Today I built a simple, effective and safe filter set for my Canon IS binoculars. The idea was to sandwich baader film between two pairs of screw on filters, then screw the sets onto my binoculars.
I originally intended to knock out the glass of the filters, however the more I thought about it, the more I wanted the extra protection that the UV glass provided so the film doesn't get damaged. I imagind I'm probably paying a bit of a price in how the light is reaching me (maybe some additional reflections?), but my first casual tests show it's not an issue.
I started with a square of baader film, about 1/2" larger than the diameter of the filters. I then carefully screwed two filters together, with the film in between. I've been taught that it's better to have the film be somewhat loose in your filter for best performance. Unfortunately a by-product of the sandwich process is that I ended up with a tight film. I also was careful to check that the film wasn't torn through during the screwing process. Once the film was in place and the filters were tight, I trimmed the excess film, still leaving a small amount. Finally, I used clear tape around the circumference of the filters, taping down the excess filter material to protect it from tearing/snagging, while at the same time taping together the two filters.
I repeated this with a second pair of filters, then attached the combinations to my binoculars. After performing a thorough light test to make sure I didn't have any tears/holes, I tried the binoculars out on the sun. They work flawlessly.
Here are links to a couple of photos:
Here are the filter sandwiches, completed with tape wrapped around them:
http://www.macnmotion.com/baaderfilters.jpg
Here are my binoculars with the filters attached:
http://www.macnmotion.com/baaderonbinocs.jpg
macnmotion
I originally intended to knock out the glass of the filters, however the more I thought about it, the more I wanted the extra protection that the UV glass provided so the film doesn't get damaged. I imagind I'm probably paying a bit of a price in how the light is reaching me (maybe some additional reflections?), but my first casual tests show it's not an issue.
I started with a square of baader film, about 1/2" larger than the diameter of the filters. I then carefully screwed two filters together, with the film in between. I've been taught that it's better to have the film be somewhat loose in your filter for best performance. Unfortunately a by-product of the sandwich process is that I ended up with a tight film. I also was careful to check that the film wasn't torn through during the screwing process. Once the film was in place and the filters were tight, I trimmed the excess film, still leaving a small amount. Finally, I used clear tape around the circumference of the filters, taping down the excess filter material to protect it from tearing/snagging, while at the same time taping together the two filters.
I repeated this with a second pair of filters, then attached the combinations to my binoculars. After performing a thorough light test to make sure I didn't have any tears/holes, I tried the binoculars out on the sun. They work flawlessly.
Here are links to a couple of photos:
Here are the filter sandwiches, completed with tape wrapped around them:
http://www.macnmotion.com/baaderfilters.jpg
Here are my binoculars with the filters attached:
http://www.macnmotion.com/baaderonbinocs.jpg
macnmotion
