Solar Filters For My Binoculars

[acme]

Hi,

Pouring with rain so I thought I would do a bit of DIY..I have made a pair of solar filters for my Revelation 15x70's...I used some of the A4 Baader Planetarium AstroSolar film I got for my scope.

Thing is they are not smooth, creased and wrinkled after applying the glue to the outer edges of the templates I made.. Will this render them useless or will they stil work ???

Acme

[brianb]

They'll work just fine. The worst thing you can do with solar film is get it too tight ... a bit of looseness / crinkliness / wrinkliness will do no harm at all.

[acme]

Phew!!

Thank's Brianb, I can crack on and finish the one for my scope now...

Acme

[Lon B. Blume]

I'm brand new to CN, in fact just registered today. While not knowing how to start in with the new member stuff, was cruzing around looking and ran into your question. I did the same thing; Baader Planetarium Solar Film to my 10X70 Fujinons and they were wrinkled a bit, it doesn't affect the vewing at all. The only complaint is the Sun is a little bright with the Baader Film compaired to a glass Seymore Solare filter used with my Stellarvue 90mm. Good luck for the June 2012 Venus transit. Lon Blume

[yeti monster]

Did you not recieve the information sheet with the solar film? This explains that it shouldn't be tight as any undue stress is likely to allow holes to develop. It is also important not to touch the film with exposed fingers as the acidic nature of the oils on ones skin will etch into the film, and that the film sould be cut between 2 sheets of paper to ensure correct shearing.

[brianb]

The only complaint is the Sun is a little bright with the Baader Film

I'm not surprised ... if you're using 10x70 binoculars the image will be much brighter than it is with a telescope with a medium power eyepiece. However you can still rely in the solar film to protect your eyes from damage.

If you could fit ND 0.9 (8x) or 1.2 (16x) filters, or green tinted Moon filters, to the eyepieces, it would make your viewing at low power more comfortable.