Watch a real-time 4K close-up video of the solar eclipse at totality

https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/how-kaist-drc-hubo-won-darpa-robotics-challenge

CORRECTION:
photographer was Jeong ByoungJun (researcher at Rainbow Astro, startup founded by Dr JunHo Oh)

Dr JunHo Oh is the Director

[ professor at KAIST = Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, founder of Rainbow Astro (robotic astronomy mount, harmonic drive).

His KAIST/HuboLab WON the DARPA Robotic Grand Challenge..!!

2 MILLION $$ prize, the DARPA GC Director at the time was Dr Gill Pratt (MIT PhD '89 Electrical Eng, Robotics), now CEO TRI (Toyota Research Institute), founded in Nov/2015 for 1 BILLION $$. He is 1 of my peers, I'm PhD '84 Electrical Eng (U of Illinois), 1 of our group members was Martin Eberhard (co-founder Tesla Motors, noted Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur)

Computer Vision, Robotics, AI (Artificial Intelligence)

is CORE Technology for "robotic cars" (Autonomous Cars) ]

Sep 12, 2017permalink

The Korean KAIST/Rainbow Astro group was in West Oregon (Warm Springs), they had slight high-cloud interference

I also shot 4K video with

(American made) APO refractor (Astrophysics 4.1" f6 (630mm FL) + Panasonic Lumix GH5 (4:2:2 10-bit internal recording)

[ comparable to their 2nd video, shot with (Japanese made) BORG 5" f6.4 (800mm f6.4) APO ]

from Eastern Oregon (Eldorado Mine).

http://www.eclipse-chaser.com/2017

I concentrated on 2nd/3rd contact Bailys Beads (1/16,000), cycling up to mid-totality to show varying amounts of Prominences & Inner-Corona. Left it at "Prominences & .1R corona" while I observed with 10x25 binoculars. Then, cycled down to 1/16,0000 for 3rd contact

More footage at

incl 360 panorama, 360 videos, wide-angle videos, time-lapse.

Sep 12, 2017permalink

Zograf

DP Review, you don't use 'close-up' for astro photography - it is awkward. No matter what level of magnification you do apply, you are still the same distance from the celestial object. Contrary to NASA/ESA fly-by probes taking pictures, or micro/macro photography where indeed you get closer to the object before taking the snapshot.

Sep 11, 2017permalink

vscd

The video is very nice but the voices are disturbing...

Sep 8, 2017permalink

(unknown member)

Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing.

Sep 7, 2017permalink

Gosman

Too close up. Great example of using the wrong tool!

Sep 7, 2017permalink

jrsm

It's good however the corona was way bigger than that. It should have gone past the field of view of the scope. The is room for more dynamic range in this video.

Sep 7, 2017permalink

Upritbass

This is why I didn't bother bringing a telescope or camera to photograph the eclipse. Someone else was going to do far better than I would have, so I decided to just enjoy the experience. Among other things, I was amazed that I could see the prominences with the naked eye!

Sep 7, 2017permalink

Tequila MockingjayBird

This is a single picture where you go round and round the periphery. No wonder the flares are stuck :D

Sep 6, 2017permalink

Georgeee

the rotation around on the edge of the Sun and noticeably aperture adjustment make this otherwise a great video less great.

Sep 6, 2017permalink

Al wants a bagel

Two things:

A) The rotation around the sun with a telescope allowed a close up view of the periphery of the eclipse. This type of footage is extremely rare, especially in amateur circles, and I am glad I got to see it.

B) Not many consumer grade cameras have variable aperture which you could strap to a hulking telescope with a robotic mount. I think you're asking a bit too much here.

Sep 6, 2017permalink

Gesture

Please. It's a stunning achievement.

Sep 6, 2017permalink

https://www.landseaskyco.com/takahashi-takahashi-mewlon-m-180c-w-dovetail-plate.html

It was shot with Takahashi Mewlon 180 (Caassegrain 2160mm f12)

They varied the shutter-speed to change exposure.

