Randomopolis

[aiw]

That's for Charleston in general, obviously

 

[deepdarkblue]

Just checked in to Isle of Palms. We come down every year, but picked this week because of the eclipse. Better not be cloudy.

Uh, it's not looking too good...

 

[aiw]

Look at that fucking circle. Imma gonna be pissed.

 

[kchu1701]

Triangle area looks mostly clear at the crucial hour, no more than 10% cloud cover or so.

Check out windy.com if you don't know about it for detailed, graphics-oriented weather forecasting. You can slide the timer to 14:00 tomorrow, and view the cloud cover.

 

[Pantone287]

Since it's been impossible to get eclipse glasses locally, I'm trying to figure out the best way to get a peek at it. As of now, I'm thinking I'll just turn on my phone camera, point it up, and look at the screen. Can't be any worse that viewing it through glasses that basically take away your vision, right?

 

[aiw]

Lol. No more Pantone posts after 2:30 tomorrow.

 

[DukeNukem05]

Since it's been impossible to get eclipse glasses locally, I'm trying to figure out the best way to get a peek at it. As of now, I'm thinking I'll just turn on my phone camera, point it up, and look at the screen. Can't be any worse that viewing it through glasses that basically take away your vision, right?

If you're going to kill the camera on your phone, do the front-facing one.

 

[DukeNukem05]

Triangle area looks mostly clear at the crucial hour, no more than 10% cloud cover or so.

Check out windy.com if you don't know about it for detailed, graphics-oriented weather forecasting. You can slide the timer to 14:00 tomorrow, and view the cloud cover.

Good thing the rest of us stayed here in the Triangle. Let's all laugh at aiw.

 

[ZackM]

Fuck. Mostly cloudy over all of Michigan.

 

[Pantone287]

The internet seems to think that it shouldn't hurt smartphone cameras unless they have an optical zoom attached or something. I mean, it's not like your phone explodes if you take a video with the sun in it on a normal day...

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

 

[ZackM]

The phone won't break, but you'll probably burn out the camera sensor.

 

[Pantone287]

The phone won't break, but you'll probably burn out the camera sensor.

What are you basing this on?

Apple says it's fine, which I assume they wouldn't do if there was any significant chance it would open them up to liability.

 

[ZackM]

The phone won't break, but you'll probably burn out the camera sensor.

What are you basing this on?

Apple says it's fine, which I assume they wouldn't do if there was any significant chance it would open them up to liability.

Knowledge of DSLR cameras. If Apple says it's ok, then I'm sure it's ok.

 

[kchu1701]

Since it's been impossible to get eclipse glasses locally, I'm trying to figure out the best way to get a peek at it. As of now, I'm thinking I'll just turn on my phone camera, point it up, and look at the screen. Can't be any worse that viewing it through glasses that basically take away your vision, right?

You can set up a pinhole viewer, which shouldn't be too difficult. Any point-like objects will cast crescent shadows, so you can still enjoy that.

 

[kchu1701]

The phone won't break, but you'll probably burn out the camera sensor.

What are you basing this on?

Apple says it's fine, which I assume they wouldn't do if there was any significant chance it would open them up to liability.

Knowledge of DSLR cameras. If Apple says it's ok, then I'm sure it's ok.

Most smartphone cameras don't have physical shutters, so anytime you have your phone sitting on a table with one of its cameras facing skyward, it's basically getting the sun on its CMOS sensor. So actively imaging the sun doesn't actively give it more exposure. You will probably not be able to take good photos without overexposure though; you'd need exposure times far less than a microsecond at the narrowest apertures, which I don't think the sensor is capable of.

 

[ZackM]

That makes sense. Your last sentence was also my thought on actually getting a good result.

 

[rhfarmer]

Just look through a colander, pantone, should be fine.

 

[Pantone287]

Plan B is to just squint my eyes really hard. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

I know everyone suggests the pinhole thing, but watching a shadow move across cardboard has pretty much no appeal to me. I can only get so excited about a visual I can recreate with a flashlight and my hand. I think I'd just prefer to either go blind experiencing a miracle of nature or stay inside, thank you very much.

 

[CK86]

Just watch a live stream of it while outside. Save your eyes and still experience it.