Plans for the eclipse April 8?

senor_jorge

senor_jorge

Barbara Eden+? Bring it!!
Premium Member
Original Poster
We are fortunate to have some friends living on some property, in the middle of nowhere, that is dead center on the track giving us almost 4:30 of totality.

Planning to break out the glass and solar filters to figure out my exposure this weekend. Then it’s time to clean sensors, glass, filters, charge batteries, and format cards. This is probably the only opportunity I’ll have in my lifetime so I’d hate to discover dust on my sensor when I start editing.

We’re adding a day to the trip for a Bald Eagle nest in their property. Hoping to get a good shot of the eaglet in the nest and one or both adults.
 
ddbowdoin

ddbowdoin

Well-Known Member
Im not sure… my SIL lives in the path of totality in Vermont, like 3:30 of totality.

I have a Fuji XH2s with a 200mm plus lens 1.4 TC. Lee Solar Filter.

Unsure how I’ll compose … do I stitch a sequence of the event? I have zero idea regarding exposure times. I don’t do Astro / solar work, ever.

Also, the traffic is scaring me.
 
senor_jorge

senor_jorge

Barbara Eden+? Bring it!!
Premium Member
Original Poster
ddbowdoin said:
Im not sure… my SIL lives in the path of totality in Vermont, like 3:30 of totality.

I have a Fuji XH2s with a 200mm plus lens 1.4 TC. Lee Solar Filter.

Unsure how I’ll compose … do I stitch a sequence of the event? I have zero idea regarding exposure times. I don’t do Astro / solar work, ever.

Also, the traffic is scaring me.
Click to expand...

Doing some test shots tomorrow to sort out exposure. I’m also planning on bracketing one stop.

We’re traveling what is usually a 90 min. drive. We had planned to leave Sunday but are leaving Saturday now. Weather on Sunday is supposed to be good, and there is also a nest on their property with a new eaglet so I’m hoping to get some decent shots. I’m more concerned about traffic on the drive home so we’ve taken Tuesday off to hopefully avoid the masses racing home.
 
senor_jorge

senor_jorge

Barbara Eden+? Bring it!!
Premium Member
Original Poster
I did a few test shots yesterday and have a couple of plans for exposure. I am bracketing. I think I’m going two stops over and under. I had good results using spot metering. Those choices are pretty much locked in.

Variables based on conditions will be whether I shoot in Manuel or aperture priority, and my ISO. Yesterday we had some haze which combined with some very thin clouds. At least early on I’ll be at f8, ISO at 100 and adjust depending where my shutter speed is. We’ll be far enough out of town that haze/smog shouldn’t be much of a factor. Whether or not we have clouds or flying cow weather is out of my control. That’s the plan, at least, for the two full frames with telephoto we’ll be using. I’m going to wing it with a crop sensor with something wider to try to capture a time lapse.

Good luck to everyone!!!
 
senor_jorge

senor_jorge

Barbara Eden+? Bring it!!
Premium Member
Original Poster
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Weather didn’t cooperate for us. Lots of clouds off and on and never a really clear sky. Will have to look using a better monitor and see what can be salvaged.

Hope everyone else had better luck!
 
HouCuseChickie

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
Just wanted to share...

We live in TX and were about 2 hours from the nearest spot of totality for us about 3 hours to several spots along the center line. I did a little bit of cloud condition chasing in the process, but landed on Ennis, TX that had 4 min and 23 seconds (approx) of totality. We started out the day with dense cloud cover, but were fortunate enough to experience the meteorological cloud clearing phenomenon leading up to totality. We had crystal clear skies for the big show.

While I did some filter and settings testing before the big event, in the moment, I decided that I didn't want to spend the time messing around with settings. I know that sounds awful, but it took me 50+ years to experience totality in person. So, I flipped it to auto and used my lens more like a telescope when I was looking through the camera. The pictures don't reflect exactly what I was seeing and I'm sure someone with expert editing abilities could do more with them. I at least can see little bits of the prominences I was seeing in real time.

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senor_jorge

senor_jorge

Barbara Eden+? Bring it!!
Premium Member
Original Poster
HouCuseChickie said:
Just wanted to share...

We live in TX and were about 2 hours from the nearest spot of totality for us about 3 hours to several spots along the center line. I did a little bit of cloud condition chasing in the process, but landed on Ennis, TX that had 4 min and 23 seconds (approx) of totality. We started out the day with dense cloud cover, but were fortunate enough to experience the meteorological cloud clearing phenomenon leading up to totality. We had crystal clear skies for the big show.

While I did some filter and settings testing before the big event, in the moment, I decided that I didn't want to spend the time messing around with settings. I know that sounds awful, but it took me 50+ years to experience totality in person. So, I flipped it to auto and used my lens more like a telescope when I was looking through the camera. The pictures don't reflect exactly what I was seeing and I'm sure someone with expert editing abilities could do more with them. I at least can see little bits of the prominences I was seeing in real time.

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Click to expand...

Location was huge. We were closer to Waco and spent more time waiting for clouds to pass than we did shooting anything. I’ve seen some shots from 20 miles away where they had clear skies during totality and some of them are stunning.

We had more time to take in the event, which I enjoyed. For me it wasn’t life altering but it was incredible. We had the benefit of being in a pasture and got the benefit of seeing the animals react, which was amazing. You had the opportunity to capture a really unique life event. How you choose to capture it is your business. In all honesty, looking back in time I kind of wish I’d switched to Auto just to have something to compare my settings to. Congrats!
 
HouCuseChickie

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
senor_jorge said:
Location was huge. We were closer to Waco and spent more time waiting for clouds to pass than we did shooting anything. I’ve seen some shots from 20 miles away where they had clear skies during totality and some of them are stunning.

We had more time to take in the event, which I enjoyed. For me it wasn’t life altering but it was incredible. We had the benefit of being in a pasture and got the benefit of seeing the animals react, which was amazing. You had the opportunity to capture a really unique life event. How you choose to capture it is your business. In all honesty, looking back in time I kind of wish I’d switched to Auto just to have something to compare my settings to. Congrats!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I started out the day in Hillsboro, about 35 miles north of Waco. I did not like the looks of the sky and made a mad dash to the northeast around 7:30am. I really didn't want to get into the Dallas metro, even though Plano looked promising, so Ennis seemed logical. There was this part of me that wanted to keep driving to Arkansas, but I was driving straight home afterwards and really wanted to avoid gridlock. I never thought I'd be watching an eclipse from the parking lot of a Buc-ee's that we've frequented on road trips. It's too bad the clouds didn't cooperate for you. I had friends in Temple and the Austin area who also got lucky.

I've been kind of obsessed with eclipses since I was young. Part is my dad and part was from an old National Geographic edition. So, this was pretty epic for me. I was alongside a highway, but I still observed some birds of prey moving in to hunt like they would at dusk. The grackles in the trees also went silent around 75% after squawking up a storm all morning.
 

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