Hi,
> Very curious how Olaf did - he was going to try to enter the zone of the
> total eclipse in France.
So, just how did Olaf do?
Well, after planning matters for a while, I coordinated the seeing of the
eclipse with a visit to my sister who was on a campsite in Esch-Sur-Alzete
in the south of Luxemburg, right on the border with France and well within
the totality zone. My sister arrived there last Saturday (after having been
there 2 weeks before that too), and with some crying and begging exploited
the campsite's owner's sympathy to let her enter an otherwise _completely_
full campsite. The place was assured and I set sail for Luxemburg on Tuesday
morning (to avoid traffic jams), the trip was surprisingly calm, and traffic
wasn't bad at all, so no issues there.
Eclipse day: I awoke, opened up the tent, and, surprise, surprise...
CLOUDS!!! It was still early, so I was hoping the sky would clear up, and
around 11:00 I installed myself and the OM-4Ti + 300/4.5 + 2xA on a small
hill next to the campsite. After pondering which type of film to use, I
decided to go for Kodakcolor Gold 200 ASA, as it's my favourite film and
holds up well for enlargements. I had also armed the OM-40 with the same
film and with the 35-70/4 zoom for shots of the surroundings.
All set, but still there were thick clouds, nothing to be seen, it was even
impossible to determine where the sun exactly was, so I couldn't aim the 4Ti
set-up at it. Totality came, and still clouds, clouds, and clouds :((( The
moment was freaky as it looked like a big light being dimmed ("night" fell
within a minute's time), but because of the clouds it wasn't pitch black,
but still really dark. People got really excited and flashes were going all
around the area, I decided the scene was not interesting enough to take any
pictures (no cool light effects, just darkness) and hence didn't do so.
Totality went, it turned light really quickly and a rooster started to give
out its wake-up calls (funny). Still cloudy, and some 10 minutes after the
total eclipse I was about to disarm the 4Ti set-up when all of a sudden the
sun broke through the clouds for a few seconds. It disappeared before I had
found it in the viewfinder, but it reappeared a bit later again and I
finally managed to get it in the viewfinder, so I took a few quick shots at
f8 with 1/250 with the same type of filter that Hans used (factor 100,000).
After that it disappeared behind clouds (so it could be viewed without the
special glasses, but not with the sunfilter) and I briefly considered
removing the filter from the lens, but I'm glad I didn't because shortly
after that it broke through the clouds again (really brightly), I was trying
to get the thing in the viewfinder again, but all attempts failed.
Fortunately I was also watching the event with my other eye, so I didn't
miss out on the complete event, but still, at best I have only seen anything
of the eclipse during one minute, and my estimation is that it was only
something like 97% at that time. No corona, no diamond ring, no total
eclipse, no pearly beads, no nothing. Big dissappointment, but an
interesting experience nevertheless. Ah well, let's hope I'll get to see a
total eclipse someday somewhere...
On an interesting side note: a guy noticed my Oly set-up and made a chat
with me, it turned out he wanted to take pics too and had "practiced" with
his set-up the week before. He used an OM-2n + Tamron 500mm reflex + Oly
2xA, and he told me he had left that set-up pointed at the sun WITHOUT any
filter (a good thing he didn't look through it), so according to what he
said, he managed to burn the prism (?) within a few minutes time. Even
though I'm not certain how accurate his (or mine) recollections were, it
seems these filters do make sense...
On another sidenote, I sadly have to say that even though I'm not
superstitious at all, there seems to have been at least some truth in
Nostradamus' predictions (when taken with a grain of salt) about very bad
things happening on eclipse day, and alas, Friday the 13th followed very
well in that line of events, who knows, I might soon be in the market again
for a new girlfriend :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
Cheers!
Olafo
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