear up. Had a printed timeline and a shot list. Sort of got a "feel" for the process. Between that practice and your video, I think I have a good chance at getting some photos of the upcoming April eclipse. Thanks for the information!
@@cameralabs Pretty good location. I have an old relative in central Texas right in the path of totality. There's a good chance it'll be sunny there, and I'll have the whole yard all to myself. Oddly enough, I lived in that house years ago, and it's where I first got serious about photography. That yard was my first "studio", so to speak.
In 2017 I used a T4i with a Canon 70-300 is USM and a Sony A3000 with a Canon 55-250mm. Both hand held, no tripod and it worked well. I don't remember if the T4i was able to auto focus with the solar filter on, but I don't think it did. The Sony A3000 will not autofocus at all with adapted lenses. I do wish I had a longer lens, but both camera's and lenses got the job done. The 70-300 was longer, but the 55-250 is so much sharper is actually looks better after cropping than the images out of the 70-300..... This time I intend to use a barndoor tracker on tripod to get a time lapse of the whole event.
This was awesome. Such great tips and great advice with the settings. I will definitely be trying some out before the upcoming eclipse in April. I thought of using using my camera's intervalometer to capture images for a Timelapse as well as for a composite later on and I'm wondering if you can recommend an interval between shots leading up to totality. I was thinking perhaps every 15 seconds and then when the eclipse is in totality, switch to every second, and then back to 15 seconds once the sun leaves totality. Does that sound reasonable or would you recommend shorter or longer intervals. Thanks again for sharing such detailed information.
You're welcome! As for a timelapse, it really depends how long you want it to last. Depending on your location this April, the time between the very start and end is about 2.5hrs, or 150mins. If you shoot every 15s, then that'll give you 600 shots,, which at 30fps video would compress it down to 20 seconds from start to finish, although you may want to slow down the totality bit in the middle like Eric did in his example in my video. That would look good. If you want a longer video, shoot at shorter intervals etc
I did a 500 mile round trip to see the 1999 eclipse in Torquay, as mentioned it was cloudy 😭 however the cloud cover was thin and you could see the disc of the sun quite clearly, we saw the moon moving over almost up to the point of totality when there was obviously not enough light to see through the clouds, it was still a great experience though.
2017 was my first. Not being entirely satisfied with a 2-9x ND filter at 9x, Tokina 80-200 f2.8, and Canon Rebel T3, I upgraded to a Canon 400 f5.6 and 16.6x solar filter, and a Canon 60D (bought for another purpose but works just fine here too). As I type this it's 4/8/24 and I'm in a hotel in "the zone" with the "main event" just hours away. I have the 60D with the T3 standing by in reserve. SAFETY NOTE: most solar filters (mine included) do NOT allow direct solar viewing. If using a D-SLR you MUST use Live View during the partial stages.
Can you explain why solar filters are necessary for the camera? Is it for protection, or is it for avoiding overexposure? If it’s for the latter, is shooting at f/22 and 1/8000 still not good enough for the diamond ring shot?
I witnessed the 2017 eclipse in Oregon near Medford. It was a bit off the path but I had a friend there, i.e. a place to stay. I left for home when the eclipse just started to wane and beat the steel avalanche that followed me. I heard of folks that were sitting in their cars for hours without any kind of movement.
Oregon for the 2017 win! I loved it there, but had to wait to capture the end of the eclipse for my photo sequence, and hence got caught in the traffic. Actually the roads weren't too bad for me, it was more the lack of accommodation until I was two states away!
Thanks for the great guide and definitely plan to practice some of these tactics ahead of time. Apologies if I missed it, but do you use manual focus when shooting the eclipse or rely on auto? I've tried using manual in shooting just normal day sun photos and I never seem to find a focus.
It depends on the camera and filter. Traditionally you'd manually focus but last time I tried AF and it worked fine. Again experiment with your setup beforehand
Awesome info, thanks. If I set up a second camera for wide angle shots, say 15-24mm do I still use filter? And you said put it on auto. Would auto iso but fix f/8 and say 1/125 then let auto iso fix exposers?
I'd say if you're at 35 or wider you won't need a filter BUT you may not see the actual moon crossing the Sun. It'll be like the timelapse I show in this video. As for exposure, 125 and f8 will need quite a high iso during totality and may not be dark enough even during the day. Have you tried a shot at 125 f8 of the sun normally?
Hello Gordon, thank you very much for the bracketing tips at the end! I've never played with the electronic shutter on my Z7. Would I have any issues shooting the eclipse with electronic shutter at the 1/500-1/60 speeds you recommend? Thinking about using electronic shutter to eliminate any chance for camera induced vibration.
The e shutter is a good idea for eliminating vibration BUT it will have a slightly lower dynamic range on the RAW files, so if you wnat the max DR for post processing, I'd go EFC.
I’m down in the DC/Baltimore area, and was thinking about going up towards the same area and also trying to find some of the waterfalls in that area of NY during the trip. But think I’ll flex pending on how the weather forecasts look once we get closer to the date.
So I have a Sony a7IV. The longest lens I own is 200mm full frame 33mp, but the camera can be switched into APSC, but only at 13mp. Would you suggest I use higher pixels of full frame or the extra distance of APSC?
It literally makes no difference to quality but shooting in full frame will give you longer before you need to reframe as the Sun moves past. Then crop afterwards
Yes getting a proper polar alignment is challenging during the day but keep in mind you're not trying to make >1 minute exposures. Even a ballpark polar alignment will keep motion blur at bay for exposures under a minute.
Thanks for the guide! I have a 70-300 lens (on a fuji crop sensor). Would getting a 1.4 teleconverter make any meaningul difference? Maximum aperture would be f/8 but I think that's perfectly fine for the sun. I did test shots with the moon and it feels a little wide at 300mm.
If you look at my thumbnail you'll see the black circle, that's the moon, so the corona can extend 2-3x moon diameter. A 1.4x would still improve things, but 300 on crop sensor isn't bad
If you dont focus on the sun but instead on a foreground object for a wideangle landscape view of the eclipse would you still need a filter, sense it is not focued on the actual eclipse itself?
It doesn't matter where it's focused in terms of a filter BUT if you use a wide lens for a landscape view, you won't need a filter - but you also won't capture the phases before and after totality, it'll just be a bright white dot.
Is the solar filter placed over a lens hood or directly on the lens. Thanks for the vid. I live just inside the path but might travel a bit to get a little longer viewing time.
I have a gopro 12, what setting do you recommend setting it to automatic? Should I put some filter and sunscreen on it? Could you help me with that please I want to leave it in timelapse mode thank you very much
The GoPro is so wide you won't need a filter on it. Just leave it on auto. You won't see the phases, it'll just suddenly go dim during totality. I'm actually using one too for a wide view showing the sky. Try to predict where it will be in the frame during totality, and make sure it's where you want it for your composition!
I use a Fujifilm XT5 and I’m renting a 150-600 mm f5.6-8. The camera does use a crop sensor. Do you think that would be a good fit for the April eclipse?
This is great information, thank you for posting it. I'm going to try to photograph my first total solar eclipse in April from Niagara Falls. My plan is to use my Canon 5d on an intervoltameter on a wide shot to capture a timelapse of the whole thing, and then I'm renting an R5 with both a 24-70 and 100-500mm lenses. I have a couple of questions that maybe you could answer. First, for the wide shots, will I need to change the exposure at totality? I'm less worried about the timelapse as I am about having photos I can use to create a composite of the eclipse at different phases over the falls. The second question I have is about using the 100-500. My plan was to use this hand-held. Should I plan on bringing a second tripod with me so I have one for each camera? I hadn't been planning on doing an HDR image of totality, but after watching this video I think I might want to. I'm sure I could auto-align the layers in photoshop and do the HDR manually even if I'm handheld, but maybe it would be better to have a second tripod with me.
You'll definitely want a tripod for the 100-500, especially as the shutters get quite slow during totality. For the wide, you can use auto without a filter, but you won't see much of the partial shape.
I followed all the tips here, using a Canon M6 and 100-400mm Sigma lens. I used RAW but I'm seeing some strange posterization (I think) near the outer edges where the bright wispy lights and black sky interact (even without any edits being applied in Lightroom). I hope all my shots weren't a waste, and that this is just an issue with my monitor or Lightroom. I don't think the M6 uses compressed RAW (there's only one RAW setting) but I could be wrong. Any thoughts on this (Gordon or others)?
