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So, I live in Oregon and you can't escape the eclipse talk. I ordered glasses and a filter today. I went with decent glasses - because I can't stand cardboard ones- and a cardboard, foldup filter for the camera.

 

Now I am trying to figure out where to take pictures. To get a close up of the sun, I can go on the hill in my backyard, and assuming it is a normal, sunny August day I can snap away to my hearts content and get 99.36% totality. But would it be worth it to travel and get some wide shots of some cool, Oregon landmark in the picture?

 

Let me say that Oregon is expecting 1 million extra people for the weekend. (which makes my backyard very attractive to me!) It hits totality at 1015 (ish) so it will be pretty high in the sky and any wide shot for landscape would probably just show a black dot in the sky.

 

What would you do?

Thanks,

Vic

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We're "visiting" friends in Portland over that weekend and will be heading down to the central swath on Monday.

 

I went with Thousand Oaks Optical for the filter and went with the white light film glasses. I've been looking forward to this for a few years. It almost feels like an upcoming cruise!

 

I plan on having the 18-105 set to cover most of the occultation and pointed at the eclipse path on a time lapse and will shoot the weird lit landscape with the 12mm with the creepy black sun in the sky.

 

Dave

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Jealous of you all, we'll get a partial in AZ.

 

One think I noticed and didn't take good advantage of last time: The shadow patterns on the ground through leaves on trees, they were quite interesting. Might want to keep the backup camera handy in case something inspired presents itself.

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Personally I would stick with the backyard because you have more control and less interference. I would set one camera up time lapse with the filter, and if I had another I would, as noted, shoot landscape on timelapse as well with a slightly longer interval.

 

I'm not travelling to the Eclipse but if I get a partial here I'll be using a 24-105 sigma art lens with a TBD filter from the local sports fields and maybe a 12-18 on the backup body.

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I'm at the other end in Charleston and I plan on sitting next to the pool with a beer and my camera. (got my homemade solar filter already made for a piece of solar film). Plan B (if cloudy) is to go to the USS Yorktown and do a timelapse of downtown Charleston form the flight deck. (sadly no beer allowed with plan B).

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I am going to be on the Oasis eclipse cruise. Lucky me I already had it booked when they changed the itinerary. I've ordered a Olympus M10 II and a Olympus 14-150 lens. I'll take it to the camera store once I get it to see what I need to make it ok for the eclipse and will hope for the best. The camera is back ordered and I was told to expect it August 15th.

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I'm leaning toward staying close to home. One of the places I need to check out is a park just a couple miles away with a great view of Mt. Hood. I think this looks too much east, but I will go up there in the morning a week or so before the eclipse and check out the angle of the sun. Just the angle of the shadow across the mountain could be cool.

Great advice to watch the surroundings as well as the sky.

 

enhance

 

This link isn't working right now, but it is the one I used to find out that the backyard would be at 99.5% totality.

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html

 

Thanks everyone!

Vic

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Got my Thousand Oaks Optical Solar Filter yesterday and the step-up ring should be here later today. I am going to try a few configurations on the uneclipsed sun but my current plan is to use my old A-mount Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 adapted to either the A6000 or A6300 on the tripod with time-lapse exposures every "x" minutes/seconds. (The "x" variable is the reason for the configuration runs before the trip.)

 

I'll post my exposure and time-lapse settings when I get them nailed down.

 

Dave

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1/160s - F5.6 - ISO200

 

Sigma 70-200f/2.8 At 200mm with a matched 1.4x TC ,cropped 50%.

 

p2429653117-5.jpg

 

I thought, "why didn't it show any sunspots?" I went to the solarmonitor.org site and found that there are virtually no visible spots today. So, yay!

 

Anyway, the Thousand Oaks Optical filter is a film type filter and isn't optically perfect, but it will definitely do what I want it to do.

 

Only a month away!

 

Dave

Edited by pierces
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Okay, I tried this out today. I still need some practice. Dave, my sun shots are white, not yellow: did you adjust for this, or is my solar filter just different?

 

Here are some things I had trouble with:

1. focusing: it looked like it was in focus in my viewfinder, but it was not

2. color: sun looked yellow through my very cool looking solar glasses, but white in the camera; I tried using shorter exposures and/or smaller apertures, but then it got too dark

3. At first, it looked like a double image: a white sun and a green mini sun, but as I moved the camera direction, that resolved. I guess that was a reflection from the filter?

