Camera Labs

Looks like on Sunday evening my side of town will get a good look at the solar eclipse. We may be a little east to get the 100% fire ring but we'll be close. Once I heard about it I ran to the local welding shop and got a piece of welders glass. I read to look with the naked eye you should use #14. They had #12 so I figured that should work (I hope), they were closing in an hour so I didn't have time to research. So, I'm thinking tonight about the time it should be tomorrow I'm going to go practice so I know where to be and look. I know there will be a lot less light tomorrow during the event. I'm going to use my 70-300 since my 18-125 is screwed right now. Should I zoom all the way to 300? any other tips, f-stop? I have to get a good picture, the guy gave me the glass for free (it was only $5.00) so I told him if I get a good one, I'll give him a copy Thanks!

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Mike "The Squirrel"
Canon 550D | Canon EF 35mm 1:2 | Canon 50 f/1.8 II | Sigma 18-125mm DC OS | Tamron SP 70-300mm Di VC USD | Canon 430EX II
Military Issued Canon 40D | Canon 55-250mm IS

You will want to use 300mm if you are looking at the sun by itself, even then it'll be pretty small. If you can find a way to get more by then, do so! On the plus side, as the sun is smaller in the field of view, you wont have to adjust the tracking so often to follow it across the sky. Depending on how high up the sun will be at the time of the eclipse, you might also consider using it as part of a landscape composition.

I don't know about the properties of welder's glass, so you'll need to experiment to find a nice setting. If in doubt, turn on bracketing and let it rip. Exercise extreme caution if using your eyes. Use live view where possible.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

It wasn't a 100% succsess but it was ok, learned a lot for the next time. Pictures to follow

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Mike "The Squirrel"
Canon 550D | Canon EF 35mm 1:2 | Canon 50 f/1.8 II | Sigma 18-125mm DC OS | Tamron SP 70-300mm Di VC USD | Canon 430EX II
Military Issued Canon 40D | Canon 55-250mm IS

Well, I made a lot of mistakes that I knew better such as trying to press the shutter release instead of using my remote. My lens is not the best at full 300mm and I should have gotten different grades of glass; as we lost more and more sun the #14 glass I was using was too much. Plus a holder for the glass would have helped A LOT!!! I was about to lose the sun behind a house and my wife thought this was the best because of the roof gave some contrast to the picture. At this point I was hand-holding a polarizer in front of the lens for some shade because my camera refused to work with the thick #14. This is cropped and turned back the brightness a bit in Lightroom. We didn't get a full 100% but it was darn close . So, in 13-years, I'll be ready for the next one .

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Mike "The Squirrel"
Canon 550D | Canon EF 35mm 1:2 | Canon 50 f/1.8 II | Sigma 18-125mm DC OS | Tamron SP 70-300mm Di VC USD | Canon 430EX II
Military Issued Canon 40D | Canon 55-250mm IS

Hey man looks great!