Stephen Baldassarre Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 (edited) Hello, I'm thinking about doing a short film (and I mean FILM) on the upcoming solar eclipse and of course, it won't be complete without the eclipse itself. The last time I tried to shoot an eclipse was on video and it was horrible. The contrast is unbelievable, going from pure white and blooming all over the place to almost pitch black, even stacks of ND filters don't work. I know there's metal coated filters for photographing the sun but that would be too dark during the transit. So, how is it done? I assume I'll have to adjust the iris during filming of course, probably as a time-lapse. I'll likely be shooting Kodak 7203, probably with an 85mm prime if that helps. Thanks! Edited March 4, 2017 by Stephen Baldassarre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Pirodda Posted April 9, 2017 Share Posted April 9, 2017 (edited) May be i read your post too late and your solar eclipse is already gone. Well, whatever camera you will use , video or film, since it is a total backlight you will get always heavy contrast picture, only white disk (sun) and only black (moon) disk. Anyway, i would go in this way: use a double polarizer filter and rotate one of these till you can easily see the sun with your eye (BE VERY C-A-R-E-F-U-L !). Then use a telephoto lens that can fill the frame with sun disk. Adjust exposure either by slighty rotating one of the polarizers and or setting iris . You can test it with a videocamera before to shot film. Hope it helps Edited April 9, 2017 by Roberto Pirodda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Baldassarre Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 You're not too late at all; the eclipse is in August. There's no practicing with a video camera though since there aren't any eclipses between now and then (and it's only a 2-minute event). I shot one on video a few years ago with multiple NDs and two polarizers. It was a disaster. I did get a 16.5 stop ND filter for this one, which will help at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adrian Sierkowski Posted April 10, 2017 Premium Member Share Posted April 10, 2017 Two Polas really won't do nearly enough. Also make sure you have an IRCUT filter I would think, on that lens as well! Maybe also get a Lee Big Stopper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Pirodda Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 Well, i was meaning to practice with sun only, to test exposure. Remember that the less glasses you put in front of the lens the better. I upload a test i made just now with a 1/2.3 inch video camera and 200 mm tele lens (iris at f11) with 2 polarizers . The picture is slighty out of focus because these polarizers distort image quality, i can figure how much bad can be with multiple ND filters ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Baldassarre Posted April 10, 2017 Author Share Posted April 10, 2017 Well, i was meaning to practice with sun only, to test exposure. Remember that the less glasses you put in front of the lens the better. Oh yes, I definitely plan to do that. If I can get away with JUST the 16.5 stop ND and use the iris for fine adjustments, so much the better. I have a Canon G20, which is natively about 50 ISO and I plan to shoot 7203, though film has WAY better latitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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