Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: J.Dufton on February 10, 2011, 02:38:54 pm
-
I have cross threaded a filter on my Nikon 70-200mm lens.
I have tried plastic wrenches & a rubber wrench without avail.
Does any one have any other ideas?
Thanks.
John D
-
heating or cooling can expand and contract the metal to make it easier (hopefully) to get off. You can try spraying the ring with canned air...enough of it that the propellant starts to come out and make it very cold. I have also used a pair of channel lock pliers with a rubber can opener stuck in the jaws. I have heard about people putting close fitting rubber bands around the edge to help get a better grip.
-
Not sure how stuck it is, but if it's really really bad, try this. Remove the glass from the filter -- hopefully you can get at the retaining ring from the front and screw it out so the glass falls out. Take a fine bladed saw (really fine, like a jewelers saw) and cut into the filter ring from its front, going to just before the front of the lens. Do this in 4 places or so. Then grip the ring between 2 of the cuts with needlenose pliers and pull straight to the inside, to break the threaded portion at the cut. This is easier on aluminum filters than brass ones.
Obviously, you should have some solid experience with fine work of this type before you go ahead, so it may best be left to the repair shop depending on your level of skill.
If it's deeply cross-threaded, I would be inclined to cut it out rather than risk screwing up the threads on the lens any worse anyway . . . .
-
What has worked for me for stuck filters, not necessarily cross threaded, is to carefully wrap 3/4" masking tape around the filter, making sure the masking tape is only sticking to the filter -about 6 or 7 turns/layers. You can put the camera in a padded vice of some sort and with the extra grip that the masking tape gives you, you can get a fair amount of torque. You should wrap the tape so it tightens as you twist in the appropriate direction. If that doesn't work cutting is probably the only option - other than sending in for servicing.
-
a flat rubber band stretched around the circumference of the filter might give you enough grip.
Try gripping it at different points around the circle. It is likely only bound where the threads cross and a little compression might break the galled metals apart enough to get it started.
You could also try a strap wrench - like the ones used on car oil filters to give you some more torque.
The heat / cooling options will depend on the differential expansion / contraction of the presumably two different metals.
-
Take a small rectangle of 6mm/1/4" plywood and place the camera/filter down on one end so that you can draw closely around the filter onto the ply. Cut out the inside of the pencil line as accurately as possible and then sand to the line using abrasive paper wrapped around a small bottle. Cut a slot from the 'hole' to the farthest end of the ply..........
......Hold the plywood 'wrench' in your strongest hand with fingers around the longest part,..place onto filter ring and gently squeeze your hand to close the slot and tighten the wrench around the filter,....if you have made it carefully it will take up tension completely around the filter ring thus providing maximum torque,...now turn anti-clockwise to remove the filter.
-
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions.
Unfortunately, I haven't had any success yet. The time has come for more drastic remedies.
I will try and cut it out.
-
I have had some success with tapping. After rapping the ring with tape, grab the ring with a pair of pliers and lightly tap the pliers near the ring in the direction of rotation. Then move around the ring a quarter turn and do again. Have patience.
Good luck!
-
Also, I forgot to mention. If you can screw another low cost filter onto the front of the stuck one - then tape them together. That may help. It keeps the stuck one from being bent out-of-round as you try to twist both of them. Also, very cold on the outer filter transfers the cold to the stuck filter better - while keeping the lens warm.
Again, best of luck.
-
Tape up your lens to protect it. Then with a hacksaw cut a slot in one edge of the filter and then another slot 180 degrees opposite. Stop cutting before you get to the glass. Find a length of metal that will fit across from one slot to the other to act like a giant screwdriver blade, and unscrew the filter. Your 'giant screwdriver blade' could be the back edge of the hacksaw blade. Doing it this way the glass remains in the filter to protect the front element, and you can even use the filter again as you only put two slots in the edge.