It's an extremely challenging subject for this, but if you shot RAW then you should have all the info. So the posterising nay be on your software, screen, many other stages
Very cool. I'll be in Texas for this one in April. Going to try to do my first eclipse with my Canon M50 mkII. Looking for a decent filter right now and that's what lead me to your great video
💥Hey Gordon. This was a tremendous amount of info and I can’t thank you enough as I’m doing my best to soak all of this into my head. In its simplest form can you kindly tell me at what precise moment do I take my filter off going into totality and switching settings preparing to capture the diamond ring and Bailey’s beads. It’s my first time and I’m taking my two daughters and I don’t want to botch this up.?? Someone told me that 20 seconds before totality to take off my filter and start shooting away, but if so, at what settings.? 🤘🏼🤘🏼
And also, I am following you with what you say about going from 1000 down to 1/60 then raising up the ISO one stop at a time during totality but what stop ND filter is all that for? I’m using the Thousand Oaks, optical, black, polymer, solar film. It says transmission 1/1000 of 1% and I am under the impression that it is a 16 stop reduction.
@@cameralabsok, bags are packed and I’m headed to Burlington VT and I hope I made the right choice based on weather. LAST question, if I may. Can you suggest a Kelvin setting number shooting through the solar film.?? I don’t want to choose auto like I do 99% of the time shooting night shots in NYC
I have two Sony SLRs: a77 and a99 but I can only bring one camera with me for taking pics of eclipse. Should I take the crop sensor one (a77) as you said it would make image larger? Thanks! Also, what is better combo 70-300 mm with 1.4 converter or 70-200 with 2x ? BTW great video - subscribed!
Wow, awesome amount of information in this video. I think I'm all prepared and finally bought myself a geared head (its been on my list for awhile) now that I have a really good reason to splurge.
I ended up getting the K&F Concepts gear head. They also have sale for an extra 15% OFF. I'm Not affiliated with them but they have good reviews for a budget option
I have a 70-200mm, and when I crop my solar images to a good size they're only about 4 megapixels or less. Obviously I can't do much with that, so I won't be cropping them down that far, but do you think it will work to create a useable composite image? I'm a full-time college student and I can't afford to dive into getting a bigger lens. I also don't want to take that chance and have it be cloudy.
You mean like my example in the video showing multiple phases? Yes, it'll be fine since you'll be creating a much higher resolution comp with all those cropped images
For the 2017 and 2019 total solar eclipses I photographed them using a Lumix FZ-330 bridge camera with the zoom set to an effective focal length of 600mm. The shutter was controlled using an Android tablet and the camera was set take 7 auto-exposure bracketed images at one stop intervals. These were saved as jpg and raw files. On examination of the images, I was a bit disappointed with the noise so I will be using the Fujifilm X-S20 for the 2024 eclipse. The Fujifilm 70-300mm lens coupled with the 1.4X matching teleconverter will be used to give an effective focal length of 630mm. A remotely controlled intervalometer will be used to control the shutter and it the camera will be set to take 9 auto-exposure bracketed images and will probably reduce the exposure interval to 2/3 of a stop. As the camera can store custom settings, one will be set for the partial phases and another will be set for totality to allow the settings to be changed very quickly. The camera will be mounted on a Sky Watcher AZ-GTI mount that has been converted to become an equatorial mount and it will be controlled by my phone. I would recommend ensuring that the order of auto-exposure bracket should be set to underexposed followed by the set exposure followed by the overexposed images. This will make it easier to find the exposure sequences when sorting through hundreds of images. On starting at the first image in a sequence, it starts off dark and gradually gets brighter and it gets dark at the start of the next sequence. It can look quite spectacular quickly when going through a sequence using software that puts one image on top of another because it almost looks like a short movie. I should be just west of Waco at an equestrian centre.
That all sounds like a very organised and excellent plan! I'd love to program my exposures, but I just don't 100% trust the connection - and of course there's not time to fix or reconnect during totality. I think I'd feel ok for the less important partial phases, but once the filter's off during totality, I go into manual operation! Best of luck with the different camera!
The upcoming April 8th, 2024 eclipse will be my first solar eclipse. I'm very excited. I haven't chosen a location yet, but somewhere near Buffalo, NY. My current gear that I am bringing: Nikon D850 Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 OBEN tripod w/ ball head GoPro hero 10 with hot shoe mount Solar sunglasses I'm also going to pick up a solar lens filter for the 200-500 and I'm considering a teleconverter. Any recommendations for which teleconvter? I'm leaning 2.0 over 1.7
Have a look at the video where I talk about lenses and you'll get an idea of ideal focal lengths. For the corona, it may be less than you think. 2x 500 would be a bit tight.
@cameralabs I ended up in Fulton, NY (just north of Syracuse). Heavy cloud coverage. Managed to get 2 good shots leading up to totality, but 10 minutes before totality we had 100% cloud cover and didn't see anything for the rest of the day. While I didn't see totality, I did experience it. It was worth the 270 Mile drive. :P How did you fare?
Don't think I am ready to purchase a star tracker, and don't think I would be competent in setting it up. You mentioned a geared head. Do you think this is significantly easier to use than a gimbal or 2-way friction head for a solar eclipse? I had a go with the annular eclipse last year and found myself losing track of the whole thing several times. Had to zoom out and start training the lens all over again. Several times.
I think you've answered your question! As you've experienced, with long lenses, it's very easy to lose the subject and waste time finding it again - time you don't have during totality. That's why I try to avoid anything with loose, large or unrestricted movements. A fluid video head / 2 way may be workable if you practice and are really careful,m but with a geared head, you know it's not going anywhere unless you tun those knobs. And you'll also find it's, say, half a rotation this way and half a rotation that way every few seconds to keep the subject centred - remember it is a moving target. I found it much easier and more predictable.
Fantastic video! I am in the path of totality in the Cleveland, Ohio area, 2024 (now, the weather needs to cooperate). I have a Panasonic FZ1000, Bridge camera with 1 inch sensor, and the f stop range is 2.8 to f8. I have heard the "sweet" spot for this camera is like 5.6 or 7.1. Do you still recommend f8 for my camera? I guess I am more interested in capturing totality and not so much the partial phases. Best review I have seen for this kind of event.
Good question, and yes, on a smaller sensor camera you'd want a larger aperture (smaller f number). I reckon f5.6 would be fine and not involve much difference to the shutter speeds
Thanks for all the great info...trying this for the first time, not confident but going to give it a shot. Totality path on April 8th/2024 is passing right over my location in Eastern Canada. 😎📷
I'm heading to Texas from Anglesey ! I'll have my Canon R5 and R6 with RF 200-800 on Benro Polaris tracker for close-up and RF 15-35 for a wide angle timelapse. Thanks for the advice, let's hope the weather cooperates 🙂
On a whim i tried just stacking a bunch of sunglasses in front of the lens. Got the exposure close enough but the glare and low contrast was very unflattering. I quickly learned it'd be a lot harder to reach my expectations than I imagined.
Hi Gordon...great video. This will be my first attempt to photograph an eclipse. I have a Canon full frame 400mm Prime f/5.6 lens and was hoping this might be adequte but if understood your tutorial correctly I might need to rent one with a longer focal length, your thoughts?
Did you watch the whole video? I used the same 400mm f5.6 prime for 2 out of 3 of the eclipses I've shot! It's a great choice, at least on a cropped APSC body. On full-frame it'll be a little short, but maybe ok with a 1.4x TC.
Thank you for your reply…I thought o watched the entire video but I must have missed that it was a 44mm prime lens. I will get a 1.4 ext before ‘eclipse day’.
@@dannissley4633 no problem! I really liked the EF 400 5.6 for eclipses, but again on full-frame, you'll benefit from a 1.4x. Don't use a 2x though as it'll be a bit cropped for big corona shots.
I'm heading to my mom's house on that day. She lives just north east of Conway, AR and will be smack dab in the middle of the Total Eclipse. I just bought an ND10000000 filter and I hope to be shooting on my Sony A7RV with a Sony 200-600mm.
