Rod Sorensen

I meant 600mm lens, not 60mm.

John, Totally agree with your comments concerning the challenge of getting the sun in the viewfinder. In my case it was the D500/60mm combo. I was planning on rigging up something like what you describe in 2, but didn't get finished. I'm going to work on it ASAP so I don't forget it until 2024. What did work fairly well for me was using the live view to get the sun in the viewfinder and then the right angle viewfinder to tweak the position and shoot the pictures. For some reason, it was reasonable easy to do with the live view because you could sort of see where the "glare" was coming from and then find it on the LCD screen. I didn't have any trouble with "creep" using my Gitzo 1348 tripod, Arca Swiss B1 and Really Right Stuff clamp. I was definitely very careful about getting it in the QR and screwing it down tight as I'm always nervous when I put that big rig on the tripod. Having said that, next time I'm going to rig a motorized equatorial mount for a camera attachment. Continually having to get the sum back in the viewfinder drove me crazy. :-)

Last legs of eclipse in the clouds.

Decided to start this thread that people are talking about. I'd like to see images of the eclipse itself, pictures of people's set ups, descriptions of what you did that worked, accounts of mistakes you made, etc. it would even be okay to repost some of what got in the MiN thread so it will be here for us to review later. I'll start. What I did right. 1. The pictured set up is a Nikon D500 with 600/f4 AFS VR with front Spectrum Telescope glass filter. In my opinion, that kit was perfect. 2. I shot manual focus for everything. For non-totality I used manual exposure mode. For totality I used aperture priority mode. For every shot I bracketed 9 exposures at 0.7 using the fastest FS rate. I believe I would do all of that the next time also. 3. I got a right angle viewfinder, which was incredibly helpful when attached to a camera/lens that was pointing almost straight upwards. Mistakes I made. 1. I was planning to use my Gitzo 1548 tripod with Jobu gimbal head as the support. Turns out it wouldn't allow the tilt that I needed. Luckily, I had also brought my 1348 with the Arca-Swiss ball head that saved the day. 2. I didn't make sure to keep the sun in the middle of my viewfinder during totality. The drift cost me the 360 degree view of the prominences on a few images. 3. Didn't use insect repellant and got about 25 chigger bites. What I learned from others. 1. The people next to me had fairly basic camera gear, but were using a product I was unaware of. It is called Cam Ranger and consists of a wireless transmitter connected to the camera which allows remote control of all camera settings and a live view from a tablet. They couldn't control camera position from the tablet, although Cam Ranger also sells a remotely controllable ball head, but it only supports up to 6 pounds. I am seriously considering getting at least the transmitter.

A few more pix.

I had a great eclipse experience and am very happy I made the several hundred mile trip to Nebraska to view it. I had two pieces of bad luck. First, I got chiggers at the viewing site. :) I'd do it again even with that unfortunate occurrence. Second, although clouds got in our way a little throughout the eclipse, they decided to be most obstinate right at totality, so I literally only got about two 5 second glimpses through broken clouds during the 2.5 minute magic time. Oh well.

Point well taken. The head on the bird in the pond certainly has the look of a grosbeak head. And I don't se the crossbill. The bird on the pole looks like a different bird to me.

U.S. Weather The above link is probably the best I've found for cloud cover forecasts and it looks fairly promising for the Nebraska area I'm planning on next Monday. I would think the accuracy will be markedly better starting about Friday. If you want a good chuckle (which could become a lot less funny if you have to reserve someplace) check out airbnb.com anywhere along the total eclipse line. Opportunism at its best. I saw one listing that shows a blue tarp tied between trees over some unmowed grass, advertised as an "entire tent with one bedroom." $175 per night.

You may be right and certainly a yellow warbler is a possibility. They can be hard to tell apart without being able to carefully see each of the important differentiating features.

I would go female American Goldfinch on this one.

Top bird is hard to identify from pictures, could be western tanager if you are in the west. Bottom bird would then probably be a female Black-headed GROSBEAK, not cross beak.

Agree it could be an eastern kingbird if it has a little hook on the upper bill. Head doesn't look quite as prominent as I would expect. Also should be a fairly large bird, 8-9 inches.

