Tips for using Solo during the eclipse (8/21/17)

[Belohegor]

I can't say that I'd mount such a rig on my gimbal even if I could count roll the drone's pitch. The rig works well owhe when using a GoPro to take video or photos.

I disagree with removing the film. Simply put there's no way to remove the film without interrupting the video. Additionally, the film will allow the capture during totality. There're any number of online videos and articles that explain this. Lastly, not done properly one can ruin their photo equipment.

 

[KDan]

I can't say that I'd mount such a rig on my gimbal even if I could count roll the drone's pitch. The rig works well owhe when using a GoPro to take video or photos.

I disagree with removing the film. Simply put there's no way to remove the film without interrupting the video. Additionally, the film will allow the capture during totality. There're any number of online videos and articles that explain this. Lastly, not done properly one can ruin their photo equipment.

You can disagree all you like - and you'll also miss the most awesome total phase of the eclipse. Simply removing the solar film from in front of the lens of the camera does not interrupt the video- no more than taking off your eclipse glasses when totality begins. Typical solar filter films and filters attenuate the light by a factor of 100,000 or .001%. They are required when part of the suns photosphere is visible, but when the photosphere is covered during totality and only the chromosphere is visible, the light output is roughly equivalent to that of a full moon. At this point if you still have your eclipse glasses on and the solar film over your camera lens, you'll see and record nothing. You'll wonder why everyone else around you is oooh'ing and aaaah'ing while you aren't seeing a thing.

Be safe during the partial phases, but don't miss out on the 2 minutes of magic during totality because of ignorance. The sad part is that many thousands of people will probably miss out on the spectacle of totality because of the ignorance and fear promoted by an equally ignorant main stream media.

 

[Belohegor]

I can disagree and I do. As I before there're any number of resources online by respected authorities that sanction NOT.

 

[Belohegor]

I setup my DSLR with a 500mm lens outfitted with a solar eclipse filter (for stills)up and my Hero 4 (outfitted as previously mentioned) for video. I did this in Chicago on Lake Michigan on the campus of the Sadler Planetarium. A throng of professional photographers were gathered here for the event; almost all had filters.

Suffice it to say we lugged all that equipment out for nothing. It is cloudy and overcast here. No filters were needed. Mother Nature didn't play nice vi watched the eclipse through the clods.

I'm not a pro. I was cool with the experience but many were disappointed; especially the pro and hoards of photography students.

Better luck next time.

 

[Solo_Maverick]

Here in Seattle we had clear skies and 90% totality. It was so so. I was expecting it to get darker like a sunset. Almost no variation in daylight. Bummer...

 

[just_bruce]

St. Joseph, MO. Complete sky cover. Rainiest spot on the entire path of totality, I'm told. But there was a 360° sunset for two minutes, and GOOD GOD does it get DARK quickly. Couldn't see the event, still kinda cool anyways.

 

[tracer]

I agree completely with not distracting others with a drone flying around. I also agree completely with enjoying the precious 2+ minutes of totality without distraction if you are fortunate enough to be in the path.

However, the one unique perspective that a drone can capture is the approach of the umbrual shadow cone on the ground from a high vantage point. The higher the better... Since a drone is limited in the altitude it can reach - both legally and by battery life - it would make sense to seek out a mountaintop location from which to view the eclipse and launch the drone. I'd get the drone to altitude 3 to 5 minutes before totality and pointed in the right direction (WNW). Make sure the GoPro is rolling and then put down the controller and forget about it until after totality ends.

This is the shot I was hoping for, but alas, at 95% totality it wasn't enough to spot the shadow. Even in the distance I could not see it (@400'). We got some shots of the folks and traffic around the park. Now next time, I would DEFINITELY fly during a total eclipse just to get a view of the horizon. That would be too cool!

 

[twitchyzero]

so how did it go?