I did the same with my GH5 (shutter-speed controlled by Android app "Image App"), shooting with 630mm f6 APO (Astrophysics 4.1" f6)

NO telescope vibration (manually changing shutter-speed on 4K camera), it was done over WiFi/BT

Sep 12, 2017permalink

BobORama

Another stunning video diminished by "clever" post production gimmickry. Shooting in 4K then using digital zoom and panning to "create interest" is an editing choice - a bad one - but a choice nonetheless. In this case the subject was interesting enough without embellishment, and using the whole 4K frame would let the viewer do with their eyes what is forced on them, rather brutally, through the edit. But that's my preference. Obviously many other people like this editing job - I think had they seen the raw footage, in 4K, on a large screen they would agree.

Sep 6, 2017permalink

Al wants a bagel

The end of the video specifically says that the robotic mount was able to trace the sun's periphery. Not an editing choice.

But since you were so inclined, the same photographer included a sample of the eclipse in full view, which is, oddly enough, posted in the same article below.

Sep 6, 2017permalink

DarnGoodPhotos

I dont have a large screen to view it on which means that the editing allowed me to see it larger than I otherwise would have.

Sep 6, 2017permalink

https://www.landseaskyco.com/takahashi-takahashi-mewlon-m-180c-w-dovetail-plate.html

No gimmickery, It was shot with a very narrow-angle scope

Takahashi Mewlon 180 (Caassegrain 2160mm f12)

which robotically panned around solar limb. The timing was so good, they got 2nd contact (at beginning) & 3rd contact (at end)..!! The "robotic pan" programming apparently used local GPS coordinates, so this is even more impressive

I was going to use a TIGHT crop (Astrophysics 630mm f6 + Canon 1.4x TC) to get the sun full-frame, but backed off -- eliminated the 1.4x

NO telescope vibration (manually changing shutter-speed on 4K camera), it was done over WiFi/BT

Sep 12, 2017*permalink

Les Kamens

In awe!!!

Sep 6, 2017permalink

CameraLabTester

A real pleasure to watch.

Thank you!

Sep 6, 2017*permalink

Great execution, but another video from the same author is also beautifully edited: https://vimeo.com/232210382

Sep 5, 2017permalink

imsabbel

Beautiful shot, but its only about 720p because its out of focus. The only thing 4k is the text overlay.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

Zoeff

Unfortunately the atmopshere blurs the image too much, this is about as sharp as you can get it with a 150cm telescope.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/how-kaist-drc-hubo-won-darpa-robotics-challenge ]

They had high-cloud interference, which explains some "softness"

See below video shot by Erick Oh

[ son of Dr JunHo Oh (KAIST = Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology), founder Rainbow Astro..the harmonic drive telescope mounts. His HuboLab won the (USA) DARPA Grand Challenge!!

https://vimeo.com/232384839

You have to be a REALLY critical observer to notice any "softness", namely the "cusps" at 2nd & 3rd contact -- where sun's chromosphere intersect moon's profile

I had clear skies in East Oregon (Eldorado Mine), you can see the sharp cusps (partial phase just before Totality) & 2nd/3rd contact

Central Oregon (near Madras, Wine Down Ranch, etc) had high-clouds. Further East, skies were clear (where eclipsed sun was). Idaho looked completely clear. Wyoming had some high-clouds.

Sep 12, 2017permalink

PLShutterbug

Having witnessed the eclipse from western Oregon I think this is fantastic. The expressions of amazement being uttered in Mandarin (?) rather than English just adds to the grandeur, I think. Awe without [English-comprehensible] words.

Well done. Well done.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

They speak Korean. Even without understanding a word you can recognize the sound of the language by many words ending in "–eo" and in "–da".

Sep 5, 2017permalink

PLShutterbug

Ah. Thanks.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

Very very nice. Having photographed the eclipse myself (both with and without filters) I know how not easy this is to do.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

Dheorl

Nothing quite compares to watching the sun yourself through a telescope.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

steelhead3

I am surprised that smoke from all the fires didn't get in the way...fires burned right up to Ka-nee-ta on the Warm Springs Reservation (completely rented out to a Japanese group)

Sep 5, 2017permalink

The wind was favorable that day in Oregon. I was East of Warm Springs near the Idaho border and there was a faint faint haze still present, but it didn't cause any real imaging problems. We lucked out that smoke and clouds cleared out for the big event.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

I was about 20 miles south of Warm Springs, and earlier in the morning I was totally freaking out because of the amount of haze. But It too cleared up a lot before the totality.

