Total Solar Eclipse 2012

How lucky your are to get the chance, Its a properly fantastic experience, I/we rode to the middle of France for the last one our way, wandered up to the top of a hill sticking out on the farmlands and watched the oval ripples of shadows rush across the fields 40 miles away while plunging us into eerie darkness.. silenced all of us, and the birds,just the sound of quick firing shutters.

For the actual full on Eclipse you don't need any filters, its like hundreds of times darker at this point and well within the average cameras ability. Before that though you need a Solar filter to catch the progressions, I think people also use welding glass as a cheaper alternative. not sure though.

I shot at 320mm which wasn't nearly enough, I think you'll need to find a way of getting near the 1000mm mark for a fuller frame of it all.

Unfortunately for us it was partially cloudy and none of my shots are any good, Id show you but they are film shot and I don't have a scanner. I believe digitally that you can improve cloud and fuzz problems if you bracket a few shots at different exposures and then combine somehow for best effect...

Thats all I know, it may not be that accurate. :)
 
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thanks for the info Adam. I'm pretty sure i don't have the money to get those lens, perhaps next next next next next next eclipse haha.
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
I think you'll need to find a way of getting near the 1000mm mark for a fuller frame of it all.
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That's about right, though I think maybe 600-800mm would be fine to show the full corona. The moon is the same size as the sun, obviously, and I shot this (uncropped) last week with a 1600mm lens. So you can see that if it were half the size (800mm) there would be plenty of room around it in the frame for the corona.



Shamus001 said:
I'm pretty sure i don't have the money to get those lens, perhaps next next next next next next eclipse haha.
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If you're in Singapore, you've got one on your doorstep in March 2016. Check out the global eclipse atlas for 2001-2010 here: [click]. Is four years enough to get saving?
 
Shamus001 said:
thanks for the info Adam. I'm pretty sure i don't have the money to get those lens, perhaps next next next next next next eclipse haha.
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You could use two 2 x tele converters (or similar joining of extensions) on a 200mm, thats near a thousand mm on a crop sensor I think. :naughty: ....you'd be like at f16 or dimmer light wise i'm guessing, (depends) but that would work just fine Id suggest...perhaps in-fact that combination would be to close, as Stuarts just suggested ( thanks SR) 800mmm might be better to aim for, because you'll need room to show the lovely corona in size context so to speak.
 
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You can make your own filter using Baader Solar Film LINK, there are instructions on how to make your own filter cell on the Baader website.
 
Woah, thanks so much for those useful tips and responses. I will check out the link on making my own filter. And yes i hope until the next solar eclipse in Singapore i will have all the gear and skill well prepared!
 
Bumping an old thread but I'm going to the Eclipse in Cairns this year and just looking at buying the Baader Solar Film. The eclipse is going to happen at 6.30 in the morning, so I'm not expecting it to be too bright. I'm a little concerned about how I'm going to shoot the progressions using a 450D + 100-400 with the film on, as I currently have no tripod (and don't particularly want to invest in one as I'm considering going for a compact mirrorless in the nearish future). Does anyone have any experience of how many stops of light the film blocks?

Thanks,
 
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