Solar eclipse of 2024
Photo from https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/06/27/17/38/solar-eclipse-1482921_640.jpg
Yesterday was the big solar eclipse. We only had about an 80% coverage here and not the totality, but still, there were some nice photos to be captured. Unlike the eclipse of 2017, where I cut the solar glasses lenses and taped them to my camera lens, this time I had assembled my own solar filter for my DSLR lens using the two step up rings to sandwich the solar film (actually, I had it ready for last October's eclipse, but that turned out to be a rainy day). Fortunately, this time the weather was perfect - no overcast, not many clouds, and lots of blue sky. I also periodically removed the CF memory card and stuck it inside my old 2006 Dell XPS 400 to get a better view of the photos (the LCD panel is small on my camera and angle made it difficult to see anyway).
I switched between manual and auto focus (which sometimes had a tough time) and took photos about every 15 minutes and came away with 80 photos. I had my 300mm lens set at f/5.6 and manually set the exposure at 1/200th of a second. That made some very sharp photos. I switched over to totally automatic and noticed the shutter speed dropped down to 1/15 and that gave the big "glow" effect, so I played around with the slower shutter speeds. The solar film worked well. August 12th, 2026 will have another partial solar eclipse, but it will be so partial, the sun will practically be unblocked and same with January 26th, 2028. On January 14th, 2029, there will be a partial solar eclipse visible here, but it will be only around 40%. So there's a long wait before using the filter and the solar glasses again (I did keep the solar glasses from 2017).
Using Dad's old tripod made me think about him again. I sure do miss my Dad. I'm sure he'd be happy with me using the tripod. He didn't always give out a lot of compliments, but he has complimented me on my photos.
Mom told me she was shopping at Publix and none of the cashier's were there. All of them were outside looking at the eclipse. Mom said they even lent her one of their solar glasses to see.