418 replies to this topic

[dan_hm]

Thought I would start a thread for people to share what equipment and software they plan on using to photograph and process the total eclipse.

 

I'm planning on using a Canon 300mm f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter and Ha-modified Canon 6D on an RST-135 mount.  As for software, I need to learn Solar Eclipse Maestro or Eclipse Orchestrator.  In 2017 I didn't use any software and, while I was happy with the results, I think I would have done much better with software.  For processing, I guess I will have to finally get a Photoshop subscription. 

 

What are you using?  Any tips based on 2017 or other eclipses? 

[nicknacknock]

Hi Dan,

 

You can use GIMP for post-processing which saves you the subscription cost of PS - and there are tons of tutorials and how-tos for it out there so it will be relatively easy to get up to speed.

[Seldom]

I used Solar Eclipse Maestro in 2017, and it worked beautifully.  It will link to a Garmin GPS so you don't have to manually enter coordinates.  Only problem is it won't tether your gps with a Mac OS after Mohave.  If you can get hold of an old OS that's the way to go. 

 

I used an NP101is scope with a Canon 60Da.  Definitely get software that tells you when to add and remove filters.

 

Check out the website for full details on Solar Eclipse Maestro  http://xjubier.free....y_Software.html

 

Below are two shots I did with the gear listed.

 

https://astrob.in/309170/0/

 

https://astrob.in/308807/B/

Edited by Seldom, 12 March 2023 - 05:01 PM.

[dan_hm]

I used Solar Eclipse Maestro in 2017, and it worked beautifully. It will link to a Garmin GPS so you don't have to manually enter coordinates. Only problem is it won't tether your gps with a Mac OS after Mohave. If you can get hold of an old OS that's the way to go.

I used an NP101is scope with a Canon 60Da. Definitely get software that tells you when to add and remove filters.

Check out the website for full details on Solar Eclipse Maestro http://xjubier.free....y_Software.html

Below are two shots I did with the gear listed.

https://astrob.in/309170/0/

https://astrob.in/308807/B/

Beautifully done. If I use SEM I was going to use an old Macbook anyway so that would work out.

[TxStars]

This will make Total Eclipse number Five for me.

With all the recent solar activity I hope for some good prom's

Scopes will be my proven eclipse work horses.

Takahashi FCT-65  & FC-100

Now I just have to decide on which cameras to use.

[Look at the sky 101]

I have a very old nikkon d80 camera, with a 24/200 dx lens, vr .

Is it possible to do something with it?

[Bryguy]

I have an old Nikon D5200 with a 55-300mm lens that came with it and I'll piggyback it on my scope. Me personally, I find 2 to 4 minutes too short of a time frame to be dealing with photography when it comes to total eclipses. I'll take a few pictures as a keepsake and memories but nothing to really try to publish or brag on social media. If the sun stays as active as it is now I'll have to decide which scope to bring. The Stowaway or the old school Lunt that is Ha solar only. Being under dark new moon skies in the Texas Hill Country, where they care about dark skies and light pollution, it will most likely be the Stowaway. Since I'm flying down there, I'm only bringing one.

[Seldom]

. Me personally, I find 2 to 4 minutes too short of a time frame to be dealing with photography when it comes to total eclipses.
 

Using Solar Eclipse Maestro we were able to let the software handle the photography and enjoy the view through binoculars.  Only interruption was "filters off" or "filters on" which were maybe 5 seconds each. Should have mentioned above, I was also using a Hinode solar guider to keep things lined up.And I spent about a month prior practicing.

 

Our totality was about 1.5 minutes.

Edited by Seldom, 13 March 2023 - 01:25 PM.

[R Botero]

I am going to Mazatlan and will be taking a telescope and mount for the first time to a solar eclipse for me.  My previous 3 totals have been a visual enjoyment exercise but I plan to take some pictures of this one.  I have never used a DSLR and would like to use a CMOS camera (APS-C colour chip) and FireCapture.  Perhaps bracketing different exposures in sequential videos.  Given totality is so long (at least for my previous experiences) at >4m, I thought I could capture at least 3 runs of each bracket during totality.   Anyone has any experience with FireCapture and solar eclipses?  I saw this http://www.zam.fme.v...47mm/0-info.htm  by Miloslav Druckmüller and Peter Aniol using an older ASI1600MM.  I plan to use an ASI2600MC.

 

Roberto

Edited by R Botero, 14 March 2023 - 05:16 AM.