I was in path of totality and even with 2 cameras i basically gave up during those precious two minutes...i'm so glad i did not spend more than maybe 10 seconds looking through a viewfinder or dronespotting because second to third contact felt like 30 seconds

unless you were flying in solitude, even as an avid quadcopter fan, I would've grabbed the radio out of your hand and forced you to land. The slightest sound of a weedwacker would've ruined the event for me and the great majority.

 

[tracer]

so how did it go?

I was in path of totality and even with 2 cameras i basically gave up during those precious two minutes...i'm so glad i did not spend more than maybe 10 seconds looking through a viewfinder or dronespotting because second to third contact felt like 30 seconds

unless you were flying in solitude, even as an avid quadcopter fan, I would've grabbed the radio out of your hand and forced you to land. The slightest sound of a weedwacker would've ruined the event for me and the great majority.

It just didn't get dark enough, and I didn't get to "see" the shadow in the distance as I hoped. Most of us were a little disappointed. Ninety-five percent sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. Just looked like the sun shining through light cloud cover. I only looked through the glasses for about 30 seconds tops.

We should agree to not fly together during an eclipse - if you grabbed the radio out of my hand, I would've popped you in the nose. On Monday, at 400', you could barely hear my TWO drones. Plus, the ice cream truck music started up and drowned everything out. Guess you would've ripped the speaker off of it as well, 'eh?

 

[IrishmanPDX]

Well I had a DSLR set up with a filter on for filming the partial eclipse and then removed the filter for the totality. I also had two of my drones in the air, one filming the landscape as it started getting darker and darker, the other doing a wide orbit shot of the first drone. Since I have 65 acres right in the path of totality, I was able to fly drone 1 to 339 ft and the other to 400ft. Left them both doing their business and walked back up to the camera. Had the camera already set up and had a remote shutter for that. So was able to enjoy the eclipse, totality, the company of my wife AND get to see it all over again from the drones and DSLR later. I will say this, none of the camera's did the experience justice, it was just amazing to see that eerie white light around the sun and frankly I was amazed that it really did get "night time" dark (and how fast it happened). Frankly it was like a sunset and sunrise in the west! I just wish I'd had a 128gb memory card in the gopro.... so I could have timelapsed the 4 hours of traffic on top of the 4 hour drive....

 

[tracer]

Well I had a DSLR set up with a filter on for filming the partial eclipse and then removed the filter for the totality. I also had two of my drones in the air, one filming the landscape as it started getting darker and darker, the other doing a wide orbit shot of the first drone. Since I have 65 acres right in the path of totality, I was able to fly drone 1 to 339 ft and the other to 400ft. Left them both doing their business and walked back up to the camera. Had the camera already set up and had a remote shutter for that. So was able to enjoy the eclipse, totality, the company of my wife AND get to see it all over again from the drones and DSLR later. I will say this, none of the camera's did the experience justice, it was just amazing to see that eerie white light around the sun and frankly I was amazed that it really did get "night time" dark (and how fast it happened). Frankly it was like a sunset and sunrise in the west! I just wish I'd had a 128gb memory card in the gopro.... so I could have timelapsed the 4 hours of traffic on top of the 4 hour drive....

Cool! Post footage if you don't mind or send a link.

Did you use a GoPro on the drone or a different camera?

 

[twitchyzero]

It just didn't get dark enough, and I didn't get to "see" the shadow in the distance as I hoped. Most of us were a little disappointed. Ninety-five percent sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. Just looked like the sun shining through light cloud cover. I only looked through the glasses for about 30 seconds tops.

We should agree to not fly together during an eclipse - if you grabbed the radio out of my hand, I would've popped you in the nose. On Monday, at 400', you could barely hear my TWO drones. Plus, the ice cream truck music started up and drowned everything out. Guess you would've ripped the speaker off of it as well, 'eh?

the difference between 98-99% and 99.99% is massive

are you really comparing ice cream truck music for kids and the noise of 8 props spinning at 2000rpm? It has little to do with what it sounds like at 400'...with a gimped battery life you'll be launching it few minutes before and retreiving it few minutes after contact. One Solo taking off is already cringeworthy enough, 2 would just make the back of neck's hair stand.

there's a time and a place to fly your Solos. At a once-in-a-generation event that lasts seconds near a crowd is surely not one of them. Like irishman said, an action cam with a tiny sensor and terribad low light performance/laughable dynamic range doesn't even come close to doing the totality justice...so just enjoy the moment.

