Holy Grail for Solar Eclipse

Open discussion about photography, qDslrDashboard
Post Reply
mstriebeck
Posts: 8
Joined: 06 Jun 2015, 18:52

Holy Grail for Solar Eclipse

Post by mstriebeck »

I want to take a wide-angle (24 mm or so) timelapse of the Solar Eclipse in August (in the US). Does anybody have experience how to use qDSLRDashboard for that?

A couple of thoughts:
  • With a (ultra-)wide angle, I won't need a filter
  • Light difference won't be has high as day/night
  • Brightness change will be faster (especially at total eclipse) - should I not use average of three images for adjustments, but just one?
  • Usually I take images every 30 seconds, here I want to use shorter frequency
  • I won't need exposures as long as for night photography - does anybody know how to measure/simulate brightness during totality
Any other things to consider?

Thanks
Mark
rameshtahlan
Posts: 12
Joined: 24 Jul 2016, 04:51

Re: Holy Grail for Solar Eclipse

Post by rameshtahlan »

I took a time-lapse of Venus transit past the sun.
you really don't need a qDSLR.
I just go my setting right, and then let a time-lapse start with Apurture for Canon.
However, The same should work for Total Solar Eclipse also,
Because if the exposure keeps opening as sun gets blocked out, the edges will start to get washed out.
So my suggestion, Click the sun till you get a good image, and then just let the time-lapse go through untouched.
Dklmaui
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 Mar 2017, 07:02

Re: Holy Grail for Solar Eclipse

Post by Dklmaui »

I'm curious about this topic too.

I've been experimenting with it and for a totality that lasts around 2 minutes qdslrDashboard doesn't seem to adjust from day to night as quickly as it needs to. I've also set it on the minimum average not 3, and maximized the EV jump to 2 stops.

I suspect it will have to go from something in the area of 1/60, f8, 400ISO to 5 secs, f1.4, 1600 ISO to get the transition.

I was curious about Interval Timer Ramping Modes, since all I was experimenting with was the default Linear setting and not some of the exotic ones listed like quad, cube, sine, etc. Does anyone know if there's an explanation of those somewhere?

As for Ram's suggestions, are you saying that if you open the exposure during totality that the corona will wash out the edges of the sun, or did you mean something else?

Thanks!
Dklmaui
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 Mar 2017, 07:02

Re: Holy Grail for Solar Eclipse

Post by Dklmaui »

OH, just found this chart of the various ramping modes elsewhere in the forum:

http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qeasingcurve.html
Dklmaui
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 Mar 2017, 07:02

Re: Holy Grail for Solar Eclipse

Post by Dklmaui »

I also found this:

Image

Which is a light intensity ramp for a recent eclipse that could help us pick a ramping mode.
Dklmaui
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 Mar 2017, 07:02

Re: Holy Grail for Solar Eclipse

Post by Dklmaui »

Based on reading the QEasing charts and comparing it to the light intensity chart, it appears the ramping mode should be InOutExpo.

I would love to get a second or third opinion on that assessment, and also need to test and see if it does ramp much faster than linear mode.
Post Reply