[Slimtannor]

It's on my 67th birthday. Will be traveling to Texas to photograph it. I was in Oregon for the 2017 eclipse. I used my Nikon D5500 with a Sigma 150-600mm and will take the ZWO 224 this time as well. Only problem is, I'm having trouble finding a motel, even now price gouging is going through the roof.

[nicknacknock]

I am going to Mazatlan and will be taking a telescope and mount for the first time to a solar eclipse for me.  My previous 3 totals have been a visual enjoyment exercise but I plan to take some pictures of this one.  I have never used a DSLR and would like to use a CMOS camera (APS-C colour chip) and FireCapture.  Perhaps bracketing different exposures in sequential videos.  Given totality is so long (at least for my previous experiences) at >4m, I thought I could capture at least 3 runs of each bracket during totality.   Anyone has any experience with FireCapture and solar eclipses?  I saw this http://www.zam.fme.v...47mm/0-info.htm  by Miloslav Druckmüller and Peter Aniol using an older ASI1600MM.  I plan to use an ASI2600MC.

 

Roberto

Roberto,

 

I use Firecapture for general WL imaging, but you can use it for eclipses using the autorun function. However, you must time everything right when you are planning this.

 

I will attend the 2027 eclipse and will defer to the use of a DSLR and bracketing through SETnC or one of the other eclipse software. Simpler, fully automated and tested multiple times. All you have to do is to remove and then add back the front solar filter!

[R Botero]

Nick

 

Indeed, I'm very familiar with FireCapture (for planetary, solar, lunar work) and was thinking about the AutoRun with different exposure brackets running automatically.  I could take the suggested exposure times from one of the online eclipse calculators for DSLR and use those in FireCapture.  Or I could buy myself a DSLR just for this project and use one of the software packages that is tried and tested.  I am just not familiar with DSLRs as I didn't start the hobby with them (built a CCD camera from Richard Berry's Cookbook in the 90s instead).   That's why I was wondering if someone was using FireCapture (or SharpCap) already for this.  I couldn't find anything the FireCapture forum either.

 

Roberto

[nicknacknock]

Easy to program Firecapture. However, the DSLR route is easier. Plus, you have a lot of time to practice with a DSLR….

[RNSpeed]

For the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse I traveled with my Wife and Kids to Casper, WI.  I used a Coronado PST for the partial phase of the eclipse and a lightweight Meade Adventure Scope 80 for the Total Phase.  As for the camera I used a Canon 70D controlled by the iPhone Canon App.  All on a Celestron CG4 Mount.   Used eyepiece projection with a Meade 8-24mm Zoom lens that helped me make quick adjustments to archive focus.

For next year Hopefully (If I can find a place to stay in TX)  I plan to use my AP Stowaway with white light filter on the iOptron HAE29 mount.    Since I sold the Canon camera and the PST  I'm planning to buy soon one of those Canon Mirroless cameras and maybe a Lunt 50
 

Regards

 

Ray

[TxStars]

The hotels in Texas close to the centerline are booking up or are already booked, so you may have to drive from further away.

Better get your room sorted out before they are gone.

[RNSpeed]

The hotels in Texas close to the centerline are booking up or are already booked, so you may have to drive from further away.

Better get your room sorted out before they are gone.

Actually been trying for a while to book a hotel but most doesn't allow to book a room with more than a year in advance

[Ohmless]

I am just gonna take a small and lightweight kit and plan on using a phone on a celestron nexyz adapter.  I am not looking for perfection, just a souvenir from the trip.  My choice for totality image field of view is a 2.33 degree FOV 32mm plossl with my coma corrector.

Edited by Ohmless, 19 March 2023 - 12:35 PM.

[troske]

Planning on a dual saddle setup with Lunt 50 and some kind of planetary camera on one side and Nikon DSLR with 200-500 zoom on the other. Just got the Hinode guider to keep the iOptron GEM28 on target.

 

I will probably use Firecapture sequencer for the Ha. I was hoping to use Eclipse Orchestrator Pro for the Nikon, but the pro version seems to be no longer available. Hoping a new version or other PC software comes out soon. Otherwise, I will use the Eclipse Timer app and lots of manual fiddling to bracket during totality for HDR. This worked OK in 2017, but I bumped my zoom ring, resulting in slightly different image scale before and after totality.

 

For visual, I think it will be my 15x70 binoculars. 