 

[just_bruce]

FWEEE!!!

Go to your corners gentlemen.

Stop, breathe, and consider that you seem to be talking about two different setups, two different locations, and two different sets of expectations.

 

[KDan]

I setup my DSLR with a 500mm lens outfitted with a solar eclipse filter (for stills)up and my Hero 4 (outfitted as previously mentioned) for video. I did this in Chicago on Lake Michigan on the campus of the Sadler Planetarium. A throng of professional photographers were gathered here for the event; almost all had filters.

Suffice it to say we lugged all that equipment out for nothing. It is cloudy and overcast here. No filters were needed. Mother Nature didn't play nice vi watched the eclipse through the clods.

I'm not a pro. I was cool with the experience but many were disappointed; especially the pro and hoards of photography students.

Better luck next time.

If you were in Chicago, you were no where near the path of totality. In any place not along that path the solar disc would never be completely obscured and you would only see a partial eclipse - and you absolutely needed a solar filter at all times. (unless you were clouded out) Quite frankly, a partial eclipse is nothing compared to the spectacle of totality.

My emphasis was that along the path of totality - far south of where you were - no filters were needed or should be used during the very brief and magical total phase of the eclipse.

Everyone took their eclipse glasses off during totality. Everyone who got pictures of the solar corona during totality also took the solar filters off of their cameras. Just as totality was about to end, everyone was scrambling to get their glasses and filters back on again.

 

[tracer]

the difference between 98-99% and 99.99% is massive

are you really comparing ice cream truck music for kids and the noise of 8 props spinning at 2000rpm? It has little to do with what it sounds like at 400'...with a gimped battery life you'll be launching it few minutes before and retreiving it few minutes after contact. One Solo taking off is already cringeworthy enough, 2 would just make the back of neck's hair stand.

there's a time and a place to fly your Solos. At a once-in-a-generation event that lasts seconds near a crowd is surely not one of them. Like irishman said, an action cam with a tiny sensor and terribad low light performance/laughable dynamic range doesn't even come close to doing the totality justice...so just enjoy the moment.

This ice cream truck (Mr. Softee) definitely had my 8 props at 400' beat. Really. I was there. This is not the little ice cream van that haunts the neighborhood. Its a 2-ton truck that people stand inside of to serve ice cream and it has a horn speaker to blast "music". They had quite the line too. At 15-20 mins between battery changes, and performance set high, the birds weren't on the ground long. That more than covers the 2 minutes of "eclipse" we had.

To each their own. I love photography, and I love astronomy, so I would choose to engage in both. I personally don't have a problem with the noise my drones make. My GoPro4 does surprisingly well in low-light, and I have captured some pretty cool pics with it. Video, not so much..

 

[Travelin' Lite]

Here's a short video of totality approaching my Solo 900' above Glendo Reservoir in WY. It's cool to watch the shadow racing toward me from the west.

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[tracer]

Here's a short video of totality approaching my Solo 900' above Glendo Reservoir in WY. It's cool to watch the shadow racing toward me from the west.

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That's what I was looking for, but I just wasn't close enough!!! Nine hundred is pretty high. I wonder what it would look like at 400'. I want to see more detail of the ground being swallowed up by the shadow.

I have a few years to plan.

Thank you so much for posting.

 

[pwrbk125]

Love that video, nice job!

 

[IrishmanPDX]

900'? I trust this person had a waiver to fly this high...... Actually from 400" you don't get this effect at all. All you get is a gradual dimming and then a very fast sudden blackness. Working on the video still, but have to edit from 3 camera's and now thinking I should do some background shots, ya know, pickups, just to make it even more interesting.

 

[Chuck P]

Here's my test shot on the eclipse.