Home › Forums › Photography Q&A › Partial Solar Eclipse October 23, 2014
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October 22, 2014 at 12:29 pm #7938Ezra MorleyModerator
Heads up to any photographer who might be interested in trying to photograph a partial solar eclipse! Tomorrow, October 23rd, 2014 right near sunset.
Here’s a link to an article about it. http://www.the-digital-picture.com/News/News-Post.aspx?News=12737
Maybe I’ll get a chance to try out my “new” 10 stop ND filter! We’ll have to pray for clear skies though, it’s really been cloudy lately.
October 23, 2014 at 7:42 pm #7955Ezra MorleyModeratorWell, here’s my take on the eclipse, taken near Dubois, PA.
Did anyone else get a try at it?
Tech specs:
Shutter Speed: 1/8000
Aperture: f/40
ISO Speed: 80
Focal Length: 320mmAlso used: a Hoya HMC 8x ND filter stacked with a Tiffen Polarizer and a second Bower polarizer. That was a lot of dark glass in front of the lens! I’m sure glad I had that second polarizer, as it really made the difference in bringing out the sunspots. I didn’t have the right size of step-down rings, so I just threaded them all together, and held them in front of the lens while I shot.
I wish the results could have been a bit clearer, but I’m happy to have gotten anything at all! One thing about it, camera shake surely wasn’t the issue! 🙂 If I had been using my Canon, my max shutter speed would have been 1/4000, so I probably wouldn’t have been able to get the sunspots.
November 11, 2014 at 9:54 am #8243James StaddonKeymasterWow, that’s very interesting! Thanks for sharing. Was the strength of those ND filters enough to protect your eyes as you were looking through the view finder?
Man, it would be nice to have an 8-stop ND filter! Have you experimented using it with clouds? All I have is a 3-stop.
November 11, 2014 at 9:58 am #8244James StaddonKeymasterIt was during CAPTURE Kansas when the eclipse happened, and we didn’t take the time to try to shoot it. 🙁 But Mr. Lindsay enjoys astronomy and put together a little contraption for everyone to look through to see the eclipse as it was happening. I thought that was a pretty creative idea!
November 20, 2014 at 12:34 pm #8404Ezra MorleyModeratorNo, I do not think that the combined strength of all the filters was enough to make it safe for the eyes. I noticed the next day that my eyes were a bit sore… I tried to look at the sun as little as possible; whenever I took a shot, I would aim the camera just below the sun, then raise it till I saw the sun shining in the viewfinder, then I would take the shot. I did therefore get an “eyefull” of sun several times. I had a tripod with me, and I started using it about half-way through the eclipse, but I didn’t leave it with the camera aimed at the sun, because I have heard of cases where people have melted their camera. Naturally, the composition suffered, because I just hit the shutter whenever I saw the sun pop into view. I don’t really know what I could do to make a better setup, anyone have any ideas?
This was the first time I ever used my ND filter, and I haven’t gotten it out again since… I will have to get it out some time and do some shooting with it!
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