How to Photograph a solar eclipse?

[dbgg1979]

With the coming total eclipse of the sun this coming July 22, 2009. I'd like to ask for some tips, precautions and safety measures. The DOs and DONTs of Solar eclipse photography. And can this be done with a point and shoot camera?

[sfisher]

Well, according to the Wiki page on the eclipse, it's only going to be a partial eclipse in Indonesia.
Based on some research I did on solar photography a while ago (even though I never got round to doing any!):

Never look at the sun directly.
Never look at the sun through an optical viewfinder, especially if it is focused on the sun.
Don't leave your camera focused on, and pointing at, the sun for long periods of time without a solar filter in front of the lens.

If you've got a P&S, I'd recommend buying some solar glasses (not just ordinary sunglasses) and holding one of the lenses in front of the camera lens. This will let you see the sun clearly, but the rest of the frame will be black. For this reason, you'll need to use a manual exposure, or set as much negative exposure compensation as you can in an auto mode.

If you're holding the solar glasses over the camera lens, don't look through the optical viewfinder (if your camera has one). There is a risk you could drop the glasses and end up looking at the focused sun.

[dbgg1979]

just curious, would it be less dangerous if you picture a reflection instead? like a reflection on a body of water like a pond?

[ressalg]

Here's a link to a website which has an exposure table for the various phases of an eclipse:

Exposure Tables

As has already been stated... BE CAREFUL!! If you're going to use eclipse glasses over your lens make sure you attach them to the camera to ensure they won't come off.

GOOD LUCK!