Welding glass as a solar filter

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

thank you

would i be better off having off axis, i have a 4 vane spider in the 114 , and a single vane in the little 76 table top.

will the secondary mirror be in the way ?

one last question, my webcam has its IR filtering removed could this cause me problems or help capturing images. and will my none modded canon dslr be safe photographing the sun like this.

should i cover the scope tube (black) and camera to keep them shaded, black soaks up heat so did not want to cause heat problems with imaging and scope

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

With only a 114mm aperture, i'd go full aperture. With larger scopes it's generally better to go off axis and avoid the slight contrast loss caused by the secondary, but only if you can go off axis and still have a decent enough aperture to get decent resolution.

The camera and tube will be fine. The old style filters used to sit on the EP and cause scope internals to heat up etc, but the baader film sits over the objective, and rejects most of the suns energy. Problems with heat will be non-existent inside the scope or camera (the only heat will be coming from outside, from the non-focused, natural sunlight).

No idea on the IR, though i doubt it'l have any effect. You certainly won't cause any damage.

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

Is it safe to use an old 58mm DSLR filter ring, remove the filter and replace with baader solar film. then use my cameras own lens IE: nifty fifty, 90-300mm, 18-55mm.

mount the camera+lens onto the SW1141 to take photographs and the scope to view with

[Merlin66]

Yes,

As long as the Baader Film is securely fitted - no problem - BUT at short focal lengths the size of the solar image will be very small.

The solar image is roughly 1/100 the focal length ie a 50mm lens would give an solar image 0.5mm in diameter.....not much detail!

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

thank you merlin.

going to be fitting to my 90-300mm @300.

have my film on route via a vendor from here, made a filter mask housing for the heritage 76, so going to try that out first. then step up to the larger 114. took enough time to make the 76mm filter cover. the 114 will be harder as i need a larger card to make it from.

aperture is 74mm just slightly smaller than the mirror size.