Annular Eclipse Photography

After dark comes light...an in October, an annular eclipse, which I hope to view from the roof of the Hotel Colon in Madrid (they have agreed, but will the weather cooperate?).

Did anyone out there view the annular eclipse in Central America recently, and can any of you give me advice on photographing an annular? I will have available a SolarMax 60 and a TV 85, either of which I could outfit with a video cam or I could buy a web cam or whatever...

Robert Howe
Wilbraham MA
[email protected]

Robert,

It is hard to answer that question without knowing where you are starting.

Do you have any camera already?
Have you taken solar photos already?
How much are you willing to carry when you travel?

My buddies who know how to take eclipse photos (and they are very good, having been published in Sky and Tel, etc.) have really thought out their equipment. They have small driven mounts, DSLR cameras, and short refractors. They use Remote releases. And they practice before the show. They think out all their exposures, and consider just what kind of shots they want.

I am not so proficient. I limited myself last April to a Canon 20D, a Canon 750-300 zoom, a Tamron doubler, a Baader filter, remote cable, A Varimagni viewfinder, an LCD viewfinder shield, and a photo tripod.

A big issue is just how much you want to carry.

I would suggest that you get out in the backyard and practice some, and then come back and ask more specific questions.

And another thing--you posted to about a half dozen forums. That is okay, I guess if you like. But if you do get responses, you have to chase them in half a dozen places. You might be better to stick to one place to ask your quesitons.

Get back ot us here. I have more suggestions, but I don't want to be wasting your time with what you already know.

Essentially, I have to say that most of eclipse photography is really just plain old solar photography. But during the seconds of totality, it is daylight photography, where you are looking for different levels of exposure (to be stacked together to get one image with much greater exposure latitude). ANd during the annular phase, you have a lot more regular solar photography than you might have expected.

Alex

Here's another question for experienced eclipse photographers:


Does a camera system focus at exactly the same place regardless of whether you have your solar filter on or off.

Namely, at second contact, I pop the filter off and take unfiltered pictures until third contact--when I pop it back on. Do I have to worry about focus shift?

I will probably be using Baader solar film, but is there a different answer for focus shift with a Coronado Solar Filter?

Alex

Robert, I'm a VERY amateur eclipse photographer but I've had good luck at two totals ('91 & '98) and one annular ('94). I think your reference to a recent Central America annular meant THE Central America. Mine was midwestern America. Anyway, I primarily used video equipment to capture human reactions and to tell the eclipses' stories. Both totals were shot from moving cruise ships because we had cloud issues to put it mildly. I had good luck shooting a roll of 100 ASA slide film through a homemade photo-grade mylar filter at the '98 total using a Pentax K1000 and a cheapo 300mm telephoto lens on a heavy tripod. The 35mm and video cameras were both on the same tripod, mounted side-by-side. I shot all of the partial phases at the same exposure and during totality used every exposure available up to 1 second. All 24-plus totality slides came out great with the exception of the 1-second exposures because they smeared because of the gentle rolling of the deck. I had about 4.5 minutes of totality and managed to see a little of it and shoot video and slides. I didn't bother scripting my time too much since I'd heard (correctly) your brain goes to mush during totality.
I know you're working with an annular this time and working up to a Med cruise for the total. Everybody that has seen my slides and videos (hundreds of students) found the videos much more engaging. The crowd favorites are the images of perfect rings projected by gaps in tree leaves. I'll end this rambling post with an attached digital photo of a video frame showing the 1994 annular from Jefferson City, Missouri. I hope something I've written helps you.
Ken

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