How To Safely Photograph the Solar Eclipse with Your Phone
The next total solar eclipse takes place on August 12, 2026. The path of totality crosses northern Russia, Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain, and a small corner of Portugal. Many other locations across Europe, northern Africa, Canada, and parts of the northern United States will see a partial solar eclipse.
If you plan to photograph the eclipse with your phone, check the exact circumstances for your location before the event. You must use a secure, purpose-built solar filter over every active phone camera lens throughout all partial phases. You must also protect your eyes with eclipse glasses that comply with the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard.
Photograph the August 12 Eclipse with your Phone
Secure a purpose-built smartphone solar filter over the active camera lens, wear certified eclipse glasses when looking toward the Sun, and compose the image using your phone screen. The camera filter may be removed only during totality, only from inside the path of totality, and only after the Sun’s bright face is completely covered. Reattach it as soon as any bright sunlight begins to reappear.
What You Will See on August 12, 2026
Only observers inside the narrow path of totality will see the Moon completely cover the Sun and reveal the solar corona. Totality lasts less than two minutes from many locations, with a maximum duration of about 2 minutes and 18 seconds. In Spain and Portugal, the eclipse occurs shortly before sunset, making a clear western horizon especially important.
Everyone outside the path of totality will see a partial eclipse and must keep their eye protection and phone camera filter in place for the entire event. Use NASA’s August 12, 2026 eclipse map to confirm what is visible from your location.
Wear eclipse glasses whenever you look toward the partially eclipsed Sun. Your phone screen does not protect your eyes.
Use a Solar Filter Made for a Phone Camera
A purpose-built smartphone solar filter is the safest and easiest option because it is designed to cover the camera lens and remain securely attached. Modern phones may automatically switch between several rear cameras, so confirm which lens is active and make sure every lens that could be used is completely covered.
ISO 12312-2 applies to eclipse glasses and handheld solar viewers intended for direct viewing. It does not certify filters for phone cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, or telescopes. Purchase your phone filter from a reputable solar-viewing supplier and follow its instructions. The American Astronomical Society maintains a list of solar-viewing products and suppliers, including filters designed for smartphones.
Do not look through an unfiltered telescope, binoculars, or camera lens while wearing eclipse glasses. Magnifying optics concentrate sunlight and require a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics.
Use a secure solar filter over the active phone camera lens and ISO 12312-2-compliant eclipse glasses for your eyes.
How to Photograph the Solar Eclipse with Your Phone
- Check the eclipse start time, maximum phase, and end time for your exact location.
- Secure a purpose-built smartphone solar filter over every camera lens the phone may use.
- Put on your eclipse glasses before looking toward the Sun.
- Open the phone camera and begin with the standard 1X camera in auto mode.
- Frame the Sun using the phone screen without looking directly around or above the phone.
- Tap the Sun on the screen to focus, then reduce the exposure until the edge of the Sun looks sharp.
- Steady the phone against a solid object or use a tripod and phone clamp.
- Take test images well before maximum eclipse and review them for focus and exposure.
Avoid relying on extreme digital zoom. It makes the Sun look larger on the screen but does not capture additional detail and makes camera shake more obvious. If your phone has a true optical telephoto camera, you can test it beforehand, but its lens must also remain completely covered by the solar filter.
Greg Yde captured this partial solar eclipse using a Galaxy Note20 smartphone with a solar filter over the camera lens.
The Sun will appear quite small through a phone, even when you use digital zoom.
Advanced Phone Camera Settings
If your phone has a manual or pro mode, use it for greater control over focus, shutter speed, and ISO. Many phones have a fixed aperture, so you may not be able to adjust the f-stop.
Start with the lowest available ISO and a fast shutter speed, such as 1/500 second. The exact exposure will depend on your solar filter, phone camera, atmospheric conditions, and eclipse phase. If the Sun looks like a featureless bright circle, reduce the exposure or use a faster shutter speed. Lock focus and exposure if your camera app allows it so the phone does not continually readjust between pictures.
Capture several exposures instead of trusting a single image. Once you have taken a photo you like, you can use an editor such as Snapseed to make modest adjustments to contrast, sharpness, and color.
Important Safety Points
- Never look at the partial Sun without proper eclipse glasses.
- Never point an unfiltered phone camera at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed Sun.
- Keep the phone filter attached throughout every partial phase.
- Remove eye and camera protection only during totality and only from inside the path of totality.
- Reapply protection immediately when any bright part of the Sun returns.
A dedicated smartphone solar filter, such as Solar Snap, is easier to secure than a loose handheld viewer.
Photographing Totality with Your Phone
If you are inside the path of totality, the solar filter may be removed only after the Moon has completely covered the Sun’s bright face. Keep your eclipse glasses on until you can no longer see any bright portion of the Sun through them. During totality, try several exposure levels to capture the corona and keep the phone steady.
Totality ends quickly. Reattach the phone filter and put your eclipse glasses back on as soon as any bright sunlight begins to reappear. If you are outside the path of totality, there is no safe filter-off period.
Ken Klang photographed the 2017 total solar eclipse with a smartphone. Camera and eye protection may be removed only during totality.
Managing Expectations
Without magnification, the Sun appears quite small in the sky—about half the width of your little finger held at arm’s length. It will not look as large as it does in professional eclipse photographs taken through long telephoto lenses or telescopes.
Even when using a phone’s 2X or 5X camera, your picture of the Sun may still be small. A stable composition with the landscape, clouds, people wearing eclipse glasses, or changing ambient light can make a more memorable image than an aggressively zoomed-in picture.
For a close-up view, many photographers use a camera or telescope with a focal length of approximately 300–600mm and a securely mounted solar filter over the front of the optics.
Using a universal solar filter in front of my telephoto camera lens to capture a solar eclipse.
If you are outside the path of totality, consider photographing the overall experience as well as the partially eclipsed Sun. A group of people watching with eclipse glasses, unusual shadows, or the surrounding landscape can tell the story of the event more effectively than a tiny solar disk.
For reference, the 1X camera on many phones has a full-frame-equivalent focal length close to 24mm.
Trevor Jones
is a deep-sky astrophotographer and a valued member of the RASC. His passion is to inspire others to start their astrophotography journey on his YouTube Channel, so they can appreciate the night sky as much as he does. His images have been featured in astronomy books and online publications, including the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).
thanks, watch you nightly!