Eclipse- is it safe to watch through your phone on selfie mode?

[Wonderwoman333]

Does anyone know if it's safe for your eyes to turn your back to the sun and put your phone in selfie mode to watch the eclipse?
I left it too late to buy glasses.

You could leave your house for the day unlocked and you might not get burgled...... but on the other hand you might.... Would you risk it though?

Arf! 😁

They have the info now, their choice if they risk it or not I guess

So use an old phone ffs

I took photos and videos of a couple of different eclipses using my iPhone and it was fine. But I don’t lock my doors, so you probably shouldn’t listen to me 😀

I don’t know if he’s the same guy in this video, but this is a clip from the BBC I saw shared online that says you can use selfie mode on your smartphone. So that’s what I was planning on doing as I thought it was a trustworthy source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c78gqwnde05o

So it’s all well and good for people on here to say GET PROPER ADVICE FROM THE BBC YOU THICKOS but even the BBC have given differing advice. And now I’ve told a load of people I know that they can take selfie videos on their phone 🤦‍♀️

We'll be using the lens from an old welding mask. Actually the same welding mask we used for the 1999 eclipse (yes, I am that old, and yes, my husband never throws anything out)

I think I will, actually. The front facing camera has a much smaller lens than the rear. A quick snap over my shoulder is very unlikely to do damage. So I'll lock my door on the way to get my sunny selfie

Rice Eclipsies boxes are recommended.

👏 Bravo!

Or CorneaFlakes, I suppose? 👀

Remember to wear a colander on your head to do that 😊

Yup, there's a difference between uninformed and stupid...

According to BBC News the best place to view the eclipse is Santander, but I went into my local branch and they don't know anything about this.

Having been in the totality zone for the last one in the UK in the 90s, it's an extraordinary experience. I'm really excited and have both my glasses and my special phone filter too.

I wonder what old Iron Age tribes thought about eclipses…. They probably sacrificed a few people to get the sun to turn back on.

All joking aside, they interviewed a man on BBC breakfast this morning. He used a welding mask for the last eclipse. He caused serious and permanent damage to his eyes. It doesn’t serve the purpose.

Sorry to hijack the thread but I’m in the middle of making a viewer out of a cornflake box. Does the hole have to be an actual pinhole?? Some instructions just say “small hole”. Will I be able to see it easier with a bigger hole as the box is quite long, or will it be blurry and look shit?

I was 7 for the last one and us kids were rounded up to go inside to make sure there was no chance of us having a real life experience 😂. But my mum took a photo of it reflected on a pond, so that was at least something!

No. Use a colander etc facing away from the Sun. Anything that gives you a pin hole and watch the shadow.

You can, only if you want to run the risk of never being able to use your phone camera in the future! It will probably damage the phone.

That's what we are going to do, kinda like seeing many little suns!

Pinhole, well about 2-3mm, it's kinda like a pinhole camera :-)

I also saw this! Is it still on the website I wonder…?

Weeteclipse?

I photographed the total eclipse in Canada in 2024 with my mobile phone...did not damage it. Took photos before and during totality. Photots were rubbish though - a phone camera is just not designed to cope with that degree of brightness. I suppose it's logical that holding the phone up for a prolonged period, rather than just taking a photo, could cause damage.

The last eclipse I Dd a pinhole camera thing with a sheet of paper and some cardboard. Watched it on the cardboard with my back to the sun. I think this time I will just watch everywhere go dark but not look at the sun 🤷‍♀️. Sad to think this is probably the last decent eclipse I will “see” in my lifetime.