Shooting a solar eclipse

Richard · October 1, 2005

On Monday at 11:00 AM local time there will be a solar eclipse and Madrid is right in the path. It will not be a total eclipse but 90% of the sun will be covered.

I only have a P&S camera (Canon A75) and no filters at all, so I am not terribly hopeful about my possibilites here, but hey, it's only ones and zeros so unless someone tells me I can ruin my camera in the process I will probably give it a try. The A75 does have fairly complete manual controls including exposure compensation up to +/- 2.

Any advice on technique (inlcuding forget the whole idea, it's dumb) will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Bodwick · October 1, 2005

rsinmadrid wrote:

On Monday at 11:00 AM local time there will be a solar eclipse and Madrid is right in the path. It will not be a total eclipse but 90% of the sun will be covered.

I only have a P&S camera (Canon A75) and no filters at all, so I am not terribly hopeful about my possibilites here, but hey, it's only ones and zeros so unless someone tells me I can ruin my camera in the process I will probably give it a try. The A75 does have fairly complete manual controls including exposure compensation up to +/- 2.

Any advice on technique (inlcuding forget the whole idea, it's dumb) will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

What ever you do don't look at the sun.

I've used a roll of exposed 120 years ago for viewing, also a cheap Mylar solar filter which is safe, though a bit boring being just a black & white image. I'd say probably try the welders glass which should be easy to buy.

Set up on a tripod and project you image onto card if you've no filter or for point and shoot without a zoom of +500mm

just aim in the right direction and shoot away.

Filters.
From Yahoo News:-
"Acceptable filters for unaided visual solar observations include aluminized Mylar. Some astronomy dealers carry Mylar filter material specially designed for solar observing. Also acceptable is shade 14 arc-welder's glass, available for just a few of dollars at welding supply shops.

Unacceptable filters include sunglasses, color film negatives, black-and-white film that contains no silver, photographic neutral-density filters, and polarizing filters. Although these materials have very low visible-light transmittance levels, they transmit an unacceptably high level of near-infrared radiation that can cause a thermal retinal burn. The fact that the Sun appears dim, or that you feel no discomfort when looking at the Sun through the filter, is no guarantee that your eyes are safe."

Good luck,

Bod.

gtc · October 1, 2005

careful
i think that pointing directly at a solar eclipse may damage your sensor,but you can confirm that for us!

i would also be very wary of looking at it through anything -maybe line up your viewfinder image on a card as suggested-without neutral density filters it wont be much of an image though -the other problem is resisting temptation to look upwards with the naked eye-the most dangerous time during a zyzygy is when the moon is right over the sun and only the corona is visible.

rsinmadrid wrote:

On Monday at 11:00 AM local time there will be a solar eclipse and Madrid is right in the path. It will not be a total eclipse but 90% of the sun will be covered.

I only have a P&S camera (Canon A75) and no filters at all, so I am not terribly hopeful about my possibilites here, but hey, it's only ones and zeros so unless someone tells me I can ruin my camera in the process I will probably give it a try. The A75 does have fairly complete manual controls including exposure compensation up to +/- 2.

Any advice on technique (inlcuding forget the whole idea, it's dumb) will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

ChrisJ · October 1, 2005

You *must* have a filter to shoot a partial eclipse. You can easily hurt your camera and/or yourself if you don't.

If you can, try and find some inexpensive eclipse glasses [thousandoaksoptical.com]. Telescope equipment suppliers might be a good place to look. It makes the experience more enjoyable. Someone's bound to have them in Madrid, but they might be sold out!

If it's not a specific solar filter, don't trust it. Just because your eyes feel "safe", doesn't mean you won't get blinded.

Good luck! Wish I was there to see it!

Richard · October 2, 2005

95Mcaj wrote:

You *must* have a filter to shoot a partial eclipse. You can easily hurt your camera and/or yourself if you don't.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I am well aware of the danger to the eyes. If the sensor can also be damaged, then I guess I'll just forget about it.

I remember a solar eclipse years ago in Cambridge, MA. It was in the morning. The birds freaked out and the light was surrealistic. I think that's because the luminosity was low but there were no long shadows, as the light was coming from high in the sky. I don't think I know how to capture the subtlty of that effect. Maybe I'll just go to a local observatory and take pictures of other people taking pictures.

