Solar film, does size make a difference?

[jrkirkham]

I usually take sunspot pictures with a glass solar filter on my ED 80. There is only just so much one can see with a white filter. If I made a filter for my 11" SCT would it make much difference? If I made a white solar filter for my SCT would it be better to take up the whole aperture, or to make a smaller aperture like some of those moon masks have?

[Thefatkitty]

Hi Rob, hope I can help here....

From what I understand and have seen, the Baader solar film shows more detail than the glass filters. For visual, the 5.0 OD film is what you want, but if it's just AP, then I would go with the 3.8 (NOT for visual!).

I use a C80-HD for WL and a Canon camera. I made a filter from the 5.0 film for my 8" SCT, and hoped for more. Well, yes and no... No more detail in the Sun per se from a 3" to an 8", yet you can get some great magnification on specific regions. I used a whole sheet of 8.5" X 11", and made the aperture 6 inches. There was still a lot of black sky aroung the Sun; you might even get away with 4".

If you're looking for more detail without breaking the bank, might I suggest this: Baader Gen II Calcium K-Line Filter

Simple to use, a 1.25" filter in front of the camera and making the front 3.8 film filter is easy. And no, it's not a Ca-K Quark or Lunt, but for the price point I personally couldn't be happier. Here in the Great White North that costed me just under $400 with tax, and a Ca-K Quark would run me a bit over $1300. The Lunt would be even more...

The first pic is WL from my C80, and the second is with the Ca-K filter with my WO 61mm, both from Feb 4th of this year. BIG difference. That was the last pic I took in WL...

Your 80mm scope would do well with all this I'd bet. After that, it's Hydrogen-Alpha

All the best,

[Solsearcher]

My 2c worth
Just like night time Aperture rules . The larger aperture will bring better resolution and finer details to the eyepiece or camera . The brightness can be knocked down with a polarizing or other filters . Your eyepieces and barlows will control the field for you .