Not sure if you have checked out Amazon.  BP-1212 - Silver-Black Polymer Solar Filter Film Sheet (12" x 12") - 1 ea  The sheet is $26.99.  I have made 4 filters so far and still have a pretty large piece left over.  Let me know your thoughts about this as an option.  AL

@alb interesting. Everything I’ve read seems to indicate that solar filters from Amazon aren’t something to mess with since you for sure want to have high confidence that what you’re getting is the real deal. But if you’ve used it a lot and had no issues, I may check it out.

EDIT: Ah, I see it's from the Thousand Oaks store on Amazon and therefore is legit. I still may choose Baader but that gives me zero hesitation to order from them.

John V turned me on to this product.  Found it on Amazon and have used it a number of times.  On Saturday I will bring my solar filters with me.. show you what I have.  AL

Thanks Al. We should have plenty of time for that given we will be there early for the picnic.

I've also been reading a lot more this morning about the differences between the Baader Film and Thousand Oaks film. Seems like the Baader Film provides better contrast and shows finer details in a neutral white light but can be incredibly bright if you're not using a solar continuum filter too. Thousand Oaks on the other hand is a more durable material and is often more pleasant to look through without any additional filters and displays the sun in a warm orange. I think I'll go with the Thousand Oaks to keep costs down, particularly since this is for visual use only and the minor contrast details I'm not too concerned about. Looking through it on Saturday will hopefully help solidify that decision.

Helpful resources I read:

• Cloudy Nights user with a direct comparison
• A second Cloudy Nights thread
• A brief article diving into the details and comparing the two

Zak,   By virtue of a good friend and fellow astronomer, I will have my 70-700mm refractor scope set up with both a 1000 oaks filter as well as a Baader filter.  You can compare the two and decide what direction you want to go.  If I am lucky, I will also have both filters set up for my 8 inch reflector.  Let your eyes decide.  AL

You're the man Al. Looking forward to it.

Big thanks to Al for having both filters on Saturday. It solidified my decision to go with the Baader. The views were much brighter but not oppressively so, and the neutral white showed much more contrast on sunspots and therefore more detail compared to the more dull orange of the Thousand Oaks. I think I can get by with an A4 sheet for $40 and I'll stop down the aperture from 10" to around 7.5" to make it work, which will leave me with enough material to use for my binoculars too.

I ended up springing for the monster 1000mm x 500mm sheet of Baader film, so I will have plenty leftover once I've made my filters if anyone else wants to share in it. I know there was some discussion about making some filters for the club's loaner dobs.

If you don’t get any takers the club could use it.  Thanks!

@mike-napper how many scopes and what size?

@zach-williams  we could likely use all you don't need.

Zach, the club wants all you have left.  I'll pm you.

Finished my filter assembly on Sunday evening and just got it out for first light during lunch. The resolving power of the full 10" aperture on sunspots is spectacular.