My 2024 Solar Eclipse Story
2024 Solar Eclipse in stages
The gear..
Date: Apr 8, 2024 * Start Time: 1:55pm * Totality: @3:15pm for 3 mins 45 sec *
Place: Radisson Hotel, Akron, Ohio
After carefully considering different places for shooting the eclipse, I chose Akron near Cleveland, OH which was in the band of totality. And after experimenting with various options, I settled on the following gear as the most workable solution -
Nikon Z7 Rii Mirrorless Camera
Sigma 150-600mm with a 2x Teleconverter (effective focal length 1100mm)
Orion 5.25" ID Safety Film Solar Filter
K&F Concept 3-Way Geared Tripod Head
Induro Carbon Fiber Tripod
All packed in the trunk of our car, my friend and I drove to Akron, OH.. a 7hr drive. The day of the Eclipse arrived - Breakfast, followed by a quick lunch as we started seeing 1pm on the clock. An open space, just outside the hotel and very few people gathered there to see the Eclipse, I think it was perfect. But, the weather predictions were not good.. It-was-cloudy!
Contemplating driving to another nearby city till 1pm, and finally just trusting our gut feeling that the clouds might disperse, we stayed on.
Indeed, the clouds slowly moved away making way for the Sun and Moon to put on this spectacular show.
People were quite amused by the gear I had and started taking pictures of the eclipse on the Camera screen using their Mobile Phones. I was clicking with a Remote Shutter Release every few seconds and adjusting for the Earth’s rotation using the 3-way geared tripod head to keep “the actors” in the center of the screen.
Was prepared for totality - or at least I thought I was.. 3:15pm - TOTALITY! And everything just went B-L-A-N-K for me in the camera!!! PANIC! After all the tutorials videos and articles leading up to this event, I had forgotten to do the one step I was supposed to do at Totality - which was to REMOVE THE DAMN SOLAR FILTER! One full minute of frantic debugging, bumping up ISO, slowing down shutter speed, open Aperture.. nothing. I was seeing a spectacular view with my eyes, but nothing in the camera! Removed the camera from the Tripod, tried searching for the Sun as if it had gone out of the frame.. still, nothing.
And suddenly it dawned on me!!! I quickly removed the solar filter and threw it in the trunk of our car, and started shooting just handheld.. the camera and the crazy 150-600mm lens with the Teleconverter were together quite a weight, but I just had a minute of totality left.. My exposure was off by a bit.. got overexposed corona in most of those shots.. And just as it had started 3 mins back the spectacle started to end….
With the hope that I will have at least one or two shots of totality with me, I shot the remaining stages of Eclipse.. It was exhausting.. both mentally and physically. And that’s when it bit me….
THE ECLIPSE BUG !
Looking forward to the next one in 2026 from Iceland.. if my stars align!
