From Uncertainty to a Lean System
In the end, only two camera systems stood on the mown field near Villadiego de Cea. That sounds like a lean solution I’d planned from the start – it wasn’t. At the start there was mostly one thing: I had no idea how to actually photograph a total solar eclipse.
From Uncertainty to a Rough Game Plan
A partial eclipse was never a problem for me – Herschel wedge on, done, I knew that one. But a total eclipse raised completely different questions: What do I actually do during totality? What do I do during the partial phases before and after? And what happens in the few seconds in between, when everything changes at once?
The answer that emerged after some research was actually simple, but crucial: during the partial phase, it’s enough to fire off an occasional frame. Right before totality, though, it has to happen fast – filter off, into the totality bracket within a second or two, fire the sequence, and immediately after, filter back on and keep shooting through the partial phase. That realization – that the real bottleneck wasn’t the gear itself but the timing at those two transitions – is what ended up shaping the entire equipment question.
The Big Gear Discussion
To answer that question, I first laid absolutely everything out on the table and talked through what could theoretically work: various telescopes, mounts, cameras, lens combinations. At one point I even considered picking up a short-focal-length Vixen Fl55ss secondhand – but I couldn’t find one in time, and the idea was over before it really got started.
Much of that first big list fell away during the discussion itself, long before anything was actually packed. One example: for the corona shot, a 100-400mm zoom was worked through first – 400mm is considered something of a sweet spot at full frame, since on a good eclipse the corona extends two to five solar radii and just about fits in frame at that focal length. That consideration became moot, though, as soon as it was clear which telescope would actually be used.
Why Classic Mirrorless Cameras Instead of Dedicated Astro Cameras
One of the first decisions that actually stuck: no dedicated astro cameras for the eclipse shots. My Touptek Skyeye 62AM and 24AC are excellent for deep-sky imaging, but they were out for the eclipse mainly because of capture speed and the large data volumes, which you simply can’t offload to a computer in the critical seconds. Instead, like probably most eclipse photographers, I stuck with classic cameras – mirrorless, in my case: the Canon EOS R and the Canon EOS R50. These cameras are built for exactly what totality demands: firing off shots in quick succession at different exposure times.
The Filter Question: Settled Quickly
Herschel wedge or film was settled fast: the Herschel wedge only works on a refractor, not on an ordinary lens, and swapping it under time pressure right before totality felt too risky. The solution was Baader AstroSolar film at OD 3.8 – usable the same way on any optical system, and the “swap” in the end comes down to: off right before totality, back on right after.
Built with a 3D Printer
To get that film to sit securely and precisely, I built two things with a 3D printer. First, the filter mounts themselves: I found suitable templates for both the telescope and the lens, bought a few screws, and assembled sturdy caps with the OD 3.8 film. Second, mounting clamps that let the Samyang 135mm sit cleanly and securely piggybacked on the apo.
The Final System
What actually stood in the field: a Berlebach Uni 18 tripod, on it the Warpastron WD-20P mount – a fantastic mount with GPS and an equally fantastic hand controller, genuinely a joy to operate. As the primary optic, the Baader Planetarium Travel Companion 95, an apo refractor with a calcium fluoride lens, 580mm focal length, brought to 590mm through the flattener, paired with the Canon EOS R. Piggybacked on top, the Samyang 135mm, used at f/2.8, on the Canon EOS R50.
What Else Was in the Trunk
Without dwelling on it too much: besides the AGM battery for power, I had my second mount along, a Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with tripod, plus a good amount of cable and tools in case something needed reconfiguring. Another astro camera was packed for possible nighttime use, but it never got used. All the other lenses, mounts, and cameras discussed in that first planning round, on the other hand, never made it into the trunk at all – as described, they fell away during the discussion itself.
How I actually shot and automated the exposures with this system is the subject of the next and final post in this series.
