Photographing the 2028 Eclipse: From Phone to Telephoto
Every eclipse produces two kinds of photographers: the ones who prepared and practised, and the ones who spent totality fighting their gear. This guide is how you end up in the first group on 22 July 2028.
Quick answer: Photographing the partial phases of the 2028 eclipse requires a certified solar filter over the front of any lens, including phone cameras. Only during totality is the filter removed. Practise your full sequence before eclipse day, automate everything you can, and if this is your first total eclipse, prioritise watching it over photographing it.
Safety first: filters before anything else
The rules for cameras mirror the rules for eyes. During every partial phase, the lens needs a purpose-made solar filter mounted on the front of the optic — never behind it, and never an improvised substitute like ND filters or exposed film. Unfiltered sunlight through a telephoto lens can damage the sensor in seconds and will instantly injure an eye at the viewfinder. Certified filter material (the same ISO 12312-2 standard as eclipse glasses, or dedicated solar film such as Baader) is inexpensive; order it months ahead.
Only during totality — when the bright photosphere is completely hidden — does the filter come off, for eyes and cameras alike. The moment a sliver of Sun returns, the filter goes back on. Rehearse that filter-off, filter-on moment until it is automatic; it is the most fumbled step in eclipse photography. The eye safety guide covers the full routine.
Can you photograph the eclipse with a phone?
Yes — but photograph the experience, not the Sun. A phone's tiny sensor and wide lens render the eclipsed Sun as a small dot; the images that actually hold up are the wide scenes phones excel at:
- The darkness itself. A wide shot of the landscape and crowd under the twilight sky, with the eclipsed Sun as one element. In Australia the Sun will hang roughly 29 to 35 degrees up in the north-northwest — easy to frame above a foreground.
- A time-lapse of the light change. Prop the phone on a wall or small tripod facing the landscape (not the Sun) and start it fifteen minutes before totality. This captures the thing memory can't: how fast darkness falls.
- The people. Faces lit by twilight at second contact are the photos you will still love in twenty years.
During partial phases, hold a spare pair of certified glasses over the phone lens if you want crescent-Sun snaps, and avoid long telephoto zooming at the unfiltered Sun. During totality, no filter is needed and night-mode shots of the corona above the horizon can be surprisingly good — especially in Aotearoa New Zealand, where the Sun sits barely 8 to 10 degrees above the landscape.
Camera settings for the partial phases and totality
For a dedicated camera, the classic setup is a 300–600 mm lens (or telescope), a solid tripod, and manual everything: manual focus set to infinity on the Sun's edge, image stabilisation off on the tripod, RAW format on.
Partial phases (filter ON): start around ISO 100, f/8, 1/500 to 1/2000 second, and adjust to taste — the filtered Sun is a bright disc and forgiving to expose.
Totality (filter OFF): there is no single correct exposure, because the corona spans an enormous brightness range. Shoot a bracket ladder and sort it out later: at ISO 200 and f/8, run exposures from roughly 1/1000 second (inner corona and prominences) through 1/60, 1/15, and 1/4 second out to 1 second (outer streamers). Fire the ladder two or three times across totality. An intervalometer or in-camera bracketing does this without you touching the camera — which is the whole point.
The showpieces: the diamond-ring effect in the seconds either side of totality (short exposures, around 1/1000 second) and Baily's beads on the Moon's edge. Automate, glance to confirm it is firing, and get your eyes back on the sky.
Why the NZ leg is a landscape photographer's gift
Most total eclipses happen high in the sky, forcing a choice between a telephoto Sun and a landscape with no Sun in it. The 2028 eclipse over the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand is different: totality arrives at 4:16 p.m. NZST with the Sun only about 10 degrees above the north-west horizon at Queenstown and about 8 degrees at Dunedin.
That geometry puts the eclipsed Sun and corona inside a normal landscape composition — above lakes, ranges, and ridgelines — with a 100–200 mm lens instead of a telescope. Add the long winter shadows and the twilight wrapping the horizon, and this becomes one of the rare chances anywhere to shoot totality as a landscape. The catch is the same one facing every NZ viewer: a low Sun is easily blocked by terrain, so scout your sight line in advance. The sunset eclipse guide covers exactly how.
How to practise before eclipse day
- Shoot the full Moon. It is the same apparent size as the Sun, so it previews your framing, focal length, and focus routine for totality.
- Shoot the filtered Sun on any clear day. Confirms your filter fits, your exposures work, and your tracking or re-aiming rhythm keeps the Sun in frame.
- Rehearse the timeline for real. On a July afternoon, run the actual sequence at the actual times: filter on, partial exposures, filter off, bracket ladder, filter on. In Australia around 2 p.m., in NZ around 4:15 p.m. — which doubles as a check that your chosen site can even see the low Sun.
- Automate, then simplify. Anything you have not automated by eclipse week, cut from the plan.
The golden rule: watch your first one
Ask anyone who has stood in the shadow: no photograph — theirs or anyone's — matches the experience of looking up during totality. The corona seen live has a texture and depth no sensor captures, and the sky, horizon colours, and crowd reaction around you are half the event.
If 2028 is your first totality, set up one automated camera at most, or none. Thousands of superb photographs of this eclipse will exist by dinner time; your unrepeated three minutes and forty-eight seconds under the Sydney sky will not. Photograph your second eclipse. Watch your first.
Common Questions
Can I photograph the eclipse without a solar filter?
Only during totality itself. For every partial phase, a certified solar filter must cover the front of the lens - unfiltered partial-phase sunlight can damage camera sensors and will injure an eye at a viewfinder instantly.
What camera settings should I use for totality?
Bracket widely rather than trusting one exposure: at ISO 200 and f/8, run shutter speeds from about 1/1000 second for the inner corona out to 1 second for the outer streamers, and repeat the ladder across totality.
Will photographing the Sun damage my phone?
Brief handheld snaps are low risk, but long telephoto zooming or extended pointing at the unfiltered partial Sun can damage the sensor. Hold certified eclipse glasses over the lens for partial phases; totality needs no filter.
What lens do I need for eclipse photos?
For a close-up Sun and corona, 300 mm or longer on a tripod. In Aotearoa New Zealand's low-Sun geometry, a 100-200 mm lens can capture totality above the landscape - a rare composition worth planning for.