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Turns out thatphotographing a solar eclipsewith your smartphone is not that easy.
In fact, figuring out a repeatable process without cauterizing your retinas is downright challenging.
Three phones, three tripods
But I did it.
That last selection might turn a few heads.
I never pinched and zoomed.
Three phones, three tripods
I just pointed each phone at the eclipse and hit the shutter.
The sun naturally blows out the exposure on all the phones.
It’s not that I haven’t taken pictures of the sun before.
Three phones, three tripods
My solution was simple and likely one you’ve seen elsewhere.
The solar sunglasses helped with cutting down the massive glare.
In most cases, the result was a very orange-looking sun.
As you can see, the Ultra’s 10X zoom gets you closer.
I think those numbers do factor into the overall quality.
It was also the only phone that forced a long exposure after the peak 90% coverage.
Things got more interesting with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and its 5x Tertrapism lens.
The eclipse appears a little closer than on the Pixel 8 Pro, but also more vibrant.
As with all the phones, this image capture process was a bit hit-and-miss.
Colors shifted from orange to almost black and white, and sticking the focus was a challenge.
When I did manage to capture a decent photo, I was thrilled.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x optical zoom pulled me thrillingly close to the eclipse.
It was certainly easier to get the exposure and focus right.
One of the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s best eclipse photos.
It used that for a capture of the 90% eclipsed sun behind clouds.
Aesthetically, it is one of the better shots.
That extra optical zoom means you have more detail before the graininess kicks in.
Sometimes the comparison came down to a matter of taste.
It also suffered the most when it came to exposure.
Even so, I am impressed with the ISO range and the sharpness of some shots.
By then we could well have 200x optical zoom cameras with 1,000MP sensors.
Probably my favorite iPhone 15 Pro Max eclipse shot.
Correction:An earlier version of this article transposed the description of ISO performance.