We saw the 2017 eclipse from a rooftop in downtown Nashville, and it was amazing. Of course the thin cloud that qppeared right at the moment of totality was a slight bummer 😂
Trying Jupiter Saturn with rf 800 f11 hard is an understatement but seeing Saturn on its side after major crop amazing !!.location direction and of planets and times all interesting.i would put it close to wildlife for difficulty or more.not sure international but this time and date web page is brill tells u all u need to know from location here Saturn in sept optimal lucky here in cairns got a cloud break for eclipse so had a cloud ring framing the eclipse
The comment about 50th sec for long focal lengths is interesting. I was assuming the 500 rule would apply. For a 600mm lens, that would give a maximum exposure time for a sharp image of almost 1 sec. Personally, for star shots with a high resolution camera, I find the 500 rule a little too forgiving. NPF would be more like .5 sec. Do you think the eclipse needs a shorter exposure for sharp images, or do you always go much faster than the 500 rule for sharp star images?
There's multiple factors as to why I was seeing motion blur at longer shutters, partly the subject, but also vibrations from my own operation, the shutter, the cable release or self timer, actually moving the camera to keep the subject centred, lots of variables. So yes, in theory if the system is perfectly locked down with zero vibrations, then you could use slower shutters BUT because you will be moving the camera (unless you have a tracker), there will be some wobbles to damp down or freeze-out. Also, many star trail rules work best with wide lenses, but here we're talking about long teles. Hence I find the slowest shutter I can reliably use for the setups I show in the video, is about 1/50 at 600mm. YMMV but do you really want to take the risk or just up the ISO a bit? You may have time to do both. I did in 2017, taking 100 ISO shots all the way down to 1 second, before repeating at 1/50 slowest and boosting the ISO instead. The latter looked better to me.
Good advice. I rather think there will be some frantic action. I have pretty good vibration reduction and it works just fine on a tripod. Shorter shutter speeds would be safer. But might try a few longer exposures if I have time.@@cameralabs
I thought that too BUT I find the wireless connection isn't sufficiently reliable for this kind of thing where you might only have one minute of totality. You don't want to do a fresh Wifi negotiation / handshake in that time if it fails.
Today I saw the total eclipse here at DFW area in Texas. It was shockingly awesome. 💥😱💥 My jaw just dropped. Far exceed my expectation because ALL the so called professional eclipse photos I have seen all the years simply do not capture the right COLOR and the impression of it. The sky was dark but still had the nice deep blue tone, the center was completely black, the ring was razor SHARP thin white, and there was a tiny sharp triangular corona spike with bright jewel-like orange. So it had the entire spectrum of color! The picture shown in this video (22:44), which is commonly shown in books and science articles, is almost black and white with no blue background. That's not how it looked at all...lol.
I shoot using a dual gain ISO-less camera. It claims to be more or less ISO-less above 320. That, one assumes, means that there is little point in shooting in raw and then cranking up the ISO to later do an HDR in post. You are essentially composing the same image multiple times. So wouldn't it be better to take multiple images which change the exposure by changing the amount of light collected, i.e. by changing the aperture and exposure time. If so, by the time you have reached maximum aperture and exposure times, and are in the upper ISO range, you are pretty much done shooting your HDR.
@@rogerfleming1121 I'd say any practice you can get would be beneficial. Obviously the moon is very different BUT it's the same apparent size and travels at the same perceived speed across the sky, so you can practice tracking, and you can play with exposures too
I think the best bet for us Europeans is Spain on August 12th 2026. That one's been on my radar ever since 2013 and now it's only two and a half years away. It'll happen during the summer when the weather is likely to be clear. If you miss it, you get another chance in January 2028, but then the weather situation is more uncertain.
My name is Gordon Telepun and I have imaged 5 total solar eclipses, and I am the developer of the helpful eclipse timing app Solar Eclipse Timer. Mr. Laing has made a very good video here. I look at some issues differently, but this still is a helpful video. If you desire details on things like the partial phase phenomena and specific tips on imaging various phases of an eclipse I have a RUclips channel called Solar Eclipse Timer that has hours of educational eclipse content.
OMG, I am already at 11:02 and there is no talk about the camera setup etc. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk about it but can you trim the intro, things like "make sure you know where the eclipse is".
How to photograph a Solar Eclipse - my guide including gear, settings and locations!
Solar Eclipse filters: bhpho.to/495Jq8Y
Buy used gear from MPB at: prf.hn/l/YLqwRAP
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Gordon’s retro gear channel: ruclips.net/user/dinobytes
My more detailed guide: www.cameralabs.com/solar-eclipse-photography/
April 2024 Eclipse info: science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/
April 2024 Eclipse map: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5123/
NASA Visualisation credits: Michala Garrison, Ernie Wright, Ian Jones, Laurence Schuler
Future Solar Eclipse info: www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list.html and science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/
Thanks to Eric Cheng for his 2017 Eclipse timelapse: echengphoto.com/
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00:00 - Solar Eclipse introduction
01:44 - Finding the next Solar Eclipse
02:34 - The Eclipse Path
04:24 - Choosing the best location for an Eclipse
06:22 - Europe 1999 Eclipse - what I learned
08:03 - Zambia 2001 Eclipse - what I learned
08:25 - USA 2017 Eclipse - what I learned
09:45 - USA 2024 Eclipse - preparations and plans
10:36 - Solar Eclipse Photography
11:16 - Filters for Solar Eclipse photography
12:32 - Coloring partial phases in Photoshop
12:51 - Which lens for Solar Eclipse photography?
17:25 - Which camera for Solar Eclipse photography?
18:16 - Which tripod and head for Solar Eclipse photography?
19:30 - Best exposure settings for Solar Eclipse photography
20:11 - Recommended exposure for Partial Solar Eclipse
21:26 - Recommended exposure for Total Solar Eclipse
22:51 - Best exposures for Totality using long telephoto lens
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I witnessed the 2017 eclipse and it was amazing. I was surprised at how my friends who were in 99% totality didn't really see much of a change but I was in 100% and saw the whole show of the sun being blocked, things getting dark, bugs making noise, and the most amazing vibrant white light passing around the edge of the moon.
If I knew of anyone at the edge of the path, I'd have to drag them inside it! As I mentioned, if you haven't seen 100%, you've missed the Grand Finale! Glad you caught it and hope you catch another soon.
Totality is a different world and anything short of it just doesn't compare.
The pure white light was one of the most memorable aspects to what I witnessed in Douglas, Wyoming, in 2017.
The 2017 eclipse was the first for me and my wife. We stayed in LaGrande, OR, and traveled to just outside Unity State Park for the eclipse. I used the Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount to track the sun and set my camera to take photos every 5 min. I almost missed getting images at totality, because I used a screw-in solar filter. Never going to do that again!
For this year's eclipse, we're traveling to Forney, TX to view the eclipse with our grandkids. This time, I'm using the Baader ASTF 80 filter (it's more obvious when on the camera), and the new Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi. I've mastered daytime alignment with that mount. During practice, I had it tracking with the sun dead-on for over an hour. And I now have the Smallrig Follow focus F60 to help focus with minimal vibration.
Now, all I need are clear skies on April 8th.
I wish you the best!
PLEASE READ ............... It cannot be mentioned too often, NEVER look at the Sun through anything that magnifies without proper filtration, IT WILL DESTROY YOUR EYE !!!!! When I was a kid I had a cheap 3" refractor that came with a Sun filter that screwed into the back of the eyepiece, it worked well, I then bought a 4" refractor and tried using the same filter. it worked for about a minute and then the extra power of the telescope cracked the filter, luckily I heard it crack and had the sense to get out of the way in time. If you think I'm being dramatic think back to when you were a kid and found out that you could set things on fire just by using a small plastic magnifying glass.
The filter should ALWAYS go on the very front of the instrument, not midway or on an eyepiece. In your scenario, the scope would have concentrated the full power of the Sun onto the filter, you're lucky it didn't end up worse!
@@cameralabs The filter was designed to screw into the back of the lens, I was using it as the designer intended, my mistake was putting it on the more powerful telescope. I agree the best filtration should be before the magnification rather than after and yes I know I was very fortunate to have not been blinded, that is why I shared the story.
@@nigelwest3430 you were definitely using it as the designer intended, but I'd say that's bad design on the part of the manufacturer. It's not the safest way to filter the sun. Glad you're ok! If it's any consolation, I momentarily forgot to redeploy the filter after my first eclipse and it burned through an eyepiece cap!
