Do I need a solar filter for landscape photos during an annular eclipse if the sun is small in the frame?

Asked 6/19/2020

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I’ll be in the path of an upcoming annular eclipse but can’t get a proper solar filter in time. Most eclipse advice says to use a dedicated solar filter or something like a 16-stop ND 100,000 filter, but that seems aimed at telephoto shots where the sun fills much of the frame.

If I want to shoot a landscape scene with the eclipsed sun small in the frame—say with an 85mm lens, or even 35mm or wider—do I still need that level of filtration? Would a 10-stop ND filter be enough, or is no filter acceptable for this kind of shot?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

6y ago

2 Answers

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When using a solar filter and properly exposing to see details on the sun's surface, the only thing that is going to show up anywhere in the frame is the sun. Notice that there are no stars visible in any filtered images below.

enter image description here
About an hour before totality as the Moon's silhouette is just beginning to move in front of the Sun. A solar filter was used with a 200mm lens (the image is heavily cropped to about a 900mm angle of view on a FF camera) on a 20MP APS-C camera. ISO 400, 1/500 second, f/5.6. The filter is providing about 15 stops of attenuation not only of visible light, but of infrared and UV as well.

Everything else will be entirely too dark. If you want to take photos of the landscape during an eclipse, you won't be able to use a solar filter unless you use exposures in the minutes-long range.

This unfiltered image was taken about two minutes before totality. ISO 1600, 1/100, f/4 That's EV100 = 7, about the same brightness as brightly lit nighttime streets or a stage show. In full direct sunlight the scene would have been about eight stops, or 256X brighter!

enter image description here

During a total solar eclipse one can safely image the Sun's corona without a solar filter. The light from the Sun's corona is much dimmer that the surface of the Sun itself. enter image description here
Unfiltered. ISO 400, 1/500, f/5.6 (EV100 = 12, about the same exposure settings one would use for a subject in full shadow on a sunny day.)

Below is an unfiltered image of the "Diamond Ring" that is visible just as the very first speck of the Sun's surface becomes visible after totality ends. Notice that the exposure is bright enough to see a bright star, Regulus in the constellation Leo, to the upper left of the Sun.
enter image description here
Unfiltered. ISO 1600, 1/125, f/4 (EV100 = 7). FF camera at 105mm (cropped)

On the other hand, when enough of the Sun's limb is visible to see the "Bailey's beads", the sun is much too bright to be imaged without a filter. Below is a filtered shot taken just 24 seconds after the "Diamond Ring" image above! Most annular eclipses will be much brighter than this for the entire event.
enter image description here
Filtered. ISO 400, 1/500, f/5.6 (EV100 = 12 with a 15 stop filter! That's EV100 = 27.) The exposure settings plus solar filter were 20 stops dimmer than the "diamond ring" shot.

So what I am wondering is, if I were to take a landscape photo with a mild telephoto lens (e.g. a 85mm), with an eclipsing sun in a corner, do I still need the recommended protection? Or would a 10 stop, ND 1000 filter be sufficient?

A ten-stop ND filter would probably make things worse. Why? Because many ND filters only attenuate for visible light wavelengths and do not attenuate infrared wavelengths, which is where most of the damage the sun can do will come from. With a ten-stop ND filter, you'll expose for ten time longer, thus subjecting your camera to ten times as much of the Sun's infrared energy!

Personally, I wouldn't include the sun when it is more than a few degrees above the horizon in any frame when using a 50mm lens, much less an 85mm.

It's usually fairly safe to photograph a scene containing the sun using a wide angle lens, say 35mm or wider on FF body, when using a DSLR or other camera that only exposes the sensor or film during the actual exposure. For mirrorless cameras, though, the sensor is almost always exposed just as it would be for a very long exposure and more care must be taken with regard to the sun.

As the focal length increases, more of the sun's energy will be collected by the lens. This means more potential for damage.

enter image description here

enter image description here

Not only can you damage your camera and/or lens, but you can also permanently damage your vision if using an optical viewfinder!

The links embedded above point to other questions we've had here at Photography SE that address most of your concerns. Let us know if you still have questions after reading them.

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

6y ago

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If the goal is a landscape with the eclipsed sun small in the frame, the extreme solar filter advice is mainly for close-up sun shots with long lenses. A proper solar filter is used to expose for detail on the sun itself; with that much filtration, the landscape will usually be far too dark.

For wide or moderate focal lengths, people do photograph the sun in the frame without a solar filter. However, during an annular eclipse you may need longer exposures to hold the landscape, while the sun remains an extremely bright spot. That creates some risk to the sensor if you leave the camera pointed at the sun for longer exposures.

So: no, a dedicated solar filter is not generally required for a landscape composition where the sun is small in frame, and a 10-stop ND is not a substitute for proper solar filtration if your aim is the sun itself. If you shoot unfiltered, keep exposures short, avoid prolonged live view or repeated long exposures pointed at the sun, and don’t expect visible solar detail in the same frame as a normally exposed landscape.

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