For those who wish to photograph the sun using a manual camera and filters, here are some of our recommendations.

    You can use just about any camera and any lens with manual controls. To get a bigger view of the sun on 35mm film, you will need to use at least a 200mm (focal length) lens. To fill a 35mm negative with the sun and its corona at totality, a 1000mm lens will give very good results. Just remember, the longer the lens, the harder it is to move with the sun. Long lenses are heavy and keeping the sun in the frame can be difficult.

    To get a full 35mm negative of partial phases will require a much larger lens or a small telescope. You MUST use filters when photographing a partial eclipse. To fill the negative, a focal length of 2000mm is recommended.

Mylar filter on front of lens

     The best films to use are low ISO types like ISO50 or ISO100. The sun is very bright and the uncovered areas of the sun remains the same brightness. You should bracket (change exposure) but the sun will remain bright until the moon covers most of its surface. Since this will not happen in the United States, you will not have to worry about loss of light. With an ISO100 film and filtered lens, a starting point for your exposure is 1/1000 of a second at f/11. This is a starting exposure! Your results depend on the amount of filtration you are using. The best way to test your exposure is to go out and photograph the sun a few days before the eclipse with your filter system in place, develop the film and see your results. You will have a much better idea of your results this way.

    At totality, your exposure drops greatly. For those photographing the eclipse where totality happens, once the moon begins to block all the sun’s light, you will need to remove your filter and use longer and longer exposures. When the Bailey Beads happen, exposure is back to the same level as the unblocked sun and must be photographed with filters! Do NOT look at the Bailey Beads through an unfiltered lens!.

    Once they disappear and the corona is visible, remove your filters. The longer your exposure, the more of the corona will show on your film. With a full frame view of the total solar eclipse and ISO100 film, exposures of almost any speed will give a different view of totality. The longer your exposure, more of the outer corona becomes visible and streamers will carry further out from the sun. On shorter exposures, the inner corona will give a bright, hard edge around the moon. It is a win, win situation. Most important of all, take off any solar filter during totality! You don't need it and it will make the exposure too low for good photographs.

For more advanced techniques, click here!