I came back to say a huge thank you for this fantastic video. I was able to use it as a guide to get some beautiful images from Texas today. It was a life changing experience that I was able to share with my loved ones. I’ll remember it until my last day.
Thanks so much for coming back to comment! It was amazing wasn't it? My fourth and I still cried! I used my settings again and they worked well for my setup, see my Instagram if you're interested! Glad I was able to help. Now for Spain 2026!
Great video.
I photographed the 2017 eclipse from Wyoming. It was an amazing experience.
I automated various exposure times during totality using a sequence in BackyardEOS which worked great. My biggest mistake though was having it do the range of exposures only once while there was time to do more. Still very happy with what I got.
It was an amazing experience to say the least. I could go on and on about it. :)
I like the idea of a programmed exposure ramp, but I'm not sure I'd fully trust it for such a rare view! I'll have one camera on an interval meter for a partial timelapse, but the main one will be manual!
@cameralabs I absolutely agree! I was ready to disconnect the camera and go manual if needed. I did a lot of testing ahead of time which I would highly recommend anyone do especially if planning programmed exposures. I lean toward doing the same this year. Even though that worked well for me I haven't ruled out manually doing the exposures just because there is a little less to go wrong. Best of luck to you!
I'm flying to Houston from Germany on the 4th, four days before the eclipse. My plan is to monitor the weather forecast and travel wherever it takes during the night preceding the event. I did a similar thing back in 2017 (stayed in a small town in Wyoming about 150 miles from the totality path) and it worked 100%.
Nice one, best of luck, although with a fluid plan beware hotels will be full or extremely expensive.
I get totality on April 8th!! 2 months away!! Yes!!! Going to enjoy it
I live in Houston and planning on driving to Dallas the day before and the day of..hotels are extremely expensive and weather this time of year is unpredictable…
I highly recommend the city of Killeen or Copperas Cove as we are direct line of totality and have tons of open areas awell as local high school clubs putting on events for us photographers to get out there and photograph and watch the Eclipse
Stopped back in to say thank you Gordon for this video! I was in Missouri and we got a great view, and great pictures. Glad it worked out for you, too.
Thanks, glad you saw it!
Coming back to thank you for this video! I, too, was able to capture epic photos in April '24 by following the guidance you shared in this video. Very much appreciated!
Youy're very welcome, glad it worked out for you! What an amazing sight it is! I ended up viewing it by a lake in Canada, near to the border.
@@cameralabs Cool, I was in Dallas, Texas, facilitating the experience for a school of children and their parents. I'm a Science Teacher, living in Colorado. It was cloudy all day, right up until totality-when the skies suddenly cleared! A tremendous experience.
@@bjmhmd great to hear you saw it, and bonus points for being able to share it with a group! I'm so involved with taking my photos it feels like a mission from first contact! But even though this was my fourth, it remains a fantastic experience every time!
Thanks Gordon. Everything I need to know. I live in Niagara, ON, Canada. Can't wait!!!!
Good luck!
I live in Niagara also, and this will be my first attempt at photographing a solar eclipse.
For 2017 we chose Wyoming. The path of totality ran very close to a main highway for most of the way across the state. The morning of we chose a spot just north of Riverton. It was quite a party at that road intersection. I photographed the partial phases but didn't waste any time on the camera during totality. I just wanted to be in the moment. It was euphoric. This time I'm going to try photographing totality. Which is why I'm here.
Yeah, it's a fun atmosphere and a wonderful sight. I'd love to NOT photograph it one time, but always end up bringing multiple imaging setups!
Thanks for the advice. Photographed the annular eclipse in Rockport Texas in 2023 with good results and plan to try the total eclipse at Fredericksburg Texas in April! Good year for Texas eclipses! I'll try to put your thoughts into practice.
I think you'll have better weather than I will, but here's hoping for all of us!
This is awesome, I’ll definitely bookmark this video for later. I appreciate the images of totality you provided with different shutter speeds and ISOs, that will be very helpful. I live in the USA and I’m planning to travel & photograph totality. I’m on a budget, so I’ll have to roll with my old Sony NEX-C3 and probably a more inexpensive telephoto lens. I’ve already purchased a Thousand Oaks solar filter in the form of a polymer sheet, and that filter has worked perfectly so far. Thanks again for this info, awesome video you’ve made.
Your NEX will be fine - do you have a telephoto for it yet? Not sure if Sony's 70-350 is compatible with your body, but if it is, it's a great option.
@@cameralabs My NEX is an E-mount, which from my research seems to be a well supported lens attachment. The 70-350 you mentioned would probably fit but I'm looking more in the 500-700 range, just for better picture quality of the solar disk. I haven't bought a telephoto yet but I'll have to look for one on the cheaper end, ha!
Awesome, informative video. I’m an astrophotographer taking my shot at this eclipse and going to a suburb of Niagara Falls to shoot. Using a telescope with an astro-modified Nikon D5500 to capture the partial and total phases, and practicing in the meanwhile on the Sun from my yard. Thanks for the great information and good luck on shooting the eclipse! May you have clear skies.
Thanks, good luck!
Check the forecast near the falls. I’m seeing cloudy and even possibly rain between there and to the southwest along the path
I've already booked my room for Arkansas, so I appreciate this video very much. I was hoping my 300mm would be enough but looks like I need to rent something. Thanks!
Depends what the 300 is mounted on! If it's smaller than full-frame and the body is high res, then you may be fine. Sure, a 500-700 equivalent would be even better, but you'll still get a good shot.
I live in Arkansas will be shooting from my driveway. I will be using a 55-300mm zoom lens too. I fumble when changing shutter speeds and iso because of a stroke I had in 2009 and may have to just leave everything set at the beginning. I will practice, practice, practice and hope for the best. Good luck and lets hope for clear skies. Last year at that time it was raining.
@@gjinksjinks8594 don’t tell me that lol! I’ve already warned my family we may drive 4 hours to spend a rainy couple of days in Little Rock
@@cameralabs ok good! I have a Fuji x-t4 and the 55-200.
300 is fine for sun shots. just crop them later.
Thanks! Hopefully N.E. Weather cooperates. Your video mentioned static shutter speed and manipulate iso during totality. I’ll have my iOptron tracker, would you recommend static iso and manipulation of shutter speed?
Thankyou very much for the tip! If you're tracking the Sun, then yes, I would keep the ISO fixed at a nice low value and just keep reducing the shutter speed one stop at a time. By the time you reach, say, half a second at 100 ISO and f8, you should have a big corona shot. I would however test this setup on the Sun with a filter or the Moon before the event and check for sharpness at the slower shutter speeds as there are a lot of other variables including your polar alignment in daytime as well as how you physically trigger the shot. Then you will know what's the slowest shutter you can get away with using your setup. Good luck and maybe see you in the NE!
Thank you for the wonderful insights and tips for this upcoming event. I've actually been practicing capturing images of the sun on here and there days leading up to April with a Thousand Oaks solar filter on my tripod...and being able to quickly take it off! I loved the insights on camera settings and plan on using that! Thanks again!
You're very welcome! Best of luck!
Gordon, been watching your RUclips channel for years. Great video. One part of the video I glossed over and shouldn't have was the location. The forecast for Niagara Falls and the surrounding region was rain and clouds for eclipse day. I drove one hour drive in another direction from where we were staying to clear sunny skies. With a Superzoom camera I picked up for a song several weeks earlier, I got some great video footage of Totality. Thanks.
You're very welcome! Do you know if they saw it in Niagra in the end? I know they were expecting a LOT of people and the conditions can change rapidly.
@@cameralabs From news reports I watched on 📺, it was cloudy and the eclipse broke through for a few seconds and quickly clouded up again. A bust for most people that chose to view it in Niagara.
Thank you, Mr. Gordon Laing. As is so often the case with me, I could have prepared better, but I was prepared enough. I got the shot! Got some nice photos of totality through wispy clouds.
I had an interesting exchange shortly after the eclipse. A lady with a Nikon Z6 and I compared her pictures and the ones I got with my R7. I got some nice shots of the corona; she didn't capture that, but she caught some flares around the edge. It's the first time I've compared pictures with another photographer like that, looking at each other's cameras just after the event, and it was almost as fun as the eclipse.
Totality lasted 3.5 minutes where I was, so I had time to just gawk between photos. It was one of the most weirdly beautiful things I've ever seen.
Glad you got to see it!
