What I think i know about photographing an (this year's) annular eclipse:

Since it never goes to totality, a filter is necessary at all times, and it won't be possible to image the corona (especially at the lat/longs that will only get a partial annular eclipse).

Is that about right?

Other than the proper neutral density filters for your chosen ISO/f/shutter speed, are there any other filters that would be useful?

Oh, and the always useful, 'pick an interesting foreground'.

Originally Posted by kolibri What I think i know about photographing an (this year's) annular eclipse: Since it never goes to totality, a filter is necessary at all times, and it won't be possible to image the corona (especially at the lat/longs that will only get a partial annular eclipse). Is that about right? Other than the proper neutral density filters for your chosen ISO/f/shutter speed, are there any other filters that would be useful? Oh, and the always useful, 'pick an interesting foreground'.

I am curious too...I will be traveling to Utah to photograph the eclipse...I will be shooting through my 5" scope with my 50D....

From what I gather, yes you will need a solar filter for a annular eclipse..however...this one is tricky because it will be during sunset...so I am on the fence about this one...there does not seem to be a straight answer...I will be bringing my gradient ND filters just in case...

No if i can just find a place with no crowds... sigh...

Will I damage my camera if I focus with Live View at totality, without a filter? And avoid looking through the viewfinder?

Will a 10x ND be adequate at totality, since the sun will be very low in the sky in the midwest at the time of eclipse?

I am having difficulty with getting qualified answers as to whether or not direct sunlight will damage a camera's digital sensor, but from what I have read with short exposures (not sure of exact numbers but say less than 10 seconds, my guess) we should be fine.

I wouldn't use live view. That I believe would be risking damage from not just light intensity but depending on the lens I am not sure if it will focus the light somewhat like a magnifying glass and cause damage with heat.

That said I am in the middle of planning an eclipse shoot and plan on using a 6 stop ND. (maybe an additional 3 stop GND filter). I am going out today or tomorrow and shoot the sun only to dial in the settings.

I should be able to get a good starting point for settings and then bracket.

I am thinking to start with ISO 50 or 100 at f11 or f16 with the 6 stop ND filter and see where that puts me.

I will manually focus and lock in the focus with gaffers tape. Same with the zoom. Thinking of the 70-200. but maybe 135mm depending on foreground objects.

Sam

Part of the reason why it's difficult to give an answer about safely viewing or photographing the Sun is because it can be extremely dangerous if it's done improperly. There are so many variables regarding the optics used that there is no single safe answer.

Attempting to view the Sun can be extremely dangerous and can lead to permanent loss of eyesight and/or damage to equipment. My recommendation is not to try. Don't do it. Proceed at your own risk.

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In brief, setting up before the eclipse can be very dangerous because you are dealing with the Sun's full luminance. Naked eye viewing is terribly dangerous and there is no safe length of time to view the Sun. Don't do it, ever.

Again, proceed at your own risk.

The primary danger with cameras and photography is twofold:

The bare Sun image needs to be filtered.
The bare Sun image needs to be magnified.

Too many people try to photograph the Sun without proper filtration and/or with too short a focal length.

The first thing to do is to set up the lens without a camera. Photography is produced using a "real" image, meaning that you should be able to set up the lens by allowing the image to form on a sheet of paper. Mark off an area of the paper the same size as your imager and use that to determine appropriate focal length. Too short a focal length and you can destroy the paper. Better that than your camera.

I recommend using an appropriate solar filter to set up your lens. Even the projected image can be damaging to look at if it's unfiltered.

Once you have the appropriate image size on the paper, and you have an appropriate filter on the lens, you may wish to mount the camera body. (Remember that I advise against this.)

During the eclipse, unless you are in a "total eclipse path", you need to leave the solar filter in place in order to protect your equipment. An "annular" eclipse is never total, but the illumination is reduced somewhat.

From here on refer to these sites for information:

http://www.space.com/15733-solar-ecl...aphy-tips.html

http://www.space.com/15730-solar-ecl...aphy-tips.html

Ziggy, I agree whole heartedly that direct viewing of the sun is extremely dangerous to vision, indeed can quickly lead to blindness. Using long lenses to magnify the sun is even MORE DANGEROUS because the diameter of the lens allows it to capture and concentrate much much more light than the entrance pupil of one's eye would capture.

Using Live View would not put your vision at risk if you only look at the LCD on the back of your camera ( and NOT through the viewfinder ) , and if the sun is very low on the horizon ( like we often shoot at sunset ) AND one has a 10X neutral density filter, I doubt it would damage a camera also, but this is a guesstimate, and not a fact - as far as I know.

Viewing an image of the sun, on paper, created by using a pinhole to project the sun onto the paper, had been a time honored safe approach to eclipse viewing.

While I didn't get anything spectacular I did photograph the eclipse and the camera sensor survived.

Sam

I could not even see the sun that evening here in Indiana

My BFF has a video of the sunset/eclipse we saw....

http://youtu.be/B08cSXb9MMY