Photographing Solar Eclipse

<p>Hi,<br>

I have a Nikon D40 and 18-200mm VR lens.I learnt that there will be Solar Eclipse in most part of Asia and I will be in Leh, India (Himalayas) during that period.<br>

I want to know if I can capture the Solar Eclipse useing my camera, if so are there any precaurtions to be taken.<br>

Thank You</p>

<p>Is it a total solar eclipse? If it is, you can harmlessly look at the ECLIPSED SUN ONLY during totality. That's: ONLY DURING TOTALITY!!!! Only!<br>

Your 200mm on the D40 should give a small but satisfying image size during totality; 300mm or 400mm would be nicer. For photographing before/after totality...remember: DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN EITHER DIRECTLY OR THROUGH THE CAMERA FINDER...there are special solar filters made to accommodate the extreme brightness without destroying image quality. Don't try stacking a bunch of polarizers, it is UNSAFE and usually there's too much flare/image degradation. Research the world of astronomy equipment for solar photo filters.. Make sure any special solar filter you look through is SAFE TO LOOK THROUGH...IF UNSURE, DON"T LOOK THROUGH IT! Oh, and by the way...<br>

Look at sun ONLY DURING TOTALITY. If your eclipse is NOT a TOTAL solar eclipse, then there won't be any totality, and you can't look at it directly. </p>

<p>1) Pointing your lens/camera at the sun is NOT a good idea. The heat generated will often cause damage to the mirror box, not to mention unnecessary heat buildup within the camera.</p>

<p>2) Unless you have some Hydrogen Alpha filters or a occultation disk, there is no reason to photograph the eclipse directly. I would suggest the projection method, you'll see the eclipse just fine.</p>

<p>3) If you feel that you must shoot it straight on, get a welders glass and place it in front of your lens.</p>

<p>4) Go to a star party. There will be plenty of them around. Borrow a "T" adapter for your Nikon to mate with a 1.25" diagonal eyepiece tube. Most advanced amateurs will be observing with Meade and/or Celestron telescopes; 1.25" is the standard..some use 2.00".</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Search on astronomical photography and eclipse for some tips. I used to photograph the sun through a telescope years ago, at an observatory, and we always had thick red filters on the telescope for this job. It would burn out the CCD, let alone our eyes, if we had not done so. We never looked into the eyepiece even with the filters on. It was not safe. </p>

<p>An astronomy teacher of mine taught me an alternate way to "see" an eclipse. During an eclipse, you can use a tree as a sun filter. Sometime when you're outside, look at the shadows cast by the leaves of a tree on the sidewalk when the sun is coming through the leaves. There will be lots of circles in the shadows. When the sun is being eclipsed, you can see the eclipse shapes in the shadows - they turn into crescents and get more and more narrow as the sun disappears. It's pretty neat.</p>

<p>

<p>Hi Ravi. I have a MS degree in Astronomy. Just google "Baader AstroSolar Filter Sheet". That's the cheaper, safer and better quality product for taking pictures of the sun. As has been said, never observe the sun without such quality, dedicated filters. Only if you are in the line of totality you can observe (and photograph) the sun without filters, naked eye for a few moments (the brigher stars do appear in a total solar eclipse). And don't forget to enjoy the eclipse. Everything happens really fast!</p>

</p>

<p>Consider recording the event on Earth instead of what happens in the sky. You can usually get great shots of the crowd doing things, including what I will describe below.</p>

<p>One of the best ways to view an eclipse safely is by projecting the Sun's image onto a flat surface. You need two things - a piece of thin cardstock with a pinhole in it, and a sheet of something white and heavier (white posterboard is perfect, but too thick for the pinhole sheet). Hold the pinhole in front of the background board, and presto, Safe Solar Viewing. The sheets should be the same size so the pinhole sheet shades the projection sheet. Pictures of people viewing the projections capture the human event AND the celestial event.</p>

<p>You can try it now, but it will be a full solar disc. Look for sunspots - larger areas of sunspot activity will be visible in your projected image. Here's a good webpage on viewing our star, our sun, the Sun:<br /><a href="http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/outreach/sunobserve1.pdf">http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/outreach/sunobserve1.pdf</a></p>

<p>Depending on the terrain where you will be viewing (if you are actually in the path of totality), you might be able to see one of the coolest things: The shadow of totality racing toward you across the countryside. Most people miss this because they are looking up. Don't forget to look AROUND, too.</p>

<p>Hi!<br>

We did this when in highschool...<br>

Took a plane mirror and covered it up with a cardboard leaving a neatly cut circular hole of 5cm diameter in the middle.The mirror was then positioned in such away that the suns reflection cast a circular image on a flat white screen in a darkened room.We had a safe & perfect view of the 'diamond ring'.May be you can photograph the projected image at regular intervals and make a nice composite picture of the eclipse.All the best.</p>

<p>I photographed a solar eclipse During Totality (I used a solar filter during the non totality phases) several years ago using a Nikon 6006 and a 500mm lens. The image size of at 200mm will be on the small size but cropped you should get some nice shots.<br /><br />Heed the advice about getting a quality solar filter. Here are folks that specialize in these:<br>

http://seymoursolar.com/ </p>

<p>Go here for information on Solar Eclipse photograpy http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/eclipsePhoto.html</p>

<p>Take advantage of your bracket feature and shoot a lot quickly. </p>

<p>DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND BE SURE YOU ARE IN THE LINE OF TOTALITY. OTHERWISE VIEWING AND PHOTOGRAPHING THE ECLIPSE CAN BE DANGEROUS. As many have pointed out it is only safe to look at the eclipse without protection during totality but you must be sure you are in the line of totality.</p>

<p>Above all divide your time in half. Spend half of your time taking some photos (of the eclipse, the environment etc. your choice) Spend the other half experiencing the event which can't be done by looking through your viewfinder. Once you experience totality you will be a changed person.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I used this thread to prepare for the 4 Jan 2010 partial eclipse (living back in Europe now). I was a bit intimidated with the discussion as it seemed very difficult to photograph the event.<br>

In the end, I decided to bring my gear but counted on not being able to photograph anything. I realized I was lucky when there was some natural filtration coming from the clouds, so I set up anyway. I used my 100-400 at 400, and put my cokin filter holder on the front. I added 3 of the available filters I have, easy enough. Although I wasnt prepared personally for the enormous light that comes from the eclipse, my camera totally did the job and I had some nice pictures, even in the time that it shone between the clouds and wasnt filtered by anything else than my Cokin stuff. So if you have some gear, a few filters that you can put in front of each other, chances are you CAN photograph this thing.<br>

Just a FYI if you're preparing for the next eclipse and stumble upon this thread like I did ...<br>

PS Outside the camera I used 1 dollar Astro glasses that the local astronomy club were distributing free of charge. Once you experience this, you know why others say you cannot (should not) look to this eclipse with the naked eye.</p><div></div>