August 21, 2017 ... the day everyone is waiting for! Well at least SOME people...
That is the day of the total eclipse of the sun, and the Path of Totality will pass across the USA for the first time in umpteen years. It's a pretty big deal, and people book hotel rooms in the path of the eclipse years in advance. It's supposed to be an almost Religious Experience to see the totality, and there is a brief couple of minutes where the corona of the sun can be seen without special glasses when the eclipse reaches it maximum. In the Cariboo (central BC), the eclipse should begin shortly after 9am.
Total Solar Eclipse... Photo Source: Travel Salem
Speaking of special glasses; you cannot look at any portion of the eclipse (except than when the sun is totally covered by the moon) without special eye protection. (Sunglasses will NOT DO no matter how dark they are!) You can have serious problems or even blindness as a result of looking directly at the sun. Order some inexpensive solar viewing glasses off Amazon or E- Bay such as SOLUNA brand... (About 24$ for a 10 pack, so family and friends can have a set). They're not unlike the old school 3D glasses you used to get at the movie theatres - at least in construction. They are cardboard frames. But these have special filters to protect your eyes while directly looking at the sun. Check out Soluna.com to get more info. These are supposedly the only glasses that are approved by NASA, and are ISO rated, etc. Do your research on these, for your safety! If you are not photographing, you can buy sheets of the Baader film that makes it easy to hold up in front of your face while viewing, and then you don't have to look like a dweeb with the cardboard glasses on. Haha! Just remember, even with the filter, view intermittently, a few minutes at a time - not continuously.
So I have my glasses, and now I also need a protective filter for my camera lens. Naturally I need some protection there too, if I want to photograph the eclipse, right? Because I'll be looking through the lens no doubt. (And it's not just for your eyes ... but for your camera's sensor as well. It can overheat and quit on you). I went onto E-Bay again, to find the filter I wanted. Mine is a Gosky Optics Baader Film filter, which fits over the lens hood of my telephoto lens and stays put via 3 rubber-tipped set screws. Very secure, no danger of it accidentally falling off while I'm looking at the sun. Did I mention, do NOT look at the sun without protection?
This filter is not glass - it is a special solar-viewing film stretched onto the circular frame. Much less expensive than an optical glass solar filter, but will work just fine. Just make sure it is not wrinkled, or has any punctures or tears in it, or it will not be safe to use.
If you are not in the Path of Totality, which is only about 70 Miles wide, then you can only see varying degrees of a partial eclipse, depending on where you are. But it will still be cool! Get some glasses, get a filter for your camera, and give it a go!
The Path of Totality map: https://i.redd.it/mnm7v4oadp4x.png
A graphic video of the path of the eclipse: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4515
For a quicker reference, below is a map showing the percentage of partial eclipse you will see from various locations across Canada:
Time to run some exposure tests!
The first shot, on my Lumix GX8, using the 100-400 Leica DG lens, my settings were: 390mm. F5, 1/400 sec, ISO 800. This is with the Baader filter in place, of course, which seems absolutely black if you aren't looking at the sun. Same rules as moon/star shots; pre-focus to infinity and set camera settings beforehand if you can.... These test shots were hand held. I plan to be on a tripod for the real event. As you can see in the tests, there is some cloud cover. Still getting a decent image, but clear skies would be best. My luck, it'll be raining wherever I am that day.
