Sure, just point and shoot. (And during totality, it is perfectly safe. More than a few seconds before or after totality, though, pointing a camera at it will put a hole in your eyeball. Also--if you are not familiar with eclipses--you must have some kind of solar filter IN FRONT OF lens when looking at the partial phases. You may not look through your viewfinder while wearing those plastic eclipse viewers and consider it safe.)
Problem is that you need a lens of something like 400+ mm to get a good image scale of the sun. And that seriously complicates focus, exposure, camera shake, etc.
For exposure information, and a good tutorial on eclipse photography, Google "Mr. Eclipse" and look to see what Fred Espenak recommends.
If you are not an experienced eclipse photographer, and therefore willing to sacrifice all for a photo, the first rule of thumb is: LOOK AT THE ECLIPSE. The best view during totality is with the naked eye, and the next best through a pair of 7 to 10 power binoculars. Camera viewfinder is nowhere close. Don't waste time with photography. (I, for instance, have a very complete exposure schedule worked out, with a two page checklist on what to do during the eclipse. It includes something like 108 exposures of the event from Bailey's beads to Bailey's Beads (about 4 minutes, 15 seconds).....and only twice in that cycle will I spend about five seconds looking through the viewfinder. All else will be simply by touch......while I am looking at the eclipse. If some dumb thing happens, I plan to still look at the eclipse and forget the camera.)
Your best bet with a standard Canon Digital Rebel, is to find a minaret if you are on land or a smokestack if you are on a cruise ship, and get a combined image of the minaret or smokestack in the foreground, eclipsed sun in background. Also, in the partial phase, get pinhole pics of eclipsed sun's image. And take pictures of the horizon, showing the sun shadow coming and going.
In short......the answer is yes. Almost any exposure, 1/1000 to 1 second (200 iso, F6.5), will get you something during totality. So click away.
But don't forget to look at the eclipse! and forget about the camera if something goes wrong with it.
One other piece of advice--take plenty of compact flash card(s) on the trip.
Alex
