# Total solar eclipse - Menorca - Wednesday 12 August 2026 Field plan for a Sony A7 on a tripod. Times are local (CEST, UTC+2). --- ## The timings Figures below are for **Ciutadella** (west coast). Totality length varies across the island - see "Where to stand". | Event | Time | Sun altitude | |---|---|---| | **C1** partial begins | 19:37:10 | 12° | | **C2 totality begins** | **20:30:09** | ~2° | | Maximum | 20:30:45 | **2°, azimuth 288° (WNW)** | | **C3 totality ends** | **20:31:21** | ~2° | | C4 partial ends / sunset | 20:42:00 | 0° | **Totality: 1 minute 12 seconds.** Eclipse magnitude 103.1%. Two numbers govern this whole plan: - **2° altitude.** You are looking through roughly 20 times more atmosphere than at the zenith. Everything is dimmer, softer and redder than any standard eclipse guide assumes. - **72 seconds.** No second attempt, no time to solve problems. --- ## Where to stand **Horizon beats duration.** At 2° altitude a low hill, a building or a haze bank on the sea horizon hides the entire event. The requirement is an unobstructed view toward **azimuth 288°, west-northwest**. Duration varies across the island: **Mahón 1m38s**, **Ciutadella 1m12s** - the centre line favours the south-east. But Mahón is on the *east* coast, so from there you would be looking WNW across the island, with Monte Toro (358 m) in roughly that direction. A clear sea horizon is worth more than 26 extra seconds. Best compromise: a **west or south-west coastal site**, which gives open sea at 288° while sitting further south for a slightly longer totality. - **Cap d'Artrutx / Far d'Artrutx** (south-west corner) - open sea to the WNW, long low cliff promenade. The usual recommendation, so expect crowds. - **Punta Nati** (north-west) - rugged, open, few obstructions. - **Ciutadella** clifftop promenade and harbour - accessible, urban. Named sites will be busy and vehicle access may be restricted, as it already is at official sites on Mallorca. Any quiet west-facing cliff works equally well: the requirement is horizon, not postcode. **The real weather risk is a cloud bank sitting on the western horizon** - invisible from inland, fatal at 2°. A sea horizon gives the best odds. --- ## What to take ### Buy now - this is the long pole **A certified solar filter for the front of the lens.** Not an ND filter: a photographic ND passes infrared largely unattenuated and will cook the sensor. You need ISO 12312-2 / around OD 5. - **Baader AstroSolar Safety Film ND 5.0** - cheap, excellent, cut to size and mount in a card cell. **Careful:** Baader also sell *AstroSolar Photo Film ND 3.8*, which is for cameras only and is **not safe to look through**. For a single filter that does both jobs, take the **ND 5.0**. - Or a ready-made screw-on/slip-on solar filter sized to your lens. - **Eclipse glasses (ISO 12312-2) for everyone in the party.** Order in the next few days. There are three weeks left and this is the one item with no substitute. ### Camera kit - Sony A7 + **wide-to-standard lens (24-70 mm)** - this is the primary lens - **200-300 mm** if you have it, for a tighter corona frame - **Not 500-600 mm.** At 2° the seeing will destroy fine detail and you will fill the frame with shimmer - **Sturdy tripod.** Coastal cliff, evening breeze, low sun - stability matters more than weight saving - A head that repoints quickly and low: at 2° you are shooting almost level - **2-3 spare batteries**, fully charged - **Fast, formatted SD cards** with plenty of space - **Remote release or intervalometer** so you never touch the camera - **Gaffer tape** - to secure the filter against wind and lock focus ### Leave at home The **Star Adventurer GTi**. Seventy-two seconds needs no tracking, and polar aligning in bright twilight toward a 2° Sun is impractical. Bring it on the trip for the night skies - Menorca is dark and August is good for the Milky Way - but it plays no part in eclipse day. ### Everything else Red torch, water, warm layer (the temperature drops noticeably at totality), insect repellent, a folding chair, and a phone with this plan and a countdown timer. Optionally a second camera or phone on its own tripod recording wide video unattended. --- ## Before you go 1. **Fit and check the filter.** Mount it, then hold it up to a bright lamp and look for pinholes. Any hole means it is scrap. 2. **Practise on a sunset at home.** This is the single most valuable thing you can do. Shoot the Sun through the filter when it is 2-5° above the horizon and write down the settings that work. That calibrates for the real atmospheric extinction, which no exposure table accounts for. 3. **Practise the filter-off transition** until you can do it in a few seconds without looking, without knocking the tripod. 