Thank you so much, Gordon! Looking forward to photographing this year's eclipse in upstate NY.
Best of luck!
Loved the shot of the lunar eclipse and the i-360.
Thanks!
I witnessed the 2017 eclipse in Nebraska, and it was amazing. I already have my plans to be in upstate New York right in the center of totality. Maybe we will see you there.
Good luck! I'm not sure our weather up there is going to be great, but we can hope!
Went to France for the 1999 Eclipse and got stuck in a town with French TV when a huge black cloud came over and stopped above us during totality! I "experienced" the Eclipse but didn't see it! On Saturday the 4th we are flying to Houston and staying just south of Fort Worth and depending on traffic, driving down to Hillsboro some 40mins away. ........I just hope the forecasted thunderstorms dissipate! Using a Z8 with 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 with 1.4x teleconverter on a geared K+F mount and a Z6 with 14-30mm F4 for interval shooting including the landscape and using a 16.6 stop solar filter from K&F with both! My thoughts on settings were just as you suggested! Now...........fingers crossed!!!!! And if it's cloudy or rained off, then it's hopefully Spain in 2026!!!!!
Good luck and be prepared to drive to avoid clouds!
I watched the 2017 eclipse from just north of Madras, OR, right on the center line of totality. What an experience! I was riding my motorcycle so I didn't have any bulky camera gear and used my iPhone. The photos I got were okay for the ambiance of the event. I was on high ground and could see far enough south to see past the edge of the moon's shadow while I was in the midst of totality. It was a fascinating perspective and I highly recommend seeking out higher ground.
For this year's event I'm flying into Dallas, TX and renting a car to head towards the clearest predicted skies. Weather permitting I'll head for the Texas hill country northwest of Austin. I'll be using my Nikon D750 and a 200-500 mm zoom.
Best of luck!
Hi Gordon, this is my first eclipse but I do have a photo background. As I practice with full sun with my tracking and exposures I'm finding that I have to hit a high ISO like 3200 and shutter speeds like a 30th at f11 rather than the native 100 or 200 for my Fuji XT3 in order to get even an underexposed photo of the sun on a clear day. I keep seeing experienced eclipse shooters talking about ISO 100 and 1/250th of a second at f8. I'm using the Thousand Oaks film but unless there are various densities of it, do you have any idea why I'm having to use the exposures I'm describing? I do have a Fuji 2X on my 400, so f11 is as wide open as it gets.Thanks very much. .
That does sound quite different to the experience I've had with my filters. Maybe yours is extra dense? I'd suggest contacting the manufacturer to see if it's performing as expected. Even at f11, I'd expect to shoot the Sun at a low ISO and reasonable shutter.
Thanks for the tips, am flying to Indianapolis from NYC for a few hours then back home again. No traffic, no hotel, just have to wander out to the airport parking lot and set up for shots. Stills and video will be the order of the day. Just after totality this time, got plenty of partial shots 5 yrs ago. I'll let you know how it went!
Nice one, good luck!
Truly amazing video for first timers! Thanks!
Thanks so much, that's very generous! I hope it helps you see an eclipse in the future!
Thanks so much for this. I had got my gear at B&H Photo (in New York) - a 400 mm telephoto lens for my EOS 70D and a solar filter for it. I then went into Sun study mode. I took numeous shots on sunny days, with all sorts of ISO, fstop and time settings, recorded my results and was led to the same conclusion you had. It was great to see I'm on the right track. I'm also using my tablet with the Canon app on it to control the settings and shooting in real time so I don't need to fiddle with that part of the camera. Unfortunately, spending the additional $$ for gear tripod was beyond what I was willing to spend (the lens and filter were enough!) so I will be using my (sigh) ball head tripod. Fortunately, the Canon has a live shoot LCD display which lets me manually adjust the camera position to stay focused on the Sun. Thanks again for this informative video!
Nice! Do practice adjusting your tripod as the Sun moves
@@cameralabs Yes, that has been the challenge. I've spent the last couple of weeks with each sunny day (and several clear nights with the moon), practicing keeping the sun in focus area of the live view window. I've learned to keep the knob and handle slightly tightened - enough to keep camera in place, but not so tight as to cause jerky motions as I reposition. Maybe someday I'll move up to a tracking telescope that lets me attach my camera... that'll be another year's birthday gift.😄
Thank you for all the information! I appreciate it so much! Question: Do you know if a solar eclipse filter was used to record this scene? 1:38 Thanks in advance!
That sequence was filmed by a friend with a wide lens on a mirrorless camera. You shouldn't need a filter for a wide lens, but equally you won't see the phases of the partials if you don't.
Amazing video!!! Well done. Thanks for some great work.
Thankyou, you're very welcome!
I cant wait. I live in the path of totality. looking forward to it.
Thanks Gordan! I will be attempting to shoot totality from Hueston Woods, OH in April 2024. I am going to be using Celestron 127EQ and mount my Sony a6400 to it. This will be my first total solar eclipse and I decided to go full send with the gears I had.
Good luck!
I have watched every video I could find on the Solar Eclipse and yours is the most informative. My question is this. I will be using a Pentax K-70 with a 55-300mm zoom lens with filter; and a Pentax K-30 with a 50-200mm zoom with no filter; both on tripods, both with cable release. Because of a stroke I had in 2009 I am slow about changing ISOs and shutter speeds. If I am unable to change ISOs and shutter speeds fast enough what would you recommend for camera settings through out the whole thing? I will also be shooting form a power wheelchair.
As I think you've already figured out, you'll be using your camera with the filter for the partial phases, and the good news is you can use the same exposure for ALL of these. But I don't know how strong your filter is, so you will need to experiment by taking some photos of the full Sun at an earlier date. I suggest starting with 100 ISO (or the lowest base ISO), a shutter speed of 1/500 and an aperture of f8. Then adjust the shutter speed until you're happy with the brightness - take a note of this and use it on the eclipse day. Note you may still need to adjust this a little on the day, but you will be close. Also shoot in RAW+JPEG so you have some latitude for making adjustments afterwards. Meanwhile your camera without the filter should be for totality only. I suggest using a shutter of 1/60, aperture of f8 and ISO 800, but if you can manage to adjust the ISO during totality even for one more shot, try it at 100 or 200 for a different looking shot. Good luck!
Thank You! I have already been practicing and will continue until the magic day arrives.
This is my filter ICE 58mm Solar Eclipse ND100000 Filter ND 16.5 Stop Optical Glass Ultra Dark 5
@@gjinksjinks8594 I'm not familiar with it, but either way you will need to do some tests with it first to get close to your ideal exposure.
You could "hire" an assistant photographer for the day to change the settings for you. I you pass your knowledge of photography to an aspiring photographer, and get the shot you want.
@cameralabs 1 quick question. If I wanted to do a wide angle timelapse as a 2nd setup, would that still need a solar filter? And if so, have I been damaging our gear all this time doing landscapes with the sun in the frame? Or is it just the magnification from the longer telephoto lenses that’s the problem?
If the Sun is small on the frame then it's fine to point directly at it - we all do it all the time, especially with small apertures for the starburst effect. So I'd say 35mm or wider, you'll be fine without a filter, especially if its 24 or wider.
Thanks for this video! For that clip at 1:35 mark is that a video or timelapse? What tips can you anyone give me to capture a clip like that with the R5??
That was a timelapse, use the interval timer with Auto iso and auto exposure, and a small aperture if you want a star burst sun
@@cameralabs thank you thank you for the reply!! I was getting desperate. I guess I need to limit the upper range of the ISO so the camera don’t try to crank up the exposure during totality?
A excellent video and thanks for putting it together. On my bucket list
Thanks!
Hi Gordon! It just so happens that I'm going to be in Buffalo for my son's birthday on 8 April 24, this is going to be great!
You could claim you'd arranged it especially...
Thanks, Gordon. Good video.
For those living in populated areas, this is a great time to get away from the light pollution and venture into a lower Bartel location. A total eclipse of the Sun means there is a new Moon. Why not take advantage of the early morning hours when there will be no Moonlight to obscure the dimest stars and shoot some wide angle pics of the Milky Way?
Happy shooting and God bless. 🙏🌌🌚
Nice plan!
Immensely helpful video. I’m lucky enough to live in the path of totality in Texas and will be photographing from my back yard (weather pending). This will be my first. I can’t wait!
