I had been thinking about this eclipse since I saw the previous one in Oregon in 2017. It was my first and my photographic efforts were limited to a Nikon bridge camera on a tripod. Not great images but it got me thinking. Later that year I purchased a Nikon DSLR kit and got started back into photography, primarily wildlife.
Fast forward to this year. My eclipse kit now included: Nikon Z9, Nikkor 600mm PF, Benro tripod, Wimberley gimbal, remote trigger, and Seymour solar filter. My friend also brought his D3500, Nikkor 300mm PF, tripod, gimbal and filter. I had planned on going to either the Fredericksburg or Kerrville area, based on an expected totality of 4 minutes 26 seconds. I had been unable to obtain “reasonable” lodging even though I had been actively looking for the last 2 years. So we decided to drive from Phoenix AZ, to Ft. Stockton Texas the prior day. It is outside of the totality band but right on Interstate 10 with lodging. We would then get up early and drive to the site.
The eclipse day started with broken clouds in Ft. Stockton. The cloud forecast for Kerrville predicted an 80+% cloud cover and the possibility of thunderstorms later in the day. I had been looking at alternative sites on the north side of the eclipse path and decided on Brady Texas. Totality there was only about 2 minutes vice 4+ minutes at Kerrville but it seemed like a smart move. Kerrville in fact did see totality but much of the entire eclipse time was adversely impacted as I understand.
Equipment comments:
The Z9 and 600PF are a fantastic pairing and worked great. Mounted on a steady tripod and gimbal and using the remote trigger, I ended up with about 2000 images. Yes….many duplicates. I had read many articles on camera setup, including focusing methods and bracketing. These articles almost universally said to go to manual focus and focus on the crescent sun just prior to totality. They even recommended tape over the focus ring after the final focus adjustment. I had practiced the previous week with the full sun and found that Auto focus seemed to work very well. So I decided to use the AF mode triggered off BBAF, but was ready to go to manual if necessary, which it wasn’t.
“Operator” comments:
On the subject of bracketing, I chose not to do it. I only had 2 minutes of totality so I decided to stay with what I felt the most confident in. I kept the camera set up to 15 fps, initiated off the remote trigger and chose to manually adjust my shutter speed. This worked well for some aspects such as the inner corona, solar prominences, diamond ring, etc, but I failed to shoot longer shutter speeds to get the outer corona. In hindsight this was my shortcoming. I should have practiced this part more. I think the key is if your equipment will support it, to “automate” at least a part of the process, so that you don’t overlook the event itself. But that requires more work by me in order to become proficient and to have confidence in it, as you probably won’t get a second chance. I could have taken more of the corona, but I stopped for a good 30 seconds in the middle to take it all in. I actually had family from Florida show up as well and it was special sharing the moment. I did adjust shutter speed and was successful an obtaining images of Baily’s Beads and a second diamond ring on the conclusion of totality.
Location comments:
I was initially bummed out at not being able to obtain reasonable lodging near my initial eclipse site in the totality band, and settled for lodging outside of it. In hindsight, this worked probably for the best. Had I been lodged near Kerrville, I may have been more inclined to remain in that area and hope for the best. But being outside of the band, I knew we had to drive “somewhere” which I think made us more flexible for the viewing site. And obviously being on a major interstate with many options as to direction helped. We left the hotel by 6 and were in Brady at 9:30 local time. Google maps showed a city park on the SE side of town and we were the 6th car in the parking lot. Light clouds but that broke up by late morning. By the time of first contact, the park was packed. The couple parked to the right of us had driven down from Anchorage Alaska, in part for the eclipse. The couple to the left had flown in from Sweden and had rented a house in Fredericksburg. They woke up that morning and drove to Brady based on weather. Getting into town was easy, but not so easy exiting, even with waiting a little by stopping for lunch.
Results:
Overall I am really happy with my images. They actually came out better than I could hope for. I think the 600mm was a good choice. I had read that 400-500 mm is more optimal to get the outer corona but I’m good with the images. My friend also obtained very nice images with his D3500: He was more limited as the D3500 doesn’t have the flip out back screen (helpful due to the sun’s elevation) nor does it support a remote trigger. So he utilized a time delay after depressing the shutter and did go to manual focus. It just shows you can get great images with just about any of the DSLR or mirrorless cameras; some just may be a little easier than the others.
So when it was all over, my wife asked me if driving 1800 miles in 3 days, rental car, hotel room for 2 nights and not a lot of sleep was worth it. ABSOLUTELY! While this entry is more focused on the photography side, the captured images primarily serve as a reminder for me of the experience. I thought about trying video to better capture the eclipse and everything going on around us, but I’m wasn’t ready for that. To be able to experience and capture part of this rare event of nature is special to me. But then I grew up an astronomy nerd so there you are.
