Technologies

Don’t Miss Out on the Perfect Solar Eclipse Photo: Tips on Taking Pictures Today

Take these steps to minimize potential damage to your camera or phone lens, and get a great photo.

Today’s solar eclipse is the talk of the town. During its trip across North America, the total eclipse will hit parts of Mexico, a long diagonal stripe across the US and a stretch of eastern Canada. It’ll be quite the event, especially since the next total solar eclipse to hit North America won’t happen until August 2044.

Nearly half of the US population lives within a 200-mile drive of the event, giving many people a chance to catch a glimpse or a photo.

Remember, you must wear solar eclipse glasses if you’re looking up during the eclipse. While the sun will be completely hidden behind the moon for a few minutes, the rest of the eclipse will be just as harmful to human vision as it would be if you stared at the sun on any other day. So you’ll want to make sure that your solar glasses will protect your eyes while you watch.

You’ll want to protect your camera and its lenses, too, if you’re among the throngs who’ll be aiming a smartphone or DSLR at the sun in hopes of capturing that perfect image to share on social media of the last total solar eclipse in the US for the next 20 years.

Here are a few things to know before pointing your sensitive and expensive devices at the giant fireball in the sky.

Taking photos of the solar eclipse with a smartphone

A great many solar eclipse photos are likely to come from smartphones, given that just about everyone has one and that many are packed with very capable cameras.

First things first, you’ll want to pick up a solar filter. You don’t need anything fancy. You can buy little solar lenses that you can physically hold in front of your phone camera lens for a little over $10. In a pinch, you could use one of the lenses from a pair of paper solar eclipse glasses to achieve the same effect.

In general, your phone’s auto mode should take care of most of the heavy lifting. Phone makers have spent tons of time tuning the cameras to the appropriate settings to take the best possible picture. If you want to take matters into your own hands, you can always switch to manual mode — but do spend a bit of time before the eclipse familiarizing yourself with those settings.

A few other helpful tips:

Turn off your flash. Once totality hits, you’ll be taking pictures essentially at night and your flash isn’t going to help. Plus, it can annoy people around you.
Only use zoom if your phone is equipped with an optical zoom lens like the Galaxy S24 Ultra or the iPhone 15. Check your phone model to see if yours comes equipped with it. Using digital zoom will reduce resolution and make the image look blocky and unappealing.
Most modern smartphones feature a burst shot mode. The crown jewel of eclipse photography, the diamond ring, is only visible for a split-second and a burst shot mode will give you better odds of capturing it than if you try to time it yourself.
Practice. Taking good pictures of the sun is no easy task and you don’t want to spend the entire time fiddling with your smartphone camera settings.
Google also recommends bringing a portable battery bank. Camera use is a huge battery drain, and you may need some extra juice.

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Taking photos of the solar eclipse with a DSLR

Many of the rules for smartphone photography also apply if you plan on taking a DSLR or mirrorless camera to the event. The steps to get there are slightly different. Smartphones can use virtually any solar filter, but cameras require something that’ll fit on the end of your camera’s lens barrel since it’s very difficult to hold a filter while taking a picture with a regular camera.

You may think you need a UV filter for solar photography. In reality, you’ll want an ND (neutral density) filter. ND filters reduce the amount of light coming into the lens the same way solar eclipse glasses reduce the amount of light coming into your eyes. K&F Concepts has a good one designed specifically for celestial photography.

The next factor is size. Filters come in various sizes and the size you need depends on what lens you own. Check the barrel of your lens. You’ll want to find the ø symbol with a number next to it. That number is the millimeter size you need.

If your lens doesn’t have that measurement on it, you can find the measurements on the box the lens came in or on the manufacturer’s website. If you get an incorrectly sized filter, it won’t fit on your camera properly, so make sure you look before you leap since ND filters can get quite expensive.

Once you obtain a solar filter, the same general tips apply to a regular camera. Practice photographing the sun over the weekend before the eclipse so you can dial in your preferred settings. Use burst mode to capture the diamond ring, bring spare batteries, and make sure your equipment is in order before the event.

Camera owners may also want to consider bringing multiple lenses to get different types of pictures, and you should definitely bring a tripod if you’re planning on long exposure shots, or just for stability in general. (A remote shutter release helps as well.) If you’re comfortable with it, shooting in raw image format can also produce some amazing results after some editing.

Can I take photos of the solar eclipse without a filter?

Human eyes can be damaged in seconds when staring at the sun — and the same is true for eyes looking through an unprotected camera lens at the eclipse. Camera lenses themselves are a bit more resilient. They might be able to handle the occasional sun photograph, but the longer and more frequently the camera is pointed at the sun, the more likely it is that damage will occur.

This can happen in a variety of ways, including damage to the lens, camera internals and mounting hardware. Camera lenses are essentially fancy and expensive magnifying glasses, and anyone who used a standard magnifying glass to concentrate sunbeams as a kid already knows how dangerous it can be for things on the other side of the sunbeam.

You may be able to get away with the occasional snap of the sun with an unprotected camera without damage as long as it’s quick and it’s not a long-exposure shot (and you’re not looking directly at it yourself). However, given how expensive cameras, camera lenses and smartphones are, better to err on the side of caution and use a solar filter.