 

Things I learned (some of this may be specific to my camera, a Olympus EM10 mark ii, but other cameras may have the same options):

1. I figured out how to set my "Mysets" so I can just switch to the things I need set for the eclipse: image stabilization off on the tripod, a function button set to switch from auto to manual focus, one set to the magnifier, and one for bracketing.

2. I pulled my Hoodman back out as it helped see the viewfinder. Bought for an older camera, but works for this too.

3. Using the magnifier should help with the focusing. I need to try peaking too.

 

A few more things I'm concerned about:

1. I wonder if I need more batteries. I've never used up all 3 in a day, but this would be a really awful disappointment if my batteries died. It was VERY hot today, and my battery, while not fresh, seemed to expire before I expected. Does heat make batteries die faster? I know cold does.

2. Is my camera going to overheat? Not happened before, but it's 100 degrees today and it easily could still be that hot in a month. Is there a way to keep an all black camera cooler in the sun? A white cloth or towel?

 

And I look very cool in my solar glasses:

Preparation-M.jpg

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Okay, I tried this out today. I still need some practice. Dave, my sun shots are white, not yellow: did you adjust for this, or is my solar filter just different?

 

Here are some things I had trouble with:

1. focusing: it looked like it was in focus in my viewfinder, but it was not

2. color: sun looked yellow through my very cool looking solar glasses, but white in the camera; I tried using shorter exposures and/or smaller apertures, but then it got too dark I know with my telescope solar filters, different manufacturers give different colored images.

3. At first, it looked like a double image: a white sun and a green mini sun, but as I moved the camera direction, that resolved. I guess that was a reflection from the filter? My filters give me a green ghost image also unless the sun is perfectly centered head-on.

 

Things I learned (some of this may be specific to my camera, a Olympus EM10 mark ii, but other cameras may have the same options):

1. I figured out how to set my "Mysets" so I can just switch to the things I need set for the eclipse: image stabilization off on the tripod, a function button set to switch from auto to manual focus, one set to the magnifier, and one for bracketing.

2. I pulled my Hoodman back out as it helped see the viewfinder. Bought for an older camera, but works for this too.

3. Using the magnifier should help with the focusing. I need to try peaking too.

 

A few more things I'm concerned about:

1. I wonder if I need more batteries. I've never used up all 3 in a day, but this would be a really awful disappointment if my batteries died. It was VERY hot today, and my battery, while not fresh, seemed to expire before I expected. Does heat make batteries die faster? I know cold does. Heat can to a point, but in my opinion not as much as cold seems to.

2. Is my camera going to overheat? Not happened before, but it's 100 degrees today and it easily could still be that hot in a month. Is there a way to keep an all black camera cooler in the sun? A white cloth or towel? My Sony a6000 definitely can overheat, but so far not in picture mode-just video. I think you are on the right track with a white towel to help.

 

And I look very cool in my solar glasses: Agreed!:cool:

Preparation-M.jpg

 

Just my $0.02 (in red above)

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Thanks for your 2 cents, Shootr. I did some more reading on my filter and it does produce a white image. The ghost image for not centering seems to be what I saw. Thank you for the confirmation. Still need to get out and try again!

I did order some extra batteries. We will be primitive-tent camping on the 20th, so my batteries have to last through night shots on the 20th as well as the eclipse. I will have a second camera (GM5) for shooting people shots during the eclipse, won't need a filter as it won't be pointed upward.

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I found a winery about 25 miles from my house for the eclipse. A champagne pancake breakfast for 100 people for only $21. Sounds pretty good. And there are 3 different ways to get home from there, which will be really handy!

 

These pictures are from a partial eclipse in Arizona in 2012 . I shot them without a filter and never quite understood why only the shadow showed the eclipse.

enhance

 

enhance

 

Vic

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Any idea if using two ND filters to get to 16 - 18 stop reduction will work, and be safe?

 

Ken

 

No reason why it wouldn't. The main consideration is reducing the amount of light so as not to overwhelm the sensor. I tried it with a (cheap) variable ND filter I have, but it ghosted pretty badly unless centered exactly. If you have good, multi-coated filters, it may do the job. Test before the irretrievable 2 minutes...;)

 

Dave

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Any idea if using two ND filters to get to 16 - 18 stop reduction will work, and be safe?

 

Ken

If I remember correctly, at that 2012 eclipse I stacked 3 ND's that amounted to about 14 and it worked well. I still used the view screen rather than the eye piece, but they came out great.

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

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