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Telescope/Lens
Hi everyone.
What camera/lens/telescope/mount are you all planning on taking?
At the moment I'm planning on taking my Canon 60Da, a Sigma 170-500mm lens with a 1.4 converter, on a Skywatcher adventurer mount.
All reasonabley portable.
Rodd
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Rodd,
Sorry, travelling and I've had really dodgy internet for several days. The information superhighway seems to have a bypass around southeast Qld. A glitch seems to have occurred as I posted and a copy of your post went up under my name without the reply I wrote. When I looked back today I realized my reply had disappeared.
I suggest a top down approach. First you check out other peoples eclipse photography, see what type of picture(s) you want to take and then work out what to bring. Many APS-c sensor users settle on a lot less focal length than you are bringing. I personally use a 430mm FL refractor with my APS-C camera. Remember, you are not photographing a 1/2 degree diameter moon or sun but a corona which is up to 4 degrees or even more in size (photographically not visually*).
* visually, the corona can be extensive when viewed from high altitude. As oxygen levels drop, eyesight loses acuity so pick a moderately high altitude enough for very clear skies but below where altitude sickness kicks in. Photographically, the best eclipse photographers have recorded corona out to 15 solar radii. 4 solar radii is easy, 8 is more challenging.
Do I hear you saying that you can zoom out during totality and have the best of both worlds? With so little time during totality, focusing is never easy. Unless you are sure that the camera will autofocus perfectly, don't try it. Set a focal length, focus accurately a minute or two before totality to minimize focus shift from temperature change. Lot's of observers walk away from eclipses with out of focus images, as have I.
Over the years I've developed a techniques manual, info that I don't want to forget during the 1-2 years between totalities and also just useful info. Much of it is specific to my gear. The attached diagrams are extracted from that manual. Circles represent the radius of coronal streamers and the graphic also shows a typical solar minimum corona. The rectangular boxes show the field of different focal length lenses. One diagram is for full frame cameras for the benefit of other readers and one is for APS-C frame cameras like yours. It's a quick way to visualize what the composite photo might look like.
Cheers
Joe