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Solar Eclipse - What's safe to use for viewing / photographing?


Timber

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Hi,

 

As this Friday there will be a Solar Eclipse, visible almost everywhere in Europe (the closer to the polar bears you are the better it will be :D ) and I am just interested in what is the best options for photographing it and what are the safest, widely available options for safely viewing it. I did a little research in this but I would be happy to hear your experiences, advices on the topic. So my question is what are the safe options (apart from the obvious Solar Watcher glasses)? I've heard DIN 12 welding glasses are fine as well (lower DIN glasses don't filter enough visible light as I heard, I've found the transmission curve for only DIN 8, not 12). Also my previous experience with Welding Glasses is that they block IR light as well as visible, but have not tested them for UV light. With ND1000 filters IR leakage is a problem, have not tested them for UV.

 

But I would also like to make an IR Timelapse, but not sure what filter(stack) to use... the ND filter will not block the IR light (I used that filter before as an IR filter)... Unfortunately I could not lay my hands on a Welding Glass so I can't test if a lower DIN Welding Glass would block enough IR light on top of a 720nm filter...

 

Any advice and suggestion is welcomed.

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I can by first-hand experience testify that the Sun is litterally capable of setting your camera on fire. The camera can be purchased again, but your eyes can not.

 

Problem with most stuff not designed for use as a photographic filter is they badly distort the image or lose sharpness. Good for visual observation, though.

 

"Sunglasses" like these are easily obtained, (Eclipse of 2003)

 

eclipse_2003_B030531465.jpg

 

On occasion I found a CD fitted the opening of my mirror lens so could be used for some 'impressionistic' images of an Eclipse. Don't look through the finder, though, as the CD doesn't block much light.

 

Proper Solar filters for astrophotography are admissible and work well also for visual watching, but be aware of pinprick holes in them. Thus this is a case where LiveView comes in handy, in particular the kind that folds out to the side and can be rotated or tilted. You can also shoot the image projected by the ocular of the camera onto any convenient background. Makes for a nice change to the usual kind of Eclise shots.

 

First and foremost, pay attention and grab any opportunity. In this shot from the Eclipse of August 2008, I snatched a paper note from my wallet and used it when the speedboat suddenly raced into view. Anything goes.

 

eclipse_2008_speedboat_B0808017391.jpg

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enricosavazzi

The safest way for visually observing: Build a big camera obscura with corrugated cardboard boxes, and use a pinhole to project an image of the sun onto a white non-reflecting cardboard surface. This is basically a projection screen illuminated with incident light. Any IR is either absorbed of reflected omnidirectionally and spreads out safely. A more complex variant is to use a small (maybe 5 mm or less) lens of long focal length instead of a pinhole, but in this case you must use a lens-to-screen distance equal to the focal length of the shell. An FL around 1,000 mm would be fine if you can built a long enough camera obscura (1 m).

 

As already mentioned, the trouble with filters is that not all block IR. This means a big risk for both eyes and camera.

 

Next problem is that you need a camera lens with a focal length of at least 600-1,000 mm to sufficiently fill most of the frame with the image of the sun.

 

Edit: One possible way to avoid the need for a supertelephoto or telescope (and the risks associated with their use to image the sun) is to take a picture of the image of the sun projected on the screen of the camera obscura mentioned above. If you want to be really cool, use a shift or tilt-shift lens to photograph this image from a slightly off-axis orientation without geometric distortion, or more simply correct for perspective distortion in post-processing. If you avoid overexposing you might even be able to record some detail of the sun surface, like sunspots.

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Bill De Jager

Timber,

 

Regrettably in this case, the time to prepare for a solar eclipse is well in advance. Viewing glasses for the eyes and solar filters for photography are readily obtainable online but possibly might sell out close to the event. In any case they take time to arrive after being ordered.

 

The critical point to remember at this time is that many materials which might seem to attenuate the sun's rays adequately (either singly or in multiple layers) actually let through a lot of IR, enough to quickly harm the eyes. If it's not made specifically for solar viewing, don't look at the sun through it!

 

Projection is the safest approach, but during totality you can look directly at the eclipse without protection. You just need to avoid becoming so entranced that you fail to look away immediately when the sun begins to reappear as brilliant dots on the edge of the moon.

 

I've heard that #14 welding glass (U.S.) can be used, but I don't know whether the numbering system is different in Europe. In any case, the numbers are logarithmic so they cannot be added; 7 + 7 is not equal to 14!

 

More info on safety here: http://www.mreclipse...talityCh11.html

 

As far as photography goes, you don't need a super-long lens to photography totality as the corona extends quite a long ways from the sun. However, the visual view of the corona is deceptive as the farther reaches are drastically dimmer than the parts closer to the sun. This means massive bracketing and then merging images to capture even a sense of what the corona looks like to the eye. Also, the earth moves fast enough that the eclipse will seem to move a little in the frame even just in a couple of minutes, which will affect your bracketed images.

 

A view with a supertelephoto would require either relatively fast exposures or even an equatorial mount properly set up to compensate for the Earth's motion. The usual formula for safe exposures (in terms of avoiding blurring) is 600/focal length x seconds.

 

More info on eclipse photography here: http://www.mreclipse...lityCh12-1.html

 

Safe viewing!

 

Bill

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Norwegian broadcasting company (NRK) is transmitting directly from Svalbard, where the Eclipse is total. Two minutes to go. Watching the event on live TV is perfectly safe :D
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Thank you for all the info. I got some glasses but I don't think they will be fine for photography...

 

Oh well... the weather was totally clouded in London... so me and my wife were only able to enjoy it like this (as you can see we take safety absolutely seriously):

 

http://clancode.hu/alyssa/eclipse.jpg

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My protective glasses were not good. I couldn't get sharp pictures.

 

I used 3 layers of foil on my Pentax k-x equipped with Pentax SMC-A 200mm f4.

 

Magnification was not enough so the photos are almost 1:1 crops:

 

http://up.picr.de/21341367tj.jpg

 

http://up.picr.de/21341368gi.jpg

 

http://up.picr.de/21341369qy.jpg

 

http://up.picr.de/21341370ol.jpg

 

http://up.picr.de/21341371rg.jpg

 

http://up.picr.de/21341372no.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks!

 

I'm happy to have these because my nephew wanted me to shoot some pics. He and a lot of pupils here were not allowed to watch the eclipse.

 

Unbelieveable!

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Nice ones indeed baffe!

 

****

 

As seen from Weinheim Germany on my south looking balcony. 30 min time span (left to right, top to bottom)

Used a 800mm Schiefspiegler for that with adjustable iris and stacked ND filters (1.5 + 3.0)

 

http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/20153/455_Eclipse_2015_2_c_2.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

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