Best of luck! Your weather looks more promising than mine further NE
ABSOLUTELY practice with your equipment in the days or weeks ahead!!!
I couldn't properly photograph the annular eclipse we had here in the USA last October, because I didn't have any solar filters, but I still "photographed" it as a practice run. Set all the gear up. Had a printed timeline and a shot list. Sort of got a "feel" for the process.
Between that practice and your video, I think I have a good chance at getting some photos of the upcoming April eclipse. Thanks for the information!
You're welcome! I hope you're suitably equipped with a filter now and have a good location lined up!
@@cameralabs Pretty good location. I have an old relative in central Texas right in the path of totality. There's a good chance it'll be sunny there, and I'll have the whole yard all to myself.
Oddly enough, I lived in that house years ago, and it's where I first got serious about photography. That yard was my first "studio", so to speak.
@@arkansasoutpost good choice, Texas looks like the best bet within the USA for this one!
In 2017 I used a T4i with a Canon 70-300 is USM and a Sony A3000 with a Canon 55-250mm. Both hand held, no tripod and it worked well. I don't remember if the T4i was able to auto focus with the solar filter on, but I don't think it did. The Sony A3000 will not autofocus at all with adapted lenses. I do wish I had a longer lens, but both camera's and lenses got the job done. The 70-300 was longer, but the 55-250 is so much sharper is actually looks better after cropping than the images out of the 70-300..... This time I intend to use a barndoor tracker on tripod to get a time lapse of the whole event.
Yep, a shorter but sharper lens can outperform a longer but poorer lens.
This was awesome. Such great tips and great advice with the settings. I will definitely be trying some out before the upcoming eclipse in April. I thought of using using my camera's intervalometer to capture images for a Timelapse as well as for a composite later on and I'm wondering if you can recommend an interval between shots leading up to totality. I was thinking perhaps every 15 seconds and then when the eclipse is in totality, switch to every second, and then back to 15 seconds once the sun leaves totality. Does that sound reasonable or would you recommend shorter or longer intervals. Thanks again for sharing such detailed information.
You're welcome! As for a timelapse, it really depends how long you want it to last. Depending on your location this April, the time between the very start and end is about 2.5hrs, or 150mins. If you shoot every 15s, then that'll give you 600 shots,, which at 30fps video would compress it down to 20 seconds from start to finish, although you may want to slow down the totality bit in the middle like Eric did in his example in my video. That would look good. If you want a longer video, shoot at shorter intervals etc
I did a 500 mile round trip to see the 1999 eclipse in Torquay, as mentioned it was cloudy 😭 however the cloud cover was thin and you could see the disc of the sun quite clearly, we saw the moon moving over almost up to the point of totality when there was obviously not enough light to see through the clouds, it was still a great experience though.
Glad you got to see some of it! The next one for Europe is August 2026 in Northern Spain.
@@cameralabs Thanks for the info, I might have take a trip 😁
2017 was my first. Not being entirely satisfied with a 2-9x ND filter at 9x, Tokina 80-200 f2.8, and Canon Rebel T3, I upgraded to a Canon 400 f5.6 and 16.6x solar filter, and a Canon 60D (bought for another purpose but works just fine here too). As I type this it's 4/8/24 and I'm in a hotel in "the zone" with the "main event" just hours away. I have the 60D with the T3 standing by in reserve.
SAFETY NOTE: most solar filters (mine included) do NOT allow direct solar viewing. If using a D-SLR you MUST use Live View during the partial stages.
Can you explain why solar filters are necessary for the camera? Is it for protection, or is it for avoiding overexposure? If it’s for the latter, is shooting at f/22 and 1/8000 still not good enough for the diamond ring shot?
No, 1/8000 and f22 is not enough at high power. It's fine with a wide lens, but not telephoto
I witnessed the 2017 eclipse in Oregon near Medford. It was a bit off the path but I had a friend there, i.e. a place to stay. I left for home when the eclipse just started to wane and beat the steel avalanche that followed me. I heard of folks that were sitting in their cars for hours without any kind of movement.
Oregon for the 2017 win! I loved it there, but had to wait to capture the end of the eclipse for my photo sequence, and hence got caught in the traffic. Actually the roads weren't too bad for me, it was more the lack of accommodation until I was two states away!
Thanks for the great guide and definitely plan to practice some of these tactics ahead of time. Apologies if I missed it, but do you use manual focus when shooting the eclipse or rely on auto? I've tried using manual in shooting just normal day sun photos and I never seem to find a focus.
It depends on the camera and filter. Traditionally you'd manually focus but last time I tried AF and it worked fine. Again experiment with your setup beforehand
My father saw the 1999 total eclipse in Graz, Austria. He said that it was indeed much much more dramatic than a partial one.
Awesome info, thanks. If I set up a second camera for wide angle shots, say 15-24mm do I still use filter? And you said put it on auto. Would auto iso but fix f/8 and say 1/125 then let auto iso fix exposers?
I'd say if you're at 35 or wider you won't need a filter BUT you may not see the actual moon crossing the Sun. It'll be like the timelapse I show in this video. As for exposure, 125 and f8 will need quite a high iso during totality and may not be dark enough even during the day. Have you tried a shot at 125 f8 of the sun normally?
Hello Gordon, thank you very much for the bracketing tips at the end! I've never played with the electronic shutter on my Z7. Would I have any issues shooting the eclipse with electronic shutter at the 1/500-1/60 speeds you recommend? Thinking about using electronic shutter to eliminate any chance for camera induced vibration.
The e shutter is a good idea for eliminating vibration BUT it will have a slightly lower dynamic range on the RAW files, so if you wnat the max DR for post processing, I'd go EFC.
@@cameralabs thank you Gordon
I have a Sony 100-400. Notorious for lens creep. But I reckon a strip of gaffer tape over the zoom ring should sort it.
I’m down in the DC/Baltimore area, and was thinking about going up towards the same area and also trying to find some of the waterfalls in that area of NY during the trip. But think I’ll flex pending on how the weather forecasts look once we get closer to the date.
If there's weather window, definitely try to get in the path.
So I have a Sony a7IV. The longest lens I own is 200mm full frame 33mp, but the camera can be switched into APSC, but only at 13mp. Would you suggest I use higher pixels of full frame or the extra distance of APSC?
It literally makes no difference to quality but shooting in full frame will give you longer before you need to reframe as the Sun moves past. Then crop afterwards
Yes getting a proper polar alignment is challenging during the day but keep in mind you're not trying to make >1 minute exposures. Even a ballpark polar alignment will keep motion blur at bay for exposures under a minute.
That's true. Either way, I'd definitely practice in daytime before the event so you know what to do,
Thanks for the guide! I have a 70-300 lens (on a fuji crop sensor). Would getting a 1.4 teleconverter make any meaningul difference? Maximum aperture would be f/8 but I think that's perfectly fine for the sun. I did test shots with the moon and it feels a little wide at 300mm.
If you look at my thumbnail you'll see the black circle, that's the moon, so the corona can extend 2-3x moon diameter. A 1.4x would still improve things, but 300 on crop sensor isn't bad
If you dont focus on the sun but instead on a foreground object for a wideangle landscape view of the eclipse would you still need a filter, sense it is not focued on the actual eclipse itself?
It doesn't matter where it's focused in terms of a filter BUT if you use a wide lens for a landscape view, you won't need a filter - but you also won't capture the phases before and after totality, it'll just be a bright white dot.
Is the solar filter placed over a lens hood or directly on the lens. Thanks for the vid. I live just inside the path but might travel a bit to get a little longer viewing time.
You can do either, but I generally fit mine over the hood. And yes, it's well worth travelling closer to the middle to maximise your totality time!
I have a gopro 12, what setting do you recommend setting it to automatic? Should I put some filter and sunscreen on it? Could you help me with that please I want to leave it in timelapse mode thank you very much
The GoPro is so wide you won't need a filter on it. Just leave it on auto. You won't see the phases, it'll just suddenly go dim during totality. I'm actually using one too for a wide view showing the sky. Try to predict where it will be in the frame during totality, and make sure it's where you want it for your composition!
@@cameralabs thank so much
I use a Fujifilm XT5 and I’m renting a 150-600 mm f5.6-8. The camera does use a crop sensor. Do you think that would be a good fit for the April eclipse?