There isn’t another total solar eclipse in the lower 48 until 2044 in Montana and North Dakota, and then another major one in August 2045. I’m 71 now and so will be 93 then. Something to look forward to.
Fast forward to this year. My eclipse kit now included: Nikon Z9, Nikkor 600mm PF, Benro tripod, Wimberley gimbal, remote trigger, and Seymour solar filter. My friend also brought his D3500, Nikkor 300mm PF, tripod, gimbal and filter. I had planned on going to either the Fredericksburg or Kerrville area, based on an expected totality of 4 minutes 26 seconds. I had been unable to obtain “reasonable” lodging even though I had been actively looking for the last 2 years. So we decided to drive from Phoenix AZ, to Ft. Stockton Texas the prior day. It is outside of the totality band but right on Interstate 10 with lodging. We would then get up early and drive to the site.
The eclipse day started with broken clouds in Ft. Stockton. The cloud forecast for Kerrville predicted an 80+% cloud cover and the possibility of thunderstorms later in the day. I had been looking at alternative sites on the north side of the eclipse path and decided on Brady Texas. Totality there was only about 2 minutes vice 4+ minutes at Kerrville but it seemed like a smart move. Kerrville in fact did see totality but much of the entire eclipse time was adversely impacted as I understand.
Equipment comments:
The Z9 and 600PF are a fantastic pairing and worked great. Mounted on a steady tripod and gimbal and using the remote trigger, I ended up with about 2000 images. Yes….many duplicates. I had read many articles on camera setup, including focusing methods and bracketing. These articles almost universally said to go to manual focus and focus on the crescent sun just prior to totality. They even recommended tape over the focus ring after the final focus adjustment. I had practiced the previous week with the full sun and found that Auto focus seemed to work very well. So I decided to use the AF mode triggered off BBAF, but was ready to go to manual if necessary, which it wasn’t.
“Operator” comments:
On the subject of bracketing, I chose not to do it. I only had 2 minutes of totality so I decided to stay with what I felt the most confident in. I kept the camera set up to 15 fps, initiated off the remote trigger and chose to manually adjust my shutter speed. This worked well for some aspects such as the inner corona, solar prominences, diamond ring, etc, but I failed to shoot longer shutter speeds to get the outer corona. In hindsight this was my shortcoming. I should have practiced this part more. I think the key is if your equipment will support it, to “automate” at least a part of the process, so that you don’t overlook the event itself. But that requires more work by me in order to become proficient and to have confidence in it, as you probably won’t get a second chance. I could have taken more of the corona, but I stopped for a good 30 seconds in the middle to take it all in. I actually had family from Florida show up as well and it was special sharing the moment. I did adjust shutter speed and was successful an obtaining images of Baily’s Beads and a second diamond ring on the conclusion of totality.
Location comments:
I was initially bummed out at not being able to obtain reasonable lodging near my initial eclipse site in the totality band, and settled for lodging outside of it. In hindsight, this worked probably for the best. Had I been lodged near Kerrville, I may have been more inclined to remain in that area and hope for the best. But being outside of the band, I knew we had to drive “somewhere” which I think made us more flexible for the viewing site. And obviously being on a major interstate with many options as to direction helped. We left the hotel by 6 and were in Brady at 9:30 local time. Google maps showed a city park on the SE side of town and we were the 6th car in the parking lot. Light clouds but that broke up by late morning. By the time of first contact, the park was packed. The couple parked to the right of us had driven down from Anchorage Alaska, in part for the eclipse. The couple to the left had flown in from Sweden and had rented a house in Fredericksburg. They woke up that morning and drove to Brady based on weather. Getting into town was easy, but not so easy exiting, even with waiting a little by stopping for lunch.
Results:
Overall I am really happy with my images. They actually came out better than I could hope for. I think the 600mm was a good choice. I had read that 400-500 mm is more optimal to get the outer corona but I’m good with the images. My friend also obtained very nice images with his D3500: He was more limited as the D3500 doesn’t have the flip out back screen (helpful due to the sun’s elevation) nor does it support a remote trigger. So he utilized a time delay after depressing the shutter and did go to manual focus. It just shows you can get great images with just about any of the DSLR or mirrorless cameras; some just may be a little easier than the others.
So when it was all over, my wife asked me if driving 1800 miles in 3 days, rental car, hotel room for 2 nights and not a lot of sleep was worth it. ABSOLUTELY! While this entry is more focused on the photography side, the captured images primarily serve as a reminder for me of the experience. I thought about trying video to better capture the eclipse and everything going on around us, but I’m wasn’t ready for that. To be able to experience and capture part of this rare event of nature is special to me. But then I grew up an astronomy nerd so there you are.
There isn’t another total solar eclipse in the lower 48 until 2044 in Montana and North Dakota, and then another major one in August 2045. I’m 71 now and so will be 93 then. Something to look forward to.
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