300 mm PF got eclipsed

[Ann]

We only got 75% totality here so no corona but 300mm PF (assisted by the TC 2.0 iii) delivered a series like this one:

Incidentally, I just stacked a pile of 3 ND Gels (3.30 ND's worth of them) in front of the lens; hand-held and shot using the regular OVF.  f/8 1/2500 sec 100 ISO.

No problems and I can still see!

Late on Sunday night we smoked a sheet of glass with a candle until it was well sooted-up for my daughter to use.
Apparently that piece of glass was the star of the show with everyone in her office car park wanting to borrow her sooted-glass.
I am informed that she can still see too!

Other parts of the USA witnessed a total eclipse so hopefully we shall see some exciting photographs here

[Tejpor]

I really envy the US now, so many solar eclipses coming!

Many (if not all) ND filters are completely transparent in the IR region so their usage for visual observations is really dangerous. Pupils dilate because the apparent darkness so the effect is exacerbated. The damage could be long-term.
I even melted shutter from using fast & long lens (not your slow combination though).

[Jakov Minić]

Ann, what a lovely image of the eclipse.

[Øivind Tøien]

Glad you and your PF survived the experiment, Ann! Isn't the 300 PF a such a neat and  lovely lens?
 
Here in Alaska we woke up to a cloudy sky which lasted until the partial eclipse was over. Just to tease us it cleared up at noon with hardly a cloud in the sky...

[Ann]

Jakov and Øivind:

Thank you! but I have just been looking at some of the stupendous results which those in the path of totality have achieved.

It would have involved me in about 24 hours of driving to get there but I am still wondering if I should have done it — but then it might have been under dense clouds or be raining?!

There really wasn't any danger because I was hand-holding, aiming, focussing and shooting very quickly and the sight through the viewfinder was entirely comfortable. The sky was slightly hazey too.

Once in a Blue Moon:

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Nice to see you here, Ann.

If you use a heavy ND filter designed to block visible light, it may still pass through significant amounts of invisible light. You don't see or feel the invisible light but it may still damage the eye. Generally such practices should not be encouraged even if there is no apparent damage in some instance.

[Akira]

Ann, I love the images, especially the blue treatment.

I would second Ilkka.  It is not a good idea to look at the sun through the "optical" viewfinder even with the "nominally" efficient ND filter.  Live view or EVF should be much safer in this situation.

[David Paterson]

Beautiful images.

We should have seen a partial eclipse here, but it was cloudy.

[Martin Zimelka]

I have seen a few nice results using merely ND's and even two polarisers canceling each other out... the questionable thing isn't the end result but the damage one may have incurred to one's eye? ND filters might reduce visible light sufficiently, but what about UV and other harmful rays?  And recently wasn't there an advisory article, published by NASA , that wrote about how dangerous smoked glass is for viewing the eclipse even though visually it may seem to suffice? Just seems a little odd from my perspective seeing that solar film is so easily and cheaply available to anyone in the USA...

[Ann]

Although it's wise to be aware of dangers, people have been watching solar eclipses for multi-millennia without the benefit of modern solar filtration.

I think that there is also a big difference between staring at the sun for an extended period through a telephoto device mounted in a fixed position, and using a hand held camera momentarily with the sun being recorded in ever-changing positions. Auto-focus is really fast these days.

I guess I am inclined to live dangerously and just wing it?!
I am always promising that I will grow-up and become sensible one day — but it won't be today.

[armando_m]

Thanks for sharing your images Ann

I have shot a partial  sun eclipse in 2014 using a 10 step ND without ill effects, as you say it is momentarily and not long exposure

One of my kids at school was able to watch using a telescope with the proper solar filter, she was thrilled even when here it was only 25%

[Ann]

I have always loved the ancient Chinese myth that an Eclipse means that a Dragon is devouring the Sun!

The remedy was for everyone to go out into the streets, bang gongs and discharge fireworks to frighten the dragon away.

It apparently worked because we still have our Sun.

[ColinM]

Wonderful story Ann.
So imagine seeing this event without the benefit of the last 2-3,000 years of learning? Guess a dragon was as plausible as any other explanation.