Yes, that would cover the sweetspot range of 600-700
:: waves from Rochester, NY ::
Great video!
This is great information, thank you for posting it. I'm going to try to photograph my first total solar eclipse in April from Niagara Falls. My plan is to use my Canon 5d on an intervoltameter on a wide shot to capture a timelapse of the whole thing, and then I'm renting an R5 with both a 24-70 and 100-500mm lenses. I have a couple of questions that maybe you could answer. First, for the wide shots, will I need to change the exposure at totality? I'm less worried about the timelapse as I am about having photos I can use to create a composite of the eclipse at different phases over the falls. The second question I have is about using the 100-500. My plan was to use this hand-held. Should I plan on bringing a second tripod with me so I have one for each camera? I hadn't been planning on doing an HDR image of totality, but after watching this video I think I might want to. I'm sure I could auto-align the layers in photoshop and do the HDR manually even if I'm handheld, but maybe it would be better to have a second tripod with me.
You'll definitely want a tripod for the 100-500, especially as the shutters get quite slow during totality. For the wide, you can use auto without a filter, but you won't see much of the partial shape.
I followed all the tips here, using a Canon M6 and 100-400mm Sigma lens. I used RAW but I'm seeing some strange posterization (I think) near the outer edges where the bright wispy lights and black sky interact (even without any edits being applied in Lightroom). I hope all my shots weren't a waste, and that this is just an issue with my monitor or Lightroom. I don't think the M6 uses compressed RAW (there's only one RAW setting) but I could be wrong. Any thoughts on this (Gordon or others)?
It's an extremely challenging subject for this, but if you shot RAW then you should have all the info. So the posterising nay be on your software, screen, many other stages
Very cool. I'll be in Texas for this one in April. Going to try to do my first eclipse with my Canon M50 mkII. Looking for a decent filter right now and that's what lead me to your great video
Glad to help!
💥Hey Gordon. This was a tremendous amount of info and I can’t thank you enough as I’m doing my best to soak all of this into my head. In its simplest form can you kindly tell me at what precise moment do I take my filter off going into totality and switching settings preparing to capture the diamond ring and Bailey’s beads. It’s my first time and I’m taking my two daughters and I don’t want to botch this up.?? Someone told me that 20 seconds before totality to take off my filter and start shooting away, but if so, at what settings.? 🤘🏼🤘🏼
And also, I am following you with what you say about going from 1000 down to 1/60 then raising up the ISO one stop at a time during totality but what stop ND filter is all that for? I’m using the Thousand Oaks, optical, black, polymer, solar film. It says transmission 1/1000 of 1% and I am under the impression that it is a 16 stop reduction.
Every nd is different, you have to experiment with the full sun before eclipse
I'd say just as it looks like it's almost covered, probably about 10s before totality, take it off. Remember to put it back on after!
@@cameralabs OK, man. I think I’ve got this. Thank you kindly.
@@cameralabsok, bags are packed and I’m headed to Burlington VT and I hope I made the right choice based on weather. LAST question, if I may. Can you suggest a Kelvin setting number shooting through the solar film.?? I don’t want to choose auto like I do 99% of the time shooting night shots in NYC
I have two Sony SLRs: a77 and a99 but I can only bring one camera with me for taking pics of eclipse. Should I take the crop sensor one (a77) as you said it would make image larger? Thanks!
Also, what is better combo 70-300 mm with 1.4 converter or 70-200 with 2x ?
BTW great video - subscribed!
I would go for whatever gets you to around 700mm with your sharpest lens and least TC.
Wow, awesome amount of information in this video. I think I'm all prepared and finally bought myself a geared head (its been on my list for awhile) now that I have a really good reason to splurge.
Which one did you get?
@@cameralabswhich would you recommend? For a geared head tripod
@@shawnhitt5312 I have two from Manfrotto! The heavyweight bhpho.to/42XA1yd and the lighter bhpho.to/3OYxspW
I ended up getting the K&F Concepts gear head. They also have sale for an extra 15% OFF. I'm Not affiliated with them but they have good reviews for a budget option
I have a 70-200mm, and when I crop my solar images to a good size they're only about 4 megapixels or less. Obviously I can't do much with that, so I won't be cropping them down that far, but do you think it will work to create a useable composite image? I'm a full-time college student and I can't afford to dive into getting a bigger lens. I also don't want to take that chance and have it be cloudy.
You mean like my example in the video showing multiple phases? Yes, it'll be fine since you'll be creating a much higher resolution comp with all those cropped images
@@cameralabs Alright, thanks!
Great video and recommendations
Amazing video! Well done. Thank you!!!
For the 2017 and 2019 total solar eclipses I photographed them using a Lumix FZ-330 bridge camera with the zoom set to an effective focal length of 600mm. The shutter was controlled using an Android tablet and the camera was set take 7 auto-exposure bracketed images at one stop intervals. These were saved as jpg and raw files. On examination of the images, I was a bit disappointed with the noise so I will be using the Fujifilm X-S20 for the 2024 eclipse. The Fujifilm 70-300mm lens coupled with the 1.4X matching teleconverter will be used to give an effective focal length of 630mm. A remotely controlled intervalometer will be used to control the shutter and it the camera will be set to take 9 auto-exposure bracketed images and will probably reduce the exposure interval to 2/3 of a stop. As the camera can store custom settings, one will be set for the partial phases and another will be set for totality to allow the settings to be changed very quickly.
The camera will be mounted on a Sky Watcher AZ-GTI mount that has been converted to become an equatorial mount and it will be controlled by my phone.
I would recommend ensuring that the order of auto-exposure bracket should be set to underexposed followed by the set exposure followed by the overexposed images. This will make it easier to find the exposure sequences when sorting through hundreds of images. On starting at the first image in a sequence, it starts off dark and gradually gets brighter and it gets dark at the start of the next sequence. It can look quite spectacular quickly when going through a sequence using software that puts one image on top of another because it almost looks like a short movie.
I should be just west of Waco at an equestrian centre.
That all sounds like a very organised and excellent plan! I'd love to program my exposures, but I just don't 100% trust the connection - and of course there's not time to fix or reconnect during totality. I think I'd feel ok for the less important partial phases, but once the filter's off during totality, I go into manual operation! Best of luck with the different camera!
The upcoming April 8th, 2024 eclipse will be my first solar eclipse. I'm very excited. I haven't chosen a location yet, but somewhere near Buffalo, NY.
My current gear that I am bringing:
Nikon D850
Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6
OBEN tripod w/ ball head
GoPro hero 10 with hot shoe mount
Solar sunglasses
I'm also going to pick up a solar lens filter for the 200-500 and I'm considering a teleconverter. Any recommendations for which teleconvter? I'm leaning 2.0 over 1.7
Have a look at the video where I talk about lenses and you'll get an idea of ideal focal lengths. For the corona, it may be less than you think. 2x 500 would be a bit tight.
@cameralabs I ended up in Fulton, NY (just north of Syracuse). Heavy cloud coverage. Managed to get 2 good shots leading up to totality, but 10 minutes before totality we had 100% cloud cover and didn't see anything for the rest of the day. While I didn't see totality, I did experience it. It was worth the 270 Mile drive. :P
How did you fare?
Don't think I am ready to purchase a star tracker, and don't think I would be competent in setting it up. You mentioned a geared head. Do you think this is significantly easier to use than a gimbal or 2-way friction head for a solar eclipse? I had a go with the annular eclipse last year and found myself losing track of the whole thing several times. Had to zoom out and start training the lens all over again. Several times.
I think you've answered your question! As you've experienced, with long lenses, it's very easy to lose the subject and waste time finding it again - time you don't have during totality. That's why I try to avoid anything with loose, large or unrestricted movements. A fluid video head / 2 way may be workable if you practice and are really careful,m but with a geared head, you know it's not going anywhere unless you tun those knobs. And you'll also find it's, say, half a rotation this way and half a rotation that way every few seconds to keep the subject centred - remember it is a moving target. I found it much easier and more predictable.
Thanks for that. I feel some gear aquisition coming on.@@cameralabs
Fantastic video! I am in the path of totality in the Cleveland, Ohio area, 2024 (now, the weather needs to cooperate). I have a Panasonic FZ1000, Bridge camera with 1 inch sensor, and the f stop range is 2.8 to f8. I have heard the "sweet" spot for this camera is like 5.6 or 7.1. Do you still recommend f8 for my camera? I guess I am more interested in capturing totality and not so much the partial phases. Best review I have seen for this kind of event.
