How to photograph a total sun eclipse? [duplicate]

Question

in a few hours we have in middel europe an total sun eclipse. And as in the titel you can read I want to know how to photograph the sun eclipse.

Please note that I do not have any experience or knowledged about cameras, photography etc. BUT I KNOW THAT FOR THIS KIND OR RECORD IS A SPECIAL FITER REQUIERD TO HOLD IN FRONT OF THE CAMMERA, and I have this filter.

For an beginnner like me, a generally explantion or a link to a tutorial/ instruction would be nice ;-) thx

But to be more detailed my questions are:

1. What would be the best camera device?[1]

2. What are the best configuartion for the camera device? [2]

3. Is it better to photograph or to film a sun eclipse?

4. What/ Where would be the best place to make this record? For example, Mountain or Roof or Surface?

[1]: I have a samsung Galaxy note 2 (8 MPx); Samsung Galaxy note 1 (8 MPx); Rollei Powerflex 820; Sony slt-a58k (with dt 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 sam ii). So whitch one would be the best?

[2]: How to config the best camera above?

As you know I am a absolut beginner, so moderators and commuity feel free to correct or improve me

Answer 1

Assuming you're using a filter made of something like the Baader Astrosolar film, I'll answer your first two questions.

What would be the best camera device? - any camera giving you a good degree of manual control. With the filter in place there will be a lot of black in the frame and your camera is very likely to overexpose the scene. Full manual would be ideal but you should get away with auto settings if you can dial-in some negative exposure compensation.

What are the best configuration for the camera? - I spent most of this morning experimenting with settings and found 1/500s at f/8, ISO 200 to give good results without any white clipping, when using the Baader Astrosolar film.

A good question to ask would have been "what lens should I use?" - simple answer, probably the one with the longest focal length you have available. For maximum crop I'm setting up an EOS 60D with a 70-200mm lens which will give the equivalent of 320mm at the long end (as the sensor introduces a 1.6x crop). I'd like more length (and who wouldn't?) but this is what I have to hand, and the sun is a usable size at that focal length. I should imagine a 400mm on a crop-sensor body would be a great combination but 200mm will suffice.

For your question of which camera should you use, the Sony will give you good manual control but will be held back by the limited range of the lens. The Rollei has good range (300mm 35mm-equivalent) at the long end so you'll be able to zoom in much further, but I don't know what it offers in the way of manual control, so you'll have to judge this for yourself.