Thousand Oaks Optical BP-6X6 6 inchx6 inch Solar Filter Sheet for Telescopes, Binoculars and Cameras

Good and nice packed.

Great filter, at such a low price. This review is gonna sound really pansy, but whatever. First photo is how it looks with your eye, the second was a high-ISO just for gigglesWHILE IT IS 6"x 6", DO NOT THINK IT IS SUITABLE FOR 6" TELESCOPES. BUY LARGER SHEETS IF YOUR SCOPE IS >4". The primary mirror is 6", the opening at the front of the telescope is always larger. For instance, my telescope is 130mm/5.1", but the opening is 160mm/6.3", so the sheet was too short. The corners could fit over the outside but there were still 4 gaps letting a dangerous amount of light in. If you have a 6" telescope, the opening is probably closer to 7". To attach to the telescope I wrapped rectangular cardboard around the telescope and stapled the two sides together to make a hollow cylinder. Each corner of the sheet was stapled to the side of the cardboard cylinder, now it is like a bongo drum. The gaps were sealed, I went nuts with sellotape just to make sure and now it can slide onto the telescope easily and safely. Anyone with a Celestron 130EQ, there's a real nice way of attaching it: If you take off the awful finderscope, there are two 'rails' where its slides on and off. Place the drum-filter on the end of the telescope and mark where the cardboard comes into contact with the two rails, and then cut out two lines ~5cm along the markings. Now attach the drum, the rails should pass through the cut lines and it should tightly keep the filter in place against wind or pointing down. I can't really explain this without pictures, sorry.Okay, looking through it:When I bought this, I expected to take some nice photos. I didn't expect it to completely change my perspective of the sky I see every day. The sun is our everything, it provides all warmth and life, it controls how we live our lives, when we work, when we sleep. We've worshiped it as a god for thousands of years. But only up until recently have we been able to actually look at it. Looking at it long enough to barely see a circular shape is long enough to wreck your eyes.Under the telescope with a 4mm eyepiece I only just began to get a glimpse of how large the Sun is, it gave me goosebumps. Even without any equipment, just holding the sheet over your eyes, the sun is just breath taking to look at. I can't recommend doing this enough. Maybe walk around a little for parallax, to see how far away yet large it is. It immediately transforms from the annoying patch of sky that forces you to squint, to a beautiful golden ball. The sheet blackens the sky, it looks as if it's window looking into the vacuum of space, with a star sitting right in front of you. There's nothing like it.Now every time I go outside and feel the warmth on my skin, I can appreciate what's really going on instead of "just a sunny day". To me that is priceless.

Works perfectly

This sheet is enough to cover the inside of telescope lid a front. Cut to size, I can safely look at the sun, when we get it. This is a good piece of telescope kit. Comes with instructions to place the sheet correctly. 10/10

I ordered this solar filter paper for the forthcoming solar eclipse in the UK this week. I hadn't realised that it was being sent from Israel but it arrived securely packed and in good time, well within delivery estimates. From this 6"x 6" sheet I have been able to make a filter for my 95mm diameter telephoto lens and four pairs of solar glasses, using cardboard templates I found on the net. The paper is very thin and easily marked and needs careful handling but that being said is excellent for the stated purpose and works extremely well as a solar filter. If you are looking to so any solar viewing or photography then I would recommend this, if you are happy to do some minor "Blue Peter" DIY as the results are good.

I have an existing solar filter for a different scope which is too big. I bought this and made my own custom filter with it. Essentially I found a small (very clean unused) plastic flower pot, which is slightly tapered, that fitted snugly inside the dew shield of my small refractor. I cut most of the bottom off but left enough for a good light proof fit. The pot also has a slightly wider part near the top which butted up against the edge of the dew shield nicely. I opened the solar film package very carefully by using a sharp blade to just score through the tape holding the two pieces of cardboard together. With the film black side up, still on one side of the cardboard, I put a very thin bead of superglue around the rim of the pot and placed it onto the film. After a minute or so, I trimmed off the remaining film with scissors to end up with a perfect solar filter with no creases or wrinkles.

Good for safe direct optical viewing, but so dark orangey/yellow that you won't easily see sunspots even through decent binoculars.I guess you CAN make it work for photography BUT typically, for indirect viewing electronic viewfinder cameras, you are better off with less attenuation. This thing, at 16.6 stops, optical density 5.0, cuts so much light that you may struggle to make a good exposure without movement etc. It makes a tricky jo very much trickier.Other makers such as NiSi produce 15 stop, optical density 4.5, dedicate filters for Solar photography. Still a bit dark for digital Solar photography with EVFs, but has other benefits, like turning a 1/125s to a 2 minute exposure - great for quirky seascapes etc.Filter experts Hoya, and astro specialists Baadar, recommend 13 stops, optical density 3.9, which is much easier to work with especially with smaller aperture telephoto lenses. Proper flat coated glass filters or ultra thin metalised and encapsulated films may do a better job of rendering detail too, especially if you don't have huge diameter optics on hand.This film would be good for making solar safety glasses, but we already had those. I bought it to make safe solar viewing through decent binoculars, but as mentioned, it doesn't afford much of a view. As for digital photography with EVF, better off with NDs totalling 13 stops - the Sun is then rendered natural white and detail and sunspots have higher contrast.I've had various approved solar safety filters over the decades, but this one has gone back in its pack and may well stay there