Good question, and yes, on a smaller sensor camera you'd want a larger aperture (smaller f number). I reckon f5.6 would be fine and not involve much difference to the shutter speeds
Can I use one of the paper solar glasses over my camcorder?
If it completely covers the lens, but it is a bit risky. Maybe adapt it to fit over the end snugly
@@cameralabs Thank you!
Thanks for all the great info...trying this for the first time, not confident but going to give it a shot. Totality path on April 8th/2024 is passing right over my location in Eastern Canada. 😎📷
Good luck!
@@cameralabs Thanks! 😎👊🏻
I'm heading to Texas from Anglesey ! I'll have my Canon R5 and R6 with RF 200-800 on Benro Polaris tracker for close-up and RF 15-35 for a wide angle timelapse. Thanks for the advice, let's hope the weather cooperates 🙂
Nice setup!
On a whim i tried just stacking a bunch of sunglasses in front of the lens. Got the exposure close enough but the glare and low contrast was very unflattering. I quickly learned it'd be a lot harder to reach my expectations than I imagined.
Yeah, I wouldn't recommend that!
If you’re coming to Maine to photograph your 4th I’d love to meet you!
Excellent Video!! I'd sure like to meet up with you guys if your near the Lake Placid area!!!
I'll be near Montreal, good luck!
Hi Gordon...great video. This will be my first attempt to photograph an eclipse. I have a Canon full frame 400mm Prime f/5.6 lens and was hoping this might be adequte but if understood your tutorial correctly I might need to rent one with a longer focal length, your thoughts?
Did you watch the whole video? I used the same 400mm f5.6 prime for 2 out of 3 of the eclipses I've shot! It's a great choice, at least on a cropped APSC body. On full-frame it'll be a little short, but maybe ok with a 1.4x TC.
Thank you for your reply…I thought o watched the entire video but I must have missed that it was a 44mm prime lens. I will get a 1.4 ext before ‘eclipse day’.
@@dannissley4633 no problem! I really liked the EF 400 5.6 for eclipses, but again on full-frame, you'll benefit from a 1.4x. Don't use a 2x though as it'll be a bit cropped for big corona shots.
I'm heading to my mom's house on that day. She lives just north east of Conway, AR and will be smack dab in the middle of the Total Eclipse.
I just bought an ND10000000 filter and I hope to be shooting on my Sony A7RV with a Sony 200-600mm.
That's a camera and lens combo I'm also considering for the upcoming eclipse.
I plan to take photo of April solar eclipse with Nikon P950, does it OK ? Any suggestion about speed & aperture welcome.
Yep, use the same settings I suggest in the video about exposure.
I'm a bit east of Buffalo, about 10 miles off the center line. I'm so rural that my neighbors are cows. I can't wait.
The cows may think it's bedtime, seriously! It does freak out some animals. Good luck for Buffalo!
We saw the 2017 eclipse from a rooftop in downtown Nashville, and it was amazing. Of course the thin cloud that qppeared right at the moment of totality was a slight bummer 😂
Nashville's a fun town, I bet you had some good music in the background!
Trying Jupiter Saturn with rf 800 f11 hard is an understatement but seeing Saturn on its side after major crop amazing !!.location direction and of planets and times all interesting.i would put it close to wildlife for difficulty or more.not sure international but this time and date web page is brill tells u all u need to know from location here Saturn in sept optimal lucky here in cairns got a cloud break for eclipse so had a cloud ring framing the eclipse
Do you have any tips for capturing the eclipse on film?
Still photos? My first two eclipses that I talk about in this video were on film. Same settings I describe except you obviously can't change the ISO
Thank you!
Great tips!
Thanks for the info
you're welcome!
The comment about 50th sec for long focal lengths is interesting. I was assuming the 500 rule would apply. For a 600mm lens, that would give a maximum exposure time for a sharp image of almost 1 sec. Personally, for star shots with a high resolution camera, I find the 500 rule a little too forgiving. NPF would be more like .5 sec. Do you think the eclipse needs a shorter exposure for sharp images, or do you always go much faster than the 500 rule for sharp star images?
There's multiple factors as to why I was seeing motion blur at longer shutters, partly the subject, but also vibrations from my own operation, the shutter, the cable release or self timer, actually moving the camera to keep the subject centred, lots of variables. So yes, in theory if the system is perfectly locked down with zero vibrations, then you could use slower shutters BUT because you will be moving the camera (unless you have a tracker), there will be some wobbles to damp down or freeze-out. Also, many star trail rules work best with wide lenses, but here we're talking about long teles. Hence I find the slowest shutter I can reliably use for the setups I show in the video, is about 1/50 at 600mm. YMMV but do you really want to take the risk or just up the ISO a bit? You may have time to do both. I did in 2017, taking 100 ISO shots all the way down to 1 second, before repeating at 1/50 slowest and boosting the ISO instead. The latter looked better to me.
Good advice. I rather think there will be some frantic action. I have pretty good vibration reduction and it works just fine on a tripod. Shorter shutter speeds would be safer. But might try a few longer exposures if I have time.@@cameralabs
Great timing! I’m looking forward to the North American eclipse. It’s my first one as a photographer.
Good luck, and be sure to be flexible on your location due to weather!
@@cameralabs yes, indeed! Especially considering that I’ll be traveling from Florida to (coincidentally) watch it from the Buffalo NY area also.
I would imagine that this is the rare case where mobile app could really be handy for changing settings without the risk of shaking the camera
I thought that too BUT I find the wireless connection isn't sufficiently reliable for this kind of thing where you might only have one minute of totality. You don't want to do a fresh Wifi negotiation / handshake in that time if it fails.
Today I saw the total eclipse here at DFW area in Texas. It was shockingly awesome. 💥😱💥 My jaw just dropped. Far exceed my expectation because ALL the so called professional eclipse photos I have seen all the years simply do not capture the right COLOR and the impression of it. The sky was dark but still had the nice deep blue tone, the center was completely black, the ring was razor SHARP thin white, and there was a tiny sharp triangular corona spike with bright jewel-like orange. So it had the entire spectrum of color! The picture shown in this video (22:44), which is commonly shown in books and science articles, is almost black and white with no blue background. That's not how it looked at all...lol.
Glad you saw it! It's a beautiful sight with the naked eye. That spike was a prominence, 4.5x diameter of Earth!
I shoot using a dual gain ISO-less camera. It claims to be more or less ISO-less above 320. That, one assumes, means that there is little point in shooting in raw and then cranking up the ISO to later do an HDR in post. You are essentially composing the same image multiple times. So wouldn't it be better to take multiple images which change the exposure by changing the amount of light collected, i.e. by changing the aperture and exposure time. If so, by the time you have reached maximum aperture and exposure times, and are in the upper ISO range, you are pretty much done shooting your HDR.
Good suggestion, try it and let me know how you get on!
I might, but before the event. Would shooting the moon be a good model?@@cameralabs
@@rogerfleming1121 I'd say any practice you can get would be beneficial. Obviously the moon is very different BUT it's the same apparent size and travels at the same perceived speed across the sky, so you can practice tracking, and you can play with exposures too
What settings would you recommend for a 300mm?
The same ones I describe in the video
I think the best bet for us Europeans is Spain on August 12th 2026. That one's been on my radar ever since 2013 and now it's only two and a half years away. It'll happen during the summer when the weather is likely to be clear. If you miss it, you get another chance in January 2028, but then the weather situation is more uncertain.
Yep, that's a very good bet, August in Spain. I've got it in my diary!
My name is Gordon Telepun and I have imaged 5 total solar eclipses, and I am the developer of the helpful eclipse timing app Solar Eclipse Timer. Mr. Laing has made a very good video here. I look at some issues differently, but this still is a helpful video. If you desire details on things like the partial phase phenomena and specific tips on imaging various phases of an eclipse I have a RUclips channel called Solar Eclipse Timer that has hours of educational eclipse content.
OMG, I am already at 11:02 and there is no talk about the camera setup etc.
I really appreciate you taking the time to talk about it but can you trim the intro, things like "make sure you know where the eclipse is".
And that's why I included index / chapter points on the timeline!
Thanks for the suggestion of being flexible about where to set up. I'll be sure to fill the gas tank for April 2024.