Pittsburgh photographer shares tips for protecting your camera lens during the eclipse
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The solar eclipse is just around the corner, and just like the sun's rays will damage your eyes if you stare directly at it, photography experts warn those same rays can damage your phone's camera lens.
KDKA-TV's Meghan Schiller is explaining how to not need a new phone by Tuesday.
With a long lens and a photo in about every Pittsburgher's basement, Dave DiCello's ready to point his camera to the sun. He captured amazing shots during the last eclipse in 2017. Cloud cover around here, however, might ruin his shot this year, so he's headed for clearer skies.
"Right now, the forecast is saying Vermont or New England and then tentatively the Midwest, so Indiana, Illinois," DiCello said.
All he needs is his tripod, camera, lens, plus he'll need to screw on an additional solar lens.
"Newer cameras, they don't have that shutter so the sensor is always visible, so if you were to point that at the sun without a solar filter, it would just fry the sensor, you would end up with a dark spot on the sensor and then it would be ruined, you'd have to get a new camera," said DiCello.
KDKA-TV asked him about amateur photographers using their cell phones and DiCello said the same thing goes. KDKA-TV found solar filters for sale on Amazon and even some big box stores like Walmart.
"If you can get a solar filter, you can still put it in front of the lens, with an iPhone you're not going to be able to really zoom in probably enough to really see what it's going to look like."
So, since it might look lackluster on your phone, just wear your glasses. DiCello recommends looking around and taking it all in as soon as the sun goes away.
"It looked like twilight around, it gets a couple degrees cooler -- I just got goosebumps thinking about it. It's crazy to see and it's amazing to experience," DiCello said.
