Jim, happy to know I'm in great company in filter stack land. I figured I've shot plenty of unfiltered images with the sun in it, even longish telephoto ones (albeit at sunrise or sunset when there's a lot of atmospheric filtering) and have never suffered any ill effects with my eyes or camera gear. I always focus and rough frame with a "make do" pinhole in front of the lens, my hand shielding the lens and letting just the barest of light through in between my closed fingers. I never looked into the sun with my eyes with any optical finders without the pinhole; EVF and rear screens are a little easier to manage.
My filter stack today for the 200mm AI was a 52mm 3 stop + circular polarizer, step up ring to 62mm, 3 stop + 3 stop + circular polarizer, not quite the 16-stop recommendation either. Focus with the finger pinhole technique, uncover, shoot, then lens cap back on until the next shot. Similar stack with the 300PF on the other cameras, 3 stop + 10 stop + circ polarizer.
I miss having linear polarizers for these one-off occasions when you could just use two of them and change the rotation to almost cut off all light, if I recall correctly. Nice job with the montage.
Rafael, spectacular detail with your setup! I had read that filtration should best occur before any magnification, glad to head all the gear survived just fine.
George, the sharpness you managed with the 1000mm and the Hassy is first class. I like your progression of "slices" better than mine, my steps are not as varied as I also took time to just enjoy the view and converse with my wife through the event. It was pretty thrilling as well to view totality with my binoculars.
Samy, the orientation of your sun "slice" reminds me most of a new moon, how ironic!
