Back in the 1970s we had a partial eclipse when I lived in Alabama. I was a astronomy nerd back than and worked in a professional photo lab. I set up the longest telephoto lens we had on a tripod with no camera. I used the lens to project an image on a table I set up about where the camera normally would be. It projected a nice image of the sun and the eclipse was visible by all with no risk of eye damage.
We all watched and one the women asked what was getting in the way of the sun.
I told her a dragon was eating the sun but we were going to all die with no sun.
I guess I was wrong since we survived.