[Kunama]

Just a note about the Herschel Wedge, in particular the Baader Cool Ceramic 2" Solar Prism.

The Herschel wedge can only be used with certain scopes, essentially a refractor .
They cannot be used with Maks, CATs, Newts, DKs etc.

From my research I would think that in the correct scope they are the safest way to view the Sun in whitelight as they are securely fixed in the optics train and cannot be dislodged unlike objective filters.

The prism reflects less than 5% to the eyepiece but that 4.6% passes through a factory installed Solar Continuum filter and OD 3.0 ND filter before reaching the eyepiece.

What you get at the eyepiece is the same intensity as the visual films,
the light reaching the eyepiece is also partly polarised and can be further dimmed by adding a 'single-polariser' to the eyepiece thread. Then rotating the eyepiece allows you to vary the brightness.