The journey begins

Two weeks ago, I received a text message from my son-in-law in Minnesota.
He thought it was a brilliant idea to make the way to Texas in April to take part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience near Austin.

The total solar eclipse on April 8th 2024 will be a challenge, an experience and certainly a great time together for both of us photographers that will be long remembered..

So we both started planning at the same time. A hotel has to be booked, we need a rental car, the flights.
Very important: The equipment so that nothing can go wrong.

The first new lenses have been purchased and, to be on the safe side, batteries, memory cards and tripods are being updated.
One very important aspect must be taken into account:

Filters, filters, filters.
In addition to the protective glasses, which are very important for the eyes and especially developed for observing a solar eclipse, you also need the right protection for your camera.
A normal ND filter - even if it is an 11-stop filter - is no longer sufficient to protect the camera sensor.
After all, you are pointing the camera directly into the sun and the glass in the optics acts like a burning glass and will definitely damage the sensitive sensor and render the camera unusable.

More information about material and equipment, as well as your opportunity to admire the partial solar eclipse if you are not in the core shadow, will be provided in the next blog.