In addition to safety, the solar filter can also help you take more effective pictures of the sun. Cameras — especially smartphone cameras — often have a rough time with super bright lights like the sun. A solar filter will reduce the brightness so you’ll be able to get much cleaner pictures of the eclipse.

During the brief moment of totality, you might consider removing your solar filter. Everything will be so dark that it’ll be unnecessary, and it’ll help if you want a good shot of the corona. Just make sure to put it back on if you want photos as the eclipse wanes.

Don’t forget to actually watch the eclipse

This is the last total solar eclipse to run through North America until 2044. It’s a once-in-a-generation event, unless you plan on traveling to Russia in 2026 or Egypt in 2027. Remember to put the camera down at some point and enjoy the moment. A celestial event like this doesn’t happen every day.

While it is a singular event for us here on Earth, astronauts on the ISS will have three total opportunities to watch it.

If you live in the path of the solar eclipse, you’re also encouraged to leave pets indoors with lights on and shutters closed as the transition to nighttime in the middle of the day can cause stress to animals. And systems that run on solar power may experience significant impacts on solar generation, so that’s another thing to keep in mind.

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Technologies

Honor’s Audacious Robot Phone Is Real and I Just Got a First Glimpse

Forget foldables, this might just be the most unconventional phone design I’ve seen in years.

When Honor first announced its quirky Robot Phone back in October, I said I would have to see it and hold it to believe it’s real. Three months later, I’m halfway there at least.

At CES 2026 I got a first glimpse of a prototype of the phone with its pop-out DJI Osmo-like camera and gimbal. Given that part of the body of the phone is given over to housing these elements when they’re folded away, it’s understandably not among the cohort of ultra-thin devices we’ve seen over the past year or so.

I wasn’t allowed to touch or manipulate the phone or its arm, but I watched as a member of Honor’s team moved the camera between different positions. It was interesting to see how neatly the arm packed away, leaving the black phone looking, at a glance, almost like any other generic device with a particularly expansive camera module. But I can’t deny that I’m still keen to get my hands on it to see how well the robotic element of the phone actually operates.

Fortunately, I don’t have long to wait. At Mobile World Congress, which takes place in Barcelona in March, Honor will allow me to touch and hold the phone. At that point, the robotic arm will be working, so it won’t have to be manually adjusted. We know frustratingly little else about the phone at this stage beyond its design, but its full specs will also be announced at MWC.

When it finally launches, the Robot Phone is likely to be something of a niche product that appeals mainly to content creators. But it will also inject a much-needed dose of design daring into an industry that has struggled to show much imagination over the past decade.

Tech journalists, myself included, are guilty of complaining about the homogenous designs of most smartphones, while urging companies to take more risks and give us something to really get excited about. The introduction of foldable phones has been a breath of fresh air, but the Robot Phone is a next-level example of thinking beyond the conventional boundaries of phone design.

I, for one, can’t wait to see — and hold — more.

Technologies

Finally, I’ve Found a Worthy Successor to the Iconic ’90s Tamagotchi

This virtual pet grows physically bigger the more you play with it.

Back in 1996, when Tamagotchis became the must-have toy, I was 8 years old — the perfect target audience. I remember handing over my crisp British £10 note to the good people at Toys R Us, shaking with anticipation. It was the most money I’d ever spent in one go, but I knew it would be worth it to own one of the magenta virtual pets just like all of my classmates.

Thirty years later at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, I finally found a worthy successor to my treasured pixelated companion. Sweekar is a Tamagotchi-inspired pocket pet, an AI companion that grows physically bigger as it matures.

Sweekar begins life as an egg with ears. In a demo, it lays in my hand, and I tap it gently three times on the head, making its yellow ears glow. The egg opens to reveal a screen displaying a cracking shell. A pair of sleepy eyes pops into view.

On the Las Vegas show floor, Sweekar was ready to go for my demo, but usually, the incubation stage can take up to two days. The egg perches on its base until the shell cracks open, from which point little Sweekar will spend between five and seven days in baby stage. Next up is the teen stage (21 to 45 days), followed by Sweekar adulthood.

With each life stage, Sweekar grows a little bigger. Just like the original Tamagotchi, each stage brings a series of new challenges for you as its owner. The early days mean high-frequency care with basic language learning. The teen years bring greater intelligence and a more distinct personality. Eventually, you can progress to owning a pet that’s autonomous, requiring less care, but which has more fun gameplay options. And… Sweekar can also die if you neglect it.

In all of these senses, it feels remarkably true to the spirit of the original Tamagotchi, but with AI technology that could ultimately provide a more rewarding experience in the long term. Hopefully, it will inspire owners to keep it alive longer than the many little Tamagotchi chicks that perished due to lack of care.

If you want to get your hands on a Sweekar to bring some ’90s-inspired magic to a kid’s childhood (or if you’re just feeling nostalgic — I won’t judge), it will be available via Kickstarter later this year. You’ll need more than a £10 note to secure one, however. Sweekar will be priced at a far more substantial $150.