Eclipses are cool, and I've only ever had the chance to see a handful in my lifetime. Unfortunately, I've never seen a total eclipse, and I had to miss out on this one, too, but plenty of other people got to see one today as one passed through parts of the United States. One friend wasn't lucky enough to see the total eclipse since he lives in California, but he still took some pretty cool photos with his Pixel, while one Android Central writer also managed to get a cool image with his Pixel 8 Pro.
With my friend being in California, he could only capture the eclipse from an angle, with most of the sun still present. However, you can clearly see the moon peaking through the corner, covering about one-quarter of the sun. And despite capturing a partial view of the eclipse, I'm still quite impressed with how the photos came out from his Pixel 7 Pro.
According to my friend, he used the Pixel 7 Pro and captured the images at 5x optical and then at 30x. To protect his lens, he took the photos through the lens of some cheap eclipse glasses, similar to the pair we recommended, and a 100mm photographic filter.
Android Central's Nick Sutrich, who is closer to the path of totality, also got a pretty great photo of the eclipse from his Pixel 8 Pro. The image below was taken at 30xzoom, similar to my friend's Pixel 7 Pro, and you can see the moon covering most of the sun except for a sliver on the side. That said, there was a bit of cloud coverage where he's at, which obstructed the image a bit, but the result is spectacular nonetheless.
Unfortunately, cloud coverage was a problem for many Android Central staff. That includes myself, although I wouldn't have been able to see much from Seattle, WA, anyway.
I did manage to get a pretty okay photo of the 2023 annular solar eclipse, which I took using my Galaxy Note 20 Ultra at full zoom. It's extremely grainy, and clouds were trying to ruin the experience, but I'm still happy with the result, as it's the closest I've gotten to witnessing a total eclipse.
As Android Central's Jerry Hildenbrand points out, taking a photo of an eclipse can be easy, so long as the timing and weather are right (darn clouds) and you have the right equipment, like a phone tripod. Hopefully, some of you were able to take some pretty cool images of the eclipse with your smartphones and use the appropriate gear to protect your lenses.
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