4. **Set the camera up once, properly:** - RAW (not JPEG) - Manual exposure, manual ISO - no auto anything - Manual focus - White balance: Daylight, not auto - Long-exposure noise reduction: OFF (it doubles every exposure time) - Steady-shot / IBIS: OFF on a tripod - Drive mode: continuous or bracketing, with the remote release 5. **On arrival, scout the site** and check the horizon at azimuth 288° with a compass app. Do this on a previous evening if you can - the Sun sets in almost the same place each night this time of year. --- ## Eclipse day, step by step ### Afternoon Check the forecast, specifically for **cloud on the western horizon**. Decide the site. Travel early - roads will be busy and parking will fill. ### T-3 hours (about 17:30) Arrive. Set up the tripod. Frame roughly where the Sun will be at 20:30 - azimuth 288°, just above the sea. ### T-90 minutes (19:00) - Fit the filter and tape it on. - **Focus manually**: magnified live view on the Sun's edge, focus for the sharpest limb, then **tape the focus ring**. Autofocus will hunt and fail. - Take test frames. Check the histogram, not the screen brightness. - **Decision point:** if the western horizon is clouding over, this is when to move. The island is small; later than this and you are committed. ### 19:37 - C1, first contact The Moon takes its first bite. Start the partial sequence: **one frame every 5 minutes**. That gives about 10 frames for a composite sequence. ### 19:37 to 20:25 - the partial phases The Sun drops from 12° to 2°, and **dims continuously and steeply** as it sinks into thicker air. No single exposure works for the whole hour. - Start around **f/8, ISO 100**, shutter near 1/500 (confirm from your practice session). - **Re-check the histogram every 5 minutes** and lengthen the exposure as the Sun drops. Expect to end several stops slower than you started. - Keep ISO low while you can; raise it later rather than let the shutter get so slow that shimmer smears the disc. ### 20:25 - stop fiddling - Final framing. If using the wide lens, compose for **corona over sea**, with the horizon low in the frame. - Set the totality bracket ready to fire (see below). - Take the lens cap off, keep the solar filter on. ### 20:29 - watch Light goes strange, colour drains, the temperature drops. Look west for the approaching shadow over the sea. ### 20:30:09 - C2. FILTER OFF The diamond ring. **Remove the solar filter** - the whole point of totality is that it is safe and the filter makes it invisible. - Fire the bracket immediately. - **Then stop and look at it.** ### 72 seconds of totality One bracket sequence is enough. You are 25% of the way through totality by the time it finishes. Spend the rest with your eyes, not the viewfinder - a 2°-altitude totality over the Mediterranean is a rare sight and it will be over before it registers. ### 20:31:21 - C3. FILTER BACK ON At the first bead of returning sunlight, filter back on and eclipse glasses back on. The Sun is now setting into the sea; the remaining partial phases will be lost in the horizon haze within a few minutes. ### 20:42 - C4 / sunset Done. Pack slowly, let the traffic clear, and look at the twilight. --- ## Exposure settings Treat these as **starting points to refine at your practice sunset**. Extinction at 2° is severe and variable with haze, so the histogram is the authority, not this table. ### Partial phases (filter ON) | Sun altitude | Aperture | ISO | Shutter (start point) | |---|---|---|---| | 12° (C1) | f/8 | 100 | ~1/500 | | 8° | f/8 | 100 | ~1/250 | | 5° | f/8 | 200 | ~1/125 | | 2-3° | f/8 | 400 | ~1/60 or slower | ### Totality (filter OFF) The corona spans an enormous brightness range, so **bracket wide**: no single exposure captures both the inner corona and the outer streamers. - **f/5.6-f/8, ISO 400-800** - **Bracket 1/500 → 2 s**, 7-9 frames, one stop apart - Add roughly 3 stops over standard eclipse tables to allow for the extinction at 2° - The **diamond ring** wants the fast end: 1/500 to 1/1000 - **Wide-field shot**: 24-35 mm, ISO 800, 1/30 to 1/8 - captures corona, sea and the 360° twilight glow. This is the picture most likely to be a keeper. --- ## Safety, in one place - **The filter stays on at all times except between C2 and C3** (20:30:09 to 20:31:21). - **Never use a photographic ND filter** for the partial phases. - **Tape the filter on.** A gust removing it mid-exposure damages the camera. - **Check the film for pinholes** before each session. - **Eclipse glasses for eyes** during all partial phases. - **Naked eye is safe only during totality.** At the first returning bead, glasses back on immediately. --- ## If it goes wrong - **Cloud on the horizon:** decide by 19:00 and move. Menorca is about 50 km end to end, but roads will be busy - do not leave it late. - **Missed the bracket:** the wide-field shot is the keeper. Prioritise it. - **Camera problem during totality:** stop, and watch. You cannot fix a camera in 72 seconds, and the memory is worth more than the file. --- ## The one rule **Look at it.** Seventy-two seconds is very short, the corona at 2° over the sea will be extraordinary, and no photograph you take will be the reason you remember it.