 

Tim

[R Botero]

Is Hinode a proven solution for TOTAL solar eclipses?  I was thinking about the Sky-Watcher Solar Quest but some users have said it does not track if the Sun/Moon are totally obscured....which makes it pointless for the period of totality.  I don't want to use an equatorial mount and have to fiddle with alignment, etc, hence my question about a simple Alt-Az mount.   There should not be much field rotation in the 4 minutes + of totality to impact a large enough FoV.   Any suggestions?

 

Roberto

[kasprowy]

I will soak it all in visually with a Lunt 40mm H-a and a Lunt white light wedge on my 102mm refractor. I'll look at pix from thousands of sources off of the internet later that day with zero effort.

[R Botero]

Is Hinode a proven solution for TOTAL solar eclipses?  I was thinking about the Sky-Watcher Solar Quest but some users have said it does not track if the Sun/Moon are totally obscured....which makes it pointless for the period of totality.  I don't want to use an equatorial mount and have to fiddle with alignment, etc, hence my question about a simple Alt-Az mount.   There should not be much field rotation in the 4 minutes + of totality to impact a large enough FoV.   Any suggestions?

 

Roberto

I've asked FLO about the Solar Quest and they tell me it should work during totality.  I'll be taking one of those and my Stowaway then.

[nicknacknock]

Is Hinode a proven solution for TOTAL solar eclipses?  I was thinking about the Sky-Watcher Solar Quest but some users have said it does not track if the Sun/Moon are totally obscured....which makes it pointless for the period of totality.  I don't want to use an equatorial mount and have to fiddle with alignment, etc, hence my question about a simple Alt-Az mount.   There should not be much field rotation in the 4 minutes + of totality to impact a large enough FoV.   Any suggestions?

 

Roberto

 

Hi Roberto,

 

SolarQuest will keep tracking and stay the course for quite some time, despite no sun during totality. Make sure it is level and the mount will perform admirably. Since it will self align while it is "seeing" the sun, it will keep doing alt / az corrections at solar tracking rate when it is not seeing the sun.

 

Hinode guider will not work between C2 and C3. Your mount will track then, but the difference to SolarQuest, is that now all depends on how well your mount is polar aligned (as opposed to SolarQuest which will auto-align itself beforehand, hence track very well). Therefore, if you don't do a halfway decent job to polar align, you will have some drift. There are many methods to polar align during daytime, one of which for example is here.

 

Which scope do you plan to use? I assume either your Stowaway or Coronado, both of which will ride on the SolarQuest. The only recommendation I will make re SolarQuest mount is to get a slightly beefier tripod to use. It is a great little mount and I use it for WL imaging of the Sun. My setup as shown.

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 

[Rickycardo]

In 2017 I ran a triple setup with my 6D mounted to an ED80 being driven by Eclipse Orchestrator, a T3i/250mm lens combo driven by BYEOS for a time lapse and a 4-inch for visual. Everything worked like a charm and we had plenty of time to soak it all in visually.

For this year's annular eclipse and next year's total I plan to shoot wide field with my 6D to incorporate the landscape in the scene with some shots with my Ra and 400mm lens. Less setup and more flexibility this time around.

 

[nicknacknock]

Still early for me, as I will do the 2027 one, but I am planning on SETnC for this one.

 

I am a Nikonian, but will have to purchase a Canon for this one (something from the pre-owned market) 

[R Botero]

Hi Roberto,

 

SolarQuest will keep tracking and stay the course for quite some time, despite no sun during totality. Make sure it is level and the mount will perform admirably. Since it will self align while it is "seeing" the sun, it will keep doing alt / az corrections at solar tracking rate when it is not seeing the sun.

 

Hinode guider will not work between C2 and C3. Your mount will track then, but the difference to SolarQuest, is that now all depends on how well your mount is polar aligned (as opposed to SolarQuest which will auto-align itself beforehand, hence track very well). Therefore, if you don't do a halfway decent job to polar align, you will have some drift. There are many methods to polar align during daytime, one of which for example is here.

 

Which scope do you plan to use? I assume either your Stowaway or Coronado, both of which will ride on the SolarQuest. The only recommendation I will make re SolarQuest mount is to get a slightly beefier tripod to use. It is a great little mount and I use it for WL imaging of the Sun. My setup as shown.

That's great info Nick!  Thank you   Will take your recommendations into account.  Out of curiosity, what is the padded bag you are using?  I am indeed planning to take the Stowaway with me and do the whole thing in white light.  I can look at prominences with the Coronado at home 

 

Roberto