Cheers,

gus · October 2, 2005

I am yet to fing hard evidence of direct sun hurting cmos or ccd richard...i shoot into the sun all the time with my 20D & have done so for 2 odd years with my olympus.. Its brief but straight into it all the same.

Im not saying its smart or silly...just saying that nothing has happened in hundreds of shots.

Richard · October 2, 2005

Humungus wrote:

I am yet to fing hard evidence of direct sun hurting cmos or ccd richard...i shoot into the sun all the time with my 20D & have done so for 2 odd years with my olympus.. Its brief but straight into it all the same.

Im not saying its smart or silly...just saying that nothing has happened in hundreds of shots.

Right. Interesting observation: when I looked through a few threads that I found on Google, there were many warnings against shooting into the sun but I didn't see any post that said "I ruined my camera that way." All the personal reports suggested that it is not really a problem.

I'm not sure why shooting a 90% eclipse would be all that different from shooting a sunset or sunrise, which we all have done without problem. I'm talking now about the camera, not the eyes.

davidryan · October 2, 2005

I remember an eclipse happening around 1995 on the east coast of the US-- like you said-- birds feaked out, there was a sudden wind that came up and everything took on an eery feeling. It is my understanding that increased winds are typical during eclipses due to the sudden loss/change of heating in the atmosphere-- you'll have to let us know if that happens for you guys, too.

rsinmadrid wrote:

Thanks for the advice, guys. I am well aware of the danger to the eyes. If the sensor can also be damaged, then I guess I'll just forget about it.

I remember a solar eclipse years ago in Cambridge, MA. It was in the morning. The birds freaked out and the light was surrealistic. I think that's because the luminosity was low but there were no long shadows, as the light was coming from high in the sky. I don't think I know how to capture the subtlty of that effect. Maybe I'll just go to a local observatory and take pictures of other people taking pictures.

Cheers,

ian408 · October 2, 2005

95Mcaj wrote:

You *must* have a filter to shoot a partial eclipse. You can easily hurt your camera and/or yourself if you don't.

If you can, try and find some inexpensive eclipse glasses [thousandoaksoptical.com]. Telescope equipment suppliers might be a good place to look. It makes the experience more enjoyable. Someone's bound to have them in Madrid, but they might be sold out!

If it's not a specific solar filter, don't trust it. Just because your eyes feel "safe", doesn't mean you won't get blinded.

Good luck! Wish I was there to see it!

Here's a set of glass solar filters from Orion Telscopes. The filter presents the
sun in a whiteish light. I've got a similar filter in mylar and truthfully, I think
the glass would be a better bet as it's more likely to break than to have a
small hole in it (which would let magnified sun light in). Filter linky.

Ian

ChrisJ · October 2, 2005

ian408 wrote:

Here's a set of glass solar filters from Orion Telscopes. The filter presents the sun in a whiteish light. I've got a similar filter in mylar and truthfully, I think the glass would be a better bet as it's more likely to break than to have a small hole in it (which would let magnified sun light in). Filter linky.

Ian

The polymer filter I got seems fairly sturdy. At the time I bought it (2001), I think it was the only threaded filter I could find. It doesn't exactly get used very much, so it's still in good shape.

There's a warning on the Thousand Oaks site about the glass ones not working well mounted right next to a camera lens because of their highly reflective coatings.

ChrisJ · October 2, 2005

rsinmadrid wrote:

I'm not sure why shooting a 90% eclipse would be all that different from shooting a sunset or sunrise, which we all have done without problem. I'm talking now about the camera, not the eyes.

The difference is that there's not as much atmosphere in the way of the 10% of sun that's remaining. Personally, I would not want to focus that kind of intense light onto my camera's sensor or my eye.

But as Humungus says, a brief exposure isn't going to cause any lasting damage.

Interesting experiment, take a magnifying glass out when you're near 90% coverage and see if you can burn something!

Richard · October 3, 2005

The big eclipse
Here's a followup on the eclipse.

It was a clear day and many people were out watching and shooting. I saw some pretty impressive gear.

Some of the filters looked improvised.

The light was surreal for about 20 minutes.

As for shooting the main event, I ended up shooting a couple of frames with my camera set to 1/1000, f/8 and exposure compensation at -2, which was the darkest I could go. I didn't hurt the camera (or myself) but the pics were junk. I was not surprised.

Here's a guy with a "proper" viewing device. You do get to see what's happening, but to me it's about as exciting as a pencil and paper drawing.

Cheers,

Shooting a solar eclipse

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