Steve
-
This will seem over-simple but give it a try. Rather than twisting motion on the filter which tends to torque it out of round - try using a flat hand across the front of the whole face of the filter. Press "inward" as evenly as possible, and firmly, as you rotate your whole flat-hand anti-clockwise.
Sometimes does miracles as the inward pressure takes the bind out of the threads, and the zero distortion of the frame due to flat-handing combined with the whole ring being rotated evenly with your palm puts greater rotation on the frame.
-
- try using a flat hand across the front of the whole face of the filter. Press "inward" as evenly as possible, and firmly, as you rotate your whole flat-hand anti-clockwise.
Excellent, clear advice. This exact technique has worked for me in the past on very large diameter filters that were stuck.
-
I use the sole of my boot or shoe (the flatter the better) against the rim of the filter and push down on the shoe and rotate. Be careful you don't have too much crud on your shoes! This may be just enough mechanical contract you need to twist off your stuck filter.
As a substitue for your show, you may use a textured rubber jar opening matt used as an aide to the "elderly" laying flat on a table and push your lens filter down on this surface and give it a try. These things look like 5x5 inch coaster, but are made of rubber about 1/16 inch thick and help you get a grip on stuck pickle jar lids. I've used this besides my shoe when I've had them handy.
-
I once dropped a Mamiya 7 on the ground and it had a polarizer screwed on. The lens was fine but the rim of the filter was slightly dented and it was just impossible to take it off. It might sound a bit drastic but I brought it to a toolmaker company next door from work and they got it off quite easily. Maybe that's the way to go.
-
This will seem over-simple but give it a try. Rather than twisting motion on the filter which tends to torque it out of round - try using a flat hand across the front of the whole face of the filter. Press "inward" as evenly as possible, and firmly, as you rotate your whole flat-hand anti-clockwise.
Sometimes does miracles as the inward pressure takes the bind out of the threads, and the zero distortion of the frame due to flat-handing combined with the whole ring being rotated evenly with your palm puts greater rotation on the frame.
Thanks, this technique removed a stuck filter from my Pentax 67 300mm ED. I had tried a number of other methods to no avail.
-
Thanks, this technique removed a stuck filter from my Pentax 67 300mm ED. I had tried a number of other methods to no avail.
Glad it was helpful.
-
Having had a few touchy moments with the 82mm's, this was welcome reading...of course the thin mounts don't allow the threading of a second filter, but brilliant idea for standard mount..and the rubber of ones sole...I'll never forget that that...the principle of spreading the contact uniformly whilst at the same time somewhat tweaking the compression makes such (and should be obvious) good sense...
Thanks to all who've been there and shared...
-
After trying the other suggestions, if they fail, I would try J-B WELD. Get a cheap filter of the same diameter,77mm ? remove it's element. Then JBweld a handle to that filter.Something like a 1/4x1/4 inch bar steel or aluminum bar stock from your local hardware store. Cut the barstock to fit into that filter ring, your new "wrench" . After the JB cures JB weld that filter thread area and screw it to your stuck filter let the epoxy cure overnight and unscrew. Making a wood clamp for the lens, as suggested earlier would be a good idea too...Good luck! Let us know how you make out.
Regards, Richard
-
I had a stuck 77mm filter on a Nikon lens that had been screwed on crooked and had been like that for years. I tried rubber bands, rubber gloves and screwing another filter on the stuck filter to try and remove it, without success. Then I tried wrapping a thin piece of leather shoe lace around the filter and it came right off. It was amazing how easy it came off.
-
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions.
Unfortunately, I haven't had any success yet. The time has come for more drastic remedies.
I will try and cut it out.
A strap wrench might work. Appropriately sized, of course. Gives grip an equalized pressure on both sides.
(http://www.cadia.com.au/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/t/strap_wrench_rubber_CPE0125.jpg)
My Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D and B+W multi coated circular polarizer hated each other! I learned to thread carefully and screw them on lightly. Luckily the 70-200mm f/2.8G is less finicky.
-
Got one stuck once. Took it to local camera store. Guy told me I'd need a new filter when he took it off. I said, "Okay