Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.
I have taken Peter on his offer for the replacement rings.
When trying them out the other day, I did not get a chance to get a good opportunity to properly try them out due to high clouds.
I did however notice something else: some mould like spots on the internal surface of the red filter. This is an issue Peter has also experienced.
This can easily go unnoticed: the spots are only visible at a certain angle and if facing a bright light source (had the scope pointed at the sun there).
https://i.ibb.co/bvydyKx/IMG-7877.jpg
What it looks like normally:
https://i.ibb.co/JQjTTHk/IMG-7879.jpg
I have talked to Lunt, and it looks like I'll be sending the filter back for an evaluation.
Last time I observed, the best I could describe the surface was this: I was not sure if I was seeing texture on the sun or if my brain was making it up. Saw a couple prominences though.
We'll see what Lunt says, but this seems to be a similar issue to what Peter has experienced and if so, the blocking filter will need to be replaced and hopefully that should translate to nicer views!
Will keep you all posted of the progress.
Cheers