I flew the entire Solar Eclipse!

[LaunchHSV]

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I managed 3 birds for 3 hours of consistant flight time and over 200gigs of 4k footage. This was more of a personal test to see if I could manage the process of time and flight restraints. All footage is inline, compilled and speed up so it isn't the full 3 hours.

This video was created to show the reduction in light the eclipse created. I used the f-stop value from a fixed shutter and ISO settings to gauge the light. It was eerie.

 

[WillT]

The eclipse was under 3 mins in length no matter where you observed it from. So could you please give us a hint at where in the 44 min video you posted totality actually occurs?

 

[Wolfiesden]

It was under 3 min of totality. The actual eclipse from start to end was FAR longer.

That said, I kinda agree. The video was, well, odd to put it mildly.

I too flew during the eclipse. 2 batteries worth (bout 25min). All I got was clouds Almost 300gig of raw from the X5R and all I got was clouds. Deleted.

 

[WillT]

It was under 3 min of totality. The actual eclipse from start to end was FAR longer.

That said, I kinda agree. The video was, well, odd to put it mildly.

I too flew during the eclipse. 2 batteries worth (bout 25min). All I got was clouds Almost 300gig of raw from the X5R and all I got was clouds. Deleted.

Ugh! That sucks. Where were you flying? Most of the country was clear along the totality path, but I know some spots were cloudy - a friend near Kansas City had clear skies until the friggin' total phase when some clouds rolled in! I think my head might have exploded if I were there.

Including the (relatively boring) partial phases, from my observing location, the eclipse was 2 hours 48 mins from first contact through 4th contact - the vast majority of that time spent partying with friends/family with quick glimpses through solar glasses waiting for totality.

Frankly, I ain't got the Intelligent Flight Battery budget for all that, so I focused flying during the exciting time around 5 mins before 2nd contact (totality!). Even then, I just parked the drone over the prairie at max FAA height to capture the umbra racing at supersonic speed across the WY landscape. I didn't even frame our group in the shot - I wanted that natural-event feeling. The resulting video is AWESOME. Well, at least to this astronomy nerd. Despite my (extremely stupid) decision to do an extra spot focus once the drone was already placed and focused just moments before totality - which resulted in a slight under focus for what I already had (AAAggghh!!!), I love the video. It was only slightly fuzzy - I didn't even realize the focus problem until I watched it on a 4k monitor (looked great on 55" 1080p TV!).

Can't wait for 2024 - despite the vastly pessimistic cloud cover prospect for much of the nation (April is such a crap shoot with clouds).

Will

 

[Wolfiesden]

Flew in Milwauee. Sucked.

All week before including weekend was clear, few puffy summer clouds. Light winds. Beautiful. Day of eclipse, GRR, 91% cloud cover (according to UAV forecast). It even sprinkled a bit during the first battery. There was about 5 seconds where two clouds crossed and there was a hazed view of the eclipse through the very high clouds before the low layers covered it again.

I had parked it at 400 too. Facing south-south east and everything on manual in the camera so it would record the change in light intensity. My intension was to record the darkening and then the lightening after it passed and then speed it up in Premiere. I recorded in RAW for the best chance at that goal. After reviewing the MP4 it recorded, I didn't even bother downloading the images off the SSD. Just wiped it in the bird. To be honest, it would have been boring as heck and totally not worth the effort involved in animating the video.

I was thinkin real hard about running down to southern Illinois for the day and flying there. But decided against taking the day off. Stupid decision. Oh well.

 

[Wolfiesden]

Good grief. What are the odds. Apr 8, 2024. Its a monday AGAIN. Grr. Oh well. Its crossing southern Illinois again. Thinkin I should take the trip this time.

 

[LaunchHSV]

Flew in Milwauee. Sucked.

All week before including weekend was clear, few puffy summer clouds. Light winds. Beautiful. Day of eclipse, GRR, 91% cloud cover (according to UAV forecast). It even sprinkled a bit during the first battery. There was about 5 seconds where two clouds crossed and there was a hazed view of the eclipse through the very high clouds before the low layers covered it again.

I had parked it at 400 too. Facing south-south east and everything on manual in the camera so it would record the change in light intensity. My intension was to record the darkening and then the lightening after it passed and then speed it up in Premiere. I recorded in RAW for the best chance at that goal. After reviewing the MP4 it recorded, I didn't even bother downloading the images off the SSD. Just wiped it in the bird. To be honest, it would have been boring as heck and totally not worth the effort involved in animating the video.

I was thinkin real hard about running down to southern Illinois for the day and flying there. But decided against taking the day off. Stupid decision. Oh well.

That's kinda what I did and you see the resulting comments lol. Oh well, Cool event and was glad to be off work and flying for 3 hours straight That was fun!!

 

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

I was fortunate. My lake house is very near the exact center of the path of totality and I captured it all, of course looking down and not at the sun. A quick cut of the video can be seen here:

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