Eclipses are cool, and I’ve only ever had the chance to see a handful in my lifetime. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen a total eclipse, and I had to miss out on this one, too, but plenty of other people got to see one today as one passed through parts of the United States. My friend wasn’t lucky enough to see the total eclipse since he lives in California, but he still took some pretty cool photos with his Pixel.
Keep in mind, being in California, he could only capture the eclipse from an angle, with most of the sun still present. However, you can clearly see the moon peaking through the corner, covering about one-quarter of the sun. And despite capturing a partial view of the eclipse, I’m still quite impressed with how the photos came out from his Pixel 7 Pro.
Image 1 of 6
According to my friend, he used the Pixel 7 Pro and captured the images at 5x optical and then at 30x. To protect his lens, he took the photos through the lens of some cheap eclipse glasses, similar to the pair we recommended, and a 100mm photographic filter.
Interestingly, Android Central’s Nick Sutrich, who is closer to the path of totality, tried to capture the moment using the Honor Magic 6 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Both have incredible telephoto capabilities, so the expectation was that he would be able to capture a better image of the eclipse. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, and the images he shared leave a lot to be desired.
Image 1 of 2
The Magic 6 Pro camera was able to provide a clearer image of the sun, although things unfortunately started to get cloudy while he was taking the image. The image from the S24 Ultra camera, however, was a bit of a washed-out mess, and you can’t make anything out. For reference, the Honor Magic 6 photo was taken at 5x zoom, and the S24 Ultra image was at 10x. Both also had to deal with cloud coverage creeping in, while skies were pretty clear in the part of California where my friend took his image.
Unfortunately, cloud coverage was a problem for many Android Central staff. That includes myself, although I wouldn’t have been able to see much from Seattle, WA, anyway. I did manage to get a pretty decent photo of the 2023 annular solar eclipse, which I took using my Galaxy Note 20 Ultra at full zoom. It’s extremely grainy, and clouds were trying to ruin the experience, but I’m still happy with the result, as it’s the closest I’ve gotten to witnessing a total eclipse.
As Android Central’s Jerry Hildenbrand points out, taking a photo of an eclipse can be easy, so long as the timing and weather are right (darn clouds) and you have the right equipment, like a phone tripod. Hopefully, some of you were able to take some pretty cool images of the eclipse with your smartphones and use the appropriate gear to protect your lenses.