NPC1problems, not very happy!

Over the past year I have tried a few of the Sirius filters. The first was a CE1 which didn't really seem to improve contrast on my MK66 or Antares 4.7" refractor. I sent it back and they sent me a NPC1 after a long dealay (3 months plus) I finally got my hand on this baby and it did deliver excellent results but do to an unfortunate miss handeling of this filter at a recent star party in which it was droped on the ground onto wet grass I now own a very poor NPC1. This filter is a 2" model which is not cheap and I have e mailed Sirius optics about this with no reply at all and have used the new contrast filter by Celestron which is only a 11/4" model yet its perfpormance is close to the NPC1 before its tragic fall. My advice to folks looking at some of these filter is make sure before you purchase these filters you understand how delicate they are, and before you buy fully understand you use this under this risk.
Good Luck, Jim.

How was the filter damaged by falling on wet grass? Seems to me that it should not be hurt by that!
Floyd

Jim,

As you now know you have to be very careful with this type of filter. The coating is NOT protected and is easily damaged even by moisture. An attempt to clean it will in all likely-hood, destroy the coating. Very delicate indeed. I have(had) one that was forgotten and left in dew for a few hours. It left stain marks on the glass. I attempted to clean it with a cotton ball. Some of the coating came right off when I touched it and made a lite stroke with the cotton ball. Its ruined...............

Jim,

I feel sory for your disappointment but there is a silver lining to it:
there is a 2" version of your Celestron filter. Baader makes them for Celestron and you can order them for $79 from the US dealer:
http://www.alpineastro.com/filters/filters.htm
Note in the description:
"While some dielectric filters may degrade just from exposure to moisture or occasional cleaning, Baader filters withstand repeated real-world exposure to the elements and physical cleaning."
The Baader is more agressive in suppresion of the violet than NPC1 which theoretically makes color shift to yellow but people differed in reports how much this bothered them.

David