Transcript
So can we actually film the solar eclipse using a smartphone? Let's talk about it while I'm driving upstate to go and watch the eclipse. And I'm not going to look at you guys because I've got to look at the road. But I've been getting a lot of this question. And the basic answer is no, do not point your phone directly at the sun ever because you can burn out your sensor and that will not be fun for you. And you won't also get any sort of good visuals because when you point your phone directly at the sun, you cause a bloom in the sensor where it's basically just a lot of lens there, blends, flare, a lot of annoying light, and you're not going to get any sort of cool image. In general, for any sort of photography, when you are trying to go and film the sun, you need to use what's called the solar filter, which blocks out the majority of the intensity and gives you something you can actually watch. Smartphones, you can buy them, but there's actually a much cheaper solution, which is if you've gone and bought a pack of those eclipse glasses, you can use that as a solar filter. So what I'm going to be doing is I'm going to take an extra pair of eclipse classes, cut out the filter, use some scotch tape, and attach that, to the lens on my phone. And then the next part is you have to go and make sure to set a fixed focus length. You might not be able to do this with your basic camera. It's a bit harder. But if you download an app that allows you to go and set all of your phone settings, this whole process will be a lot easier. I use one called Camera Plus, I think. Attach the filter to your phone. Go and choose the longest focal length possible for your auto focus, the longest focus length. And then play around a little bit. Start experimenting with photographing the sun where you're not looking at the sun, but you're pointing your phone at it using that filter attached. That's essentially how you're going to be able to go in either video or photograph the eclipse. You can set all the settings locked in and point it there so that when the time comes, you know you're going to be able to get a good image. And I'll be doing a long drive right now, so if you have any more questions, I've got my partners here here in Manning the camera, and I might be able to take some answers.
Additional notes
If you use a solar filter, you can and should use whatever optical zoom your phone has built in. #eclipse #solareclipse #photography
References
- No references found in the spreadsheet caption or matched Notion source page.