Dimension 10 team prepared for months, used state-of-the art camera to capture stunning images of The Great American Eclipse

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - After months of preparation, the Dimension 10 Creative Services team captured a clean feed of The Great American Eclipse for KWTX’s special coverage of the celestial event.

Thousands tuned in Monday to KWTX’s live stream of the total solar eclipse as it passed over Waco in surprisingly clear conditions for the four minutes of totality. Many, however, likely don’t know the months of preparation that made the shot possible.

Dimension 10 Creative Services Director Daniel Hamilton and his team researched and practiced in the months, weeks, days and hours leading up to the rare celestial event.

“We’re not doing this as photography like a lot of people are with the eclipse we are trying to get this as live video,” Hamilton said from the KWTX parking lot Monday as they prepared for the moment.

The team decided to shoot on a 6K camera, using a 500 millimeter lens.

He says a zoom that tight, means there’s very little margin for error, and any movement or vibration could ruin their shot.

“Just touching the camera can make it shift in the bracket a little bit and offset everything,” Hamilton said.

They offset those distractions with vibration pads on the tripod and a device that tracks the sun for them, and subsequently moves the camera throughout the day to keep up with that movement.

On the camera, they used a filter to protect the gear from the suns powerful rays and wrote out a plan how to smoothly remove it once totality started, just as those watching in person removed their glasses during totality.

Outside of removing the filter, the crew was able to enjoy the eclipse like everyone else, thanks to that preparation and equipment.

“We’ve built the rig in a way that we can check it, make sure its going ok but we can still put on our glasses and enjoy it as well.”

Cloud cover was a concern throughout the afternoon, but just as totality started, the skies cleared for a perfect shot.

“This may be one of the coolest things we’ve ever shot,” Hamilton said to James Warde who was outside assisting in the effort during totality.

“The one part of this whole situation that we could not practice for was totality. There’s just no way. So we had this plan I was going to pull off the filter at the right time, he was going to adjust the camera at the right time we only had a moment to get it right and we did it,” Hamilton said.

“One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said.

Their shot went out to Facebook, You-Tube, KWTX.com and television stations across the country. Thousands tuned in.

WEB XTRA: Timelapse video of The Great American Eclipse produced by Daniel Hamilton

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