I wonder how the moon's shadow and accompanying cooling changes the local winds... It seems common that the clouds part for the eclipse.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

http://www.eclipse-chaser.com/2017

I also was in Eastern Oregon (near Idaho border), west of Lime/OR at Eldorado Mine

Despite haze (or even high-clouds), the solar corona is still bright enough to "penetrate". Incredibly, not detectable even from photos

I had significant cloud interference in 2009/China (Eastern Tibetan Plateau, 16k feet elevation), but still got "decent" corona shots

http://www.eclipse-chaser.com/2009

Sep 12, 2017permalink

falconeyes

Overall, I very much like this video and the circular motion around the sun's circimference. But the effective resolution is FullHD at best, no need to make this 4k. A better use of 4k would have been a wider angle, also better capturing the moment, I guess.

Moreover, I heard the corona was much wider than captured in this video. An s-log video color-graded to show it all would have been appreciated (by me).

Sep 5, 2017*permalink

Impulses

I imagine the corona appears wider or tighter depending on how you expose for it, having never seen one in person I dunno whether atmospheric conditions or location might also alter it's appearance when seeing it with your own eyes.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

s-log would not have shown it all. To get a large extent of the corona with 14 bits of DR still requires the prominences to be way over-exposed.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

I think the amount of the corona is appropriate for the framing. I actually appreciate such a great view of the prominences. It seems that everyone has captured the corona, but there are few prominences images, but those that do show up look really fascinating.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

whawha

Absolutely amazing.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

K E Hoffman

As someone who was there just miles from where this was taken. This video does not even capture the experience. Heck the exposure was not even corrected well enough to capture what as a spectacular corona this time. I like seeing the prominences but I can see those in still shots.
This for me is a case of too much gear not enough art. It isolated a spectacular and very emotional event for many into data collection.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

raztec

No photo ever does justice to the full reality of the experience. But I disagree with you about this video.

I saw the event at ground zero as well and I'd this video captures the magnitude of the event better than any other photos I've seen.

Sep 5, 2017*permalink

dqnielg

Not everybody has a long focal-length telescope or could be there in person to witness it.

I, for one, am happy somebody could actually capture it.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

Impulses

Don't be such a negative Nelly, those of us nowhere near totality still appreciate every vantage point and detailed look at the event. What's wrong with data collection anyway? He used an automated mount so in all likelihood the shooter was free to experience it just as you did while the camera did it's thing.

Not everyone thinks of themselves as an artist, some or more analytical or scientific by nature, some are happy to be spectators, and most are some sorta combination of all of it.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

Harsh. The video captures what the vast majority of people did not see with their eyes. Using my 600mm + 1.4TC + solar filter I had a live view feed on a screen that people could see and they loved it since they couldn't see much detail with their eyes using a solar filter.
What I find really nice about this video is that it captures just before and just after totality so you can see what that looks like in real time - not something you can see with your eyes (even looking through a lens) or with still images.

Sep 5, 2017*permalink

Kerensky97

The End of the video says it was all automated. He could have been just sitting there enjoying the experience, or like most photographers having a blast running multiple cameras at once, doing what he loves.

The key takeaway is he created something impressive and in response all you could create was a complaint.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

This is gorgeous, those flares, that level of detail...

Sep 5, 2017*permalink

Yes, and shown on a 43" 4K monitor it is really impressive to see the details.
Good job.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

Haven´t seen it on the Tv yet... but already in the computer it looks impressive. I always like etail better when compressed in a 27 or 32 IPS panel than on larger Screens. But I´ll give it a go later.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

I can highly recommend Philips' reasonably inexpensive large pc-monitors
bdm4065uc and bdm4350uc
The first is VA with better black, the second slightly larger and IPS with better real view-angles (not just on paper). So they both have their benefits.

Sep 5, 2017permalink

(I made small reviews of the two with links to other sites here https://eskerahn.dk/wordpress/?p=1982 )

Sep 5, 2017permalink

I have a 55 IPS phillips. Great TV. Still... I prefer the Dell and Asus 27 and 32 PC monitors I use to the phillips.

Sep 6, 2017permalink

(The two I refer to are both pc monitors, not TVs)

Sep 6, 2017permalink