Solar eclipse filters - for wide angle?

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Soopahmahn

Soopahmahn

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Howdy all, I've seen good discussion in this forum before regarding solar filters and applications before, but can't find information on wide angle lenses.

I'm not 100% committed to photographing the eclipse yet, but if I do, a 95mm solar filter is going on the end of my 200-500, and then I'll be shooting a foreground element with either a 14-24mm (no filter will be used) or a 24mm (77mm, polarizer+ND available), or maybe a 35 or 50mm.

This is totally safe for the camera, right? Either no filter, or plain NDs used for standard effect?

We take landscape photos in full daylight all the time, and all that will happen to the sun's various visible and invisible light bands will be that they're progressivly and partially blocked. So... seems just fine for that purpose.

The telephoto of course is a whole 'nother bag of crispy retinas...
 
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This makes sense. Appreciate you guys chiming in. I think what I have come to understand is a momentary exposure at wide angle isn’t a problem, but if I were to try to track the sun across the sky for any period of time or do a series of shots I’d be pushing it. Potentially damaging the sensor etc.

I ordered a proper solar filter that fits my 200-500 and actually my 14-24, so I can use both safely. One of the film based filters, not a glass ND.
 
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Soopahmahn said:
This makes sense. Appreciate you guys chiming in. I think what I have come to understand is a momentary exposure at wide angle isn’t a problem
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If you’re planning to point a lens upward with a view of the sun prior to and following totality please have a 16 stop solar filter in front of the lens. Even a momentary exposure without proper protection on the lens could damage your camera’s sensor.
 
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That's why I ordered the solar filter :cool: I'm planning on including it and spending some time tracking it across the sky in my landscape composition. Or at least having the option of doing so.
 
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Can someone spell this out for me - how is taking a sunrise/sunset photo different than a partial eclipse photo? Let's say that the horizons have enough "gunk" (haze, smog, smoke, etc) that it blocks out 80% of the sun's full power (note that I just made up that number). How is a photo of that less harmful than a photo of a partial eclipse with 20% of the sun showing?

Don't get me wrong, I've already purchased and experimented with a proper solar filter from Thousand Oaks and will definitely be using it on the 8th but my brain can't figure out how the two are different and I can guarantee there are millions of sunset photos out there without a sun filter. I'm an engineer so I know I should be able to figure this out, but either I'm too lazy or my brain has seriously degraded over the years (or both! ;) )
 
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During a partial eclipse what we see of the atmosphere gets substantially darker than usual. It order to get proper detail of the occluded sun (sun spots, flares, etc) you’ll need an exposure which captures as much visible light as you can. That visible light isn’t reflected light, it’s coming directly from the sun. This light contains a high degree of damaging UV radiation, focused intensely on your sensor. Just as you should not look at partial solar eclipses without proper filters for your eyes, you should not do that with your camera.

In sunrise/sunset photos your camera’s exposure isn’t set to capture details of the sun, even though the sun may be visible in the shot. Your exposure is set to capture reflected light from everything else in the photo. Also, the intensity of solar UV radiation (and visible light) is much lower during sunrise/sunset.
 
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