GoPro and the Solar Eclipse

G-Man

G-Man

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AirmanG
I'm sure there are better forums for this question, but, y'all are what I know!

Should I setup my GoPro Hero2 on TimeLapse and take pictures straight up at/during the Solar Eclipse on August 21?

Will I burn out the camera's sensor?
Otherwise damage the camera?

Any suggestions?
Thanks!
 
G-Man said:
I'm sure there are better forums for this question, but, y'all are what I know!

Should I setup my GoPro Hero2 on TimeLapse and take pictures straight up at/during the Solar Eclipse on August 21?

Will I burn out the camera's sensor?
Otherwise damage the camera?

Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Use an appropriate filter and it'll be okay. Use an inappropriate filter and you'll have nice pictures like Apollo 12 got.
 
Best case scenario: You will just get an image with a bright dot (the sun) passing through the sky and maybe getting detectably dimmer briefly in the middle of the time laps.

Gopro isn't the right tool for this approach.

Maybe setup a camera obscura and take a time lapse of that instead.
 
Clark1961 - what are good and bad filters?
172andyou - darn good point. It's a super wide angle, so...
 
G-Man said:
Clark1961 - what are good and bad filters?
172andyou - darn good point. It's a super wide angle, so...
Click to expand...
A bad filter would be the "none" filter. :) I don't know what a good filter would be.
 
All the videos are seriously going to screw up YouTube's algorithms for a while and keep showing me eclipse videos when I want to see airplanes and trucks.
 
denverpilot said:
All the videos are seriously going to screw up YouTube's algorithms for a while and keep showing me eclipse videos when I want to see airplanes and trucks.
Click to expand...

YouTube is already goobered up. Somehow this video showed up under the 'suggested videos for you' section:



WTF?!?
 
Some of the best advice I've read about taking pictures of the eclipse is:

Don't.

The whole totality only lasts a little over two minutes. Unless you're a professional eclipse photographer, you probably don't want to be spending that time fidgeting with the camera settings hoping you get a good shot, but miss actually seeing the thing. There are going to be thousands of great, professional photos of it on the internet within minutes of the end to look at.
 
RussR said:
Some of the best advice I've read about taking pictures of the eclipse is:

Don't.

The whole totality only lasts a little over two minutes. Unless you're a professional eclipse photographer, you probably don't want to be spending that time fidgeting with the camera settings hoping you get a good shot, but miss actually seeing the thing. There are going to be thousands of great, professional photos of it on the internet within minutes of the end to look at.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of this Louis C.K. bit.

 
Someone asked an astronomer his opinion on the best way to photograph the eclipse.

His advice was not to bother. Basically, it's an event that only lasts a minute or two, and his suggestion was to take it all in without futzing with gadgets. It's not as if tens of thousands of amateur and professional photographers won't be capturing it in every conceivable way.

It's in the Q&A at the end of this video, which is long but quite comprehensive.


Edited to add: scrolling through I see RussR posted much the same advice overnight.
 
eman1200 said:
YouTube is already goobered up. Somehow this video showed up under the 'suggested videos for you' section:


WTF?!?
Click to expand...

eman1200 said:
the PIG on Sat and SCBC at GMU on Sun. no bonus points for me.
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eman1200 said:
no burger, had BBQ at the Pig yesterday and went to the South Carolina Breakfast Club at GMU this morning. a lil bumpy from 3-5000.
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eman1200 said:
<7500> the pig was awesome, lots of planes, actually quite a few good lookin ladies (mostly moms, but here in the south those moms are in the 18-20 year old range [and that's being generous]) and awesome food. the bonanza that came in after us must have had their parking brake on because they locked em up for a good coupl'a hundid feet. also lots of people along the fence judging everyone's landing. luckily I only had one landing, lots of go-arounds by folks. </7500>
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eman1200 said:
anyone in the southeast not doing mothers day stuff and thinking about flying somewhere? I'm wondering if a lunch trip to N Myrtle or maybe The Pig is in order. was also considering Calhouns in knoxville but for this weekend I think of the three choices mentioned that would be my 3rd choice.
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eman1200 said:
under no circumstances should anyone go to the pig tomorrow. especially around 12:30.
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This is just a sample of the comments you've made about pigs. POA shows 55 messages.
 
Back on point, I plan on mounting my GoPro to my baseball cap mount and just turning it on a few minutes before the eclipse, mainly to capture the folks that show up at our little airstrip. The eclipse, per sé, will have plenty of folks capturing it for posterity.
 
I'd recommend if you are going to point it at the sun you tape on at least a 5x ND filter on it.
 
Thanks for excellent info. I'll watch the eclipse using eclipse glasses and maybe setup the GoPro for a timelapse of the crowd.
 
Without filter you can see it in the lens flare. Bust.

c162 eclipse.JPG
 
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