I took an old road atlas and drew eclipse lines (using the online maps that show less detail) on each state map (Idaho to Tennessee) that I might use. That atlas will go with me when I leave. Right now, I have planned and practiced enough and gathered the right equipment to feel confident I can enjoy the viewing and also get some decent images. I have chosen a remote Nebraska location that should be a good place for viewing and imaging. I MIGHT tell you that location if you email me and promise not to spread it around. :-) But my biggest anxiety is still finding out a couple days before the eclipse that a big swath of the Midwest is likely to be overcast or whatever. Then I'll have to do a last minute Plan B scramble to drive several hundred miles, camp out, whatever. I have worked so hard on this that at age 66 I am just not willing to be unsuccessful and will do just about anything to avoid it.

2017 Total Solar Eclipse will be 'one of the events of the century' Idaho officials order disaster declaration for solar eclipse I think the top link might be what John was referring to. The second link is a story about Idaho actually declaring a disaster for the eclipse to position itself for possible federal funding if it needs it. That seems like a possible overreaction. Having said that, after reading the above Teton stuff, I'm kind of glad I convinced myself a few months ago not to go there. The Tetons are one of my top 3 favorite places in the continental US, but it looks like it might be a zoo there. My plan for northern KS as ground zero, with western driving into NE or even WY if necessary, seems like a better idea.

John, Excellent warning, but no I wasn't planning to look through any magnified optic at the sun. Revo Hot Shoe to 1/4"-20 Male Post Adapter SA-CS-14M B&H Bought the above from B&H. I think I'll mount a small block of wood with an appropriately sized hole drilled through it to serve as an auxiliary viewfinder.

The reason the LCD screen didn't really add much benefit was that you still have to search around to find the sun and the LCD angle (even with some adjustment provided on the D500) still is disadvantageous sitting at the back of the camera. I just think the right angle viewer will be much better. My tripod with the Arca Swiss ballhead and long Really Right Stuff QR plate is very solid, although you have to be careful getting the whole rig up in place and screwing the clamp tightly down. I debated getting the right parts to mount my lens to my Losmandy GM8, but decided it was just too much stuff to buy and then haul to the location and set up. I agree with your thought about a DIY hot shoe mounted "finder scope". That would be perfect. Line it up with the moon to test image placement in viewfinder and then do it with the sun, remembering your eclipse glasses.

Unless clouds and rain are in the forecast. o_O

Meant to put text with the above image. I went out and experimented a little on Saturday, right at the time of day the eclipse will occur. Used a Nikon D500/600 f4 lens/1.4X teleconverter. The picture is the very steep angle necessary for the lens to capture the sun - about 75 degrees. I had my Gitzo 1348 fully extended and still had to squat under the camera. Getting the sun in the viewfinder was extraordinarily difficult, partly due to the magnification factor, partly due to the very dark viewfinder image from the solar filter and partly because the sun was blasting in your off eye while you were trying to get the image in the viewfinder. Lessons learned? 1. The 1300 mm effective field of view is probably too large. I will likely switch the camera body to a D800 or skip the teleconverter. This will make getting the target in the viewfinder easier and also allow for more space for getting the corona and prominences once totality occurs. 2. I'm going to use a right angle viewfinder, as it will definitely help to get the target in the viewfinder more easily. No sun in your eyes. 3. I did everything I could think of to make LiveView and the LCD screen help, but in my mind it won't work unless totality is the only imaging interest. 4. In a short amount of playing around, I could not reproduce the rings you brought out in your images, David.

David, Interesting. I'm assuming this was hand held, thus explaining the asymmetrical right lower corner. ?? Could this just be lens flare? It seems a little weird for either flare or ghosting with such symmetrical and seemingly well focused rings around the sun. But maybe that is to be expected when the big light source is the object being imaged instead of entering the lens at something other than a 90 degree angle. Maybe it is light bouncing between lens elements. Just free associating a little. :-) My plan was to play around with the sun tomorrow. I'll see if I get any similar results, although I plan to use a tripod. Don't have your handholding skills.

