Photographing a Solar Eclipse

 “There is more between heaven and earth than most other places”.

Nikon D1X, 300mm f5.6 Itorex mirror lens, TC-201 teleconverter, B&W ND 10000X filter.

This remarkable image, captured by Bjorn Rorslett, was captured during the peak of the solar eclipse on May 31st, 2003, near Oslo, Norway. What you see is really in the image, nothing has been added.

This is one of my very favourite images of all time. The Nikon D1X was the state-of-the-art 5.4 megapixel digital DSLR at the time. By today’s standards, your cell phone is likely to have a higher pixel count. Chromatic aberrations, banding and high degrees of noise are all present here. But that would be missing the point – it’s the image itself that is breathtaking, not the image quality.

Bjorn’s invaluable reviews of exotic Nikon lenses were an excellent reference for me when I used to shoot with the Nikon system. Reviews of the best Nikkors ever made, as well as Bjorn’s own work can be found on his website: http://naturfotograf.com