solar eclipse 3rd contact sequence images..

Well,
I hope you enjoy these images lads, I've been going through the images I got here and the 3rd contact seem to be the most dramatic, having seen 2nd contact makes you slightly more prepared for 3rd contact in terms of timing and your hands not shaking in shock as much as you are at 2nd contact. :lol:
Anyway, Here is the best diamond ring image I've got, I have to seriously reduce the image size, the quality was not too badly affected.

Note the magnetic lines are clearly visible as is the irregular edge of the moon, especially in the 7 oclock position, this was totally unexpected.
You might need to turn your monitor brightness and contrast up full to see the corona properly.








All there were taken with a 4" F5 achromatic celestron refractor on a skylux mount and a canon 300D, the time duration between the first and last image is about 10 seconds, they are not taken at regular intervals but where I felt it was best, the buffer in the camera was a real hinderance as I was imaging at full jpg resolution, raw mode just took way too long to save, over 20 seconds before you could take your next shot!!, this made bracketing exposures in the camera impossible at the speed required. The moon moves very quickly after baileys beads, the diamond ring is gone in a matter of seconds!!
All exposures were at 1/320 sec at iso100, I felt that this would show some promince and corona detail while not over exposing the inner corona.
No stacking was performed here, mild processing was performed in photoshop.
I left the filter off the scope for 6 seconds after 3rd contact to catch the diamond ring sequence, in hind sight this was a bit long, the camera was uneffected by this, but any longer might have damaged the imaging chip, its hard to think straight during such an event

I have to say that no photograph can show the corona as it really is, which is much larger then indicated in the above images and is a truely awsome sight.
I'll have more images to put up over the next few days, once I get through them all.

Those diamond ring shots are the best I have ever seen, especially since the prominences are still visible. After seeing these on your cameras LCD screen on Wednedsay its great to see the larger images.

Dave - I saw them on the LCD screen right after the eclipse and I was stunned at the time. But on the monitor, the sequence really is awesome. I don't think I've seen such a sequence before.

The middle shot of the nine is one for a professional printers and sticking up on the wall. Absolutely beautiful.

Can't wait to see the rest!

Cheers
Dave

Fabulous images Dave. You must be delighted with them. Some of the best eclipse images I've ever seen.

That is a really superb and (dare I say the word again! ) pretty sequence of photos Dave! Well done!

Seanie.

Words cannot describe your eclipse images Dave...thats all i can say