2012 Annular Eclipse

Yesterday evening I was able to collect a timelapse series of the annular eclipse. My location was outside of the complete annulus, but it was quite close! Below is a quick youtube video of the timlapse as well as a few stills. I used a Nikon D80 with a DX sensor, coupled to a 80-300mm full frame lens. This provided an effective 450mm image. As re-aligning each shot was required, I post processed the images using Nikon Elements, and Picasa, to try and get the color balance decent and to get the image overlayed. Not perfect, but it shows the event.

I placed a low cost, ~15 year old solar filter I had from high school on top of the camera lens. Secured using “photographer’s duct tape” – gaffer’s tape. The temp was ~ 95f in direct sunlight, so in order to keep the camera cool I shaded it between exposures using an umbrella stand.