For me this is indeed about "can I?" AND "I hope I can!" I thought a lot about chimping, as I know a lot of exposures will get wasted with bracketing. But I just don't think there is enough time and have decided to take a unique strategy (for myself, anyway) and bracket like crazy. I think I'll get more useful images that way. When I did the giant red moon lunar eclipse a couple of years ago, I found that my chimping methodology probably cost me some good exposures and that had a much wider time window than the solar eclipse will. Anyway, it's a totally new strategy for me, but I might try it and at least see if I learn something.

So my next question relates to bracketing. I'll forego the partial phase as I think I have a strategy for that. My questions relate to the just before and after totality (Diamond Ring & Bailey's Beads) and during totality (prominences/corona). If I use f8/iso100 as an example, it appears that Bailey's Beads would be about 1/4000 and the Diamond Ring about 1/60 and the corona 1/2-1. That would be a total span of up to 13 stops, which would be a bracketing challenge. My D500 and D800 will let me do 9 exposures and I'd prefer not to do more than 1 EV increments. I'm thinking I'd choose two time periods - just before and after totality, where I would do f8/iso100 and 1/1000 and bracket 9 exposures at 1 EV and then totality, where I would do f8/iso400 and 1/125 and bracket 9 exposures at 1 EV. Tell me what you think.

I have continued to learn about solar eclipse photography from your replies here as well as online blogs/videos/etc. I did end up getting a D500 when the price dropped recently as I've got a lot of things I'm going to use that for, including this eclipse. I've spent too much on solar filters, but will have them for later projects even if I don't use them now. I got them for my Nikon 600mm lens (which I'll use), my Canon 18X50 IS binocs (which I'll use) and my Astrophysics refractor (which I probably won't use). One question I'm trying to ask myself is how to make sure I keep the sun in the view of my lens during totality. I'll likely use the 600mm lens on my D500, probably with the 1.4x converter, so I'm figuring about a 1300mm equivalent. How long will the sun stay in my view at those settings? My calculation so far is based on seeing comments that it takes the sun about 3 hours to traverse the field of a 50mm lens which I believe would give me about 7 minutes at 1300mm. Does that sound correct? The other thing would be getting the sun in the right corner to begin with so it is traversing the field of view correctly. Horizontally, that would be E to W, so put the sun in the E to begin with. Vertically, I would assume you would put it in the lower part of the viewfinder because it would move up as it traverses. Am I correct with those horizontal and vertical assumptions for beginning solar image placement? And for totality, would it be best to just set up exposure bracketing over a wide range and then figure out later what was good...? I'm still trying to figure out location strategy. My brother lives in KS about an hour south of the totality line, so if the weather looks promising, I will probably drive there from WI on Friday and spend Saturday scoping out locations on the eclipse line and hopefully find a farm where I can get permission to view the eclipse, set up my cameras, etc. BUT if the weather doesn't look promising for KS, I'll have to do something different. In looking at hotels close to the eclipse line in the Midwest, pretty much everything is already booked. So I'm brainstorming what my strategy would be to find the alternate location if I have to. Might have to drive somewhere early Saturday, scout a location and get permission and camp under the stars. Thanks to all who have read these posts and commented. It has been very helpful to my learning and planning. I am really excited about this event, but also nervous - mostly regarding the ability to be at a good location.

I pretty much agree with the whole range of emotions people have commented on related to the cycle of life in nature. And I have been for the most part comfortable with the fact that a life lost can be a life saved. BUT, I will admit to a time earlier this spring where I was seriously considering the need for an exception to that rule. I have bird feeders, bird baths, birdhouses all over my 3/4 acre in town property. One of the birdbaths became a killing grounds for several crows to use on their stolen newly hatched birds. I must have seen them carry in at least 10 and I'm only watching for an hour or so in the morning so I'm sure there were many more. I got tired of cleaning body parts out of the bird bath and nearly declared an unofficial crow season.

Gup, I always appreciated good images of birds in flight and moving wildlife. But my respect for the difficulty of getting those images grew exponentially when I tried to produce similar images myself. It requires a great amount of specific planning and knowledge as well as motor skills that require significant practice. I have improved, but not to the point that I don't still believe my Nikon 600/4 VR lens to be defective - highly unlikely :-) I am trying to emulate friends and pros who are good at this as well as forum members here like David and I'm seeing slow but steady improvement.