April 8, 2024 - Yukon, Oklahoma
Despite all the hype surrounding the event, I wasn't planning to shoot the eclipse. Well, I wanted to shoot the total eclipse with my fellow photographer friend, Ken Martin, but didn't feel I could travel well to a five or six-hour location in either Arkansas or Missouri. Add the increase in pricing for a basic hotel room with an influx of thousands of people traveling to the same area and the desire was quickly outweighed by the alarming costs.
My location wasn't going to get a total eclipse of the sun, but it was still very impressive to watch and at the last minute I decided to try. Of course, unprepared for the event, I was left with only options inside the array of gear in my house. Surprisingly, I managed to find a Vivitar Series One 80-200mm f4.5 adapted to my trusty Fujifilm X-Pro3. Cutting the sun's brilliance, I paired a Nikon 52mm ND 400x filter with another Nikon ND 4x. I was in awe after lifting this makeshift kit to the sky to discover this vintage combination worked. The full frame 200mm zoom with the added 1.5 "crop factor" of the APS-C sensor gave me an effective 300mm or 6x magnification. Not close enough for details of sun flares but I did capture the event!
Here are a few examples and an iPhone pic of the camera rig. After a few shots, I decided an Epsom Salt bath in very hot water was going to be the finishing touch to this epic event. Seems odd, but if you know me... well, then you know.