Eclipse for some of us

On march 20th

March 20, 2015 ? Total Solar Eclipse

I just hope we get a nice clear day so we can see it.

paul04 said:

I just hope we get a nice clear day so we can see it.

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Me too. But knowing the weather here in the North West it will be cloudy.

Not sure how to go about taking a shot of an eclipse I guess you need a very dark filter.

wornish said:

Me too. But knowing the weather here in the North West it will be cloudy.

Not sure how to go about taking a shot of an eclipse I guess you need a very dark filter.

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Might try with a 10 stop filter, and as a back up a welding mask, but I think that might be to dark

paul04 said:

Might try with a 10 stop filter, and as a back up a welding mask, but I think that might be to dark

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I don't think a 10 stop will be enough, and I would only use Live View never look through the viewfinder.

A welding mask is a good idea , now where do I find one ?

Good idea about using live view.

Light cloud predicted here in the Steel City next Friday, but you never know it could all change........hail and snow probably!

You can purchase solar filter film to make your own filter or stack a ND10 and an ND6 which will get you close to the solar filters ND16.5 rating. But beware that ND filters will not block all types of light wavelengths so it would still be advisable to use Live View. I tested a ND10 and an ND8 and this was fine but you are into tripod territory.

An ND10 will not even cut it if the sun is behind light cloud as I found out whilst practicing the other day, but a did get some good shots of cloud iridescence.




Edit, just noticed the wide aperture so will be going with a smaller aperture on the next practice. The eclipse will only reach 87% of totality down here in Cornwall so it's still going to be light and bright (assuming a clear day of course )

I will test out the welding mask idea this weekend, just need a bit of sun.

Will be interesting to see what you get.
Forecast is not brilliant right now but that probably means clear blue sky on their current track record.

paul04 said:

just need a bit of sun.

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Good luck with that Paul

@paul04 @wornish You can buy very cheap welding glass off ebay Welding Lens Lense Glass Helmet Filter all shades or clear 41/4 x 31/4 | eBay. £1 with free postage. But most welding glass will give you a horrible green tint.



Photo as shot showing the green colour cast. Fixable in post, but even with the glass held onto the end of the lens with strong elastic bands there is still light leak present. Next time the sun is out I'll give it try with two stacked ND's and hopefully will not suffer from flare issues from stacking filters. The dots are light leak as well and not the sun.

I did a project on this as a kid, in cub scouts, I think. The welder's glass was taped over a small hole cut in a large cardboard box. The back of the box was draped with a heavy blanket to block light, and the picture was taken from inside the box. IIRC, all I had for a camera back then was a 110 instamatic of some sort. It was so long ago that I don't remember much more and I really don't recall how the pictures turned out from the mail order developer at the time.

Might be a set-up consideration or something to work with if you're ambitious. I'm sure it would help block light leak, but you'll still get green pictures.

Old good days of floppy disks! The disk inside was a perfect solar filter for viewing eclipses. I even made a filter to put on top of my MTO telescope using a 5" floppy, if I remember correctly (it was in 1999!). I used cardboard and parcel tape. The floppy disk did not cover the entire aperture of the mirror lens, but it was good enough to take a few shots. I must have filled the central hole in the disk somehow, though I don't remember how I did it.

Nowadays, you can buy solar filter sheet. I might be tempted to get one.

Well 5 minutes of sunshine and I managed to get a couple of test shots.

no 1, with a 10 stop filter.
no 2, with a 10+6 stop filter.

both with a aperture of f5






Having a little play with editing

paul04 said:

Well 5 minutes of sunshine and I managed to get a couple of test shots.

no 1, with a 10 stop filter.
no 2, with a 10+6 stop filter.

both with a aperture of f5






Having a little play with editing

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Looks like you should be all set to go using the 10 + 6.

Now fingers crossed for no clouds.

wornish said:

Looks like you should be all set to go using the 10 + 6.

Now fingers crossed for no clouds.

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I will also use the 18-105mm lens so I can get a little closer, just need some good weather now.

This is using Baadar solar film, the only way to go if you ask me.

How about using layers of dark colored plastic like you get on drinks bottles, some of them like Shandy are dark brown in color, you could cut these into round discs and just keep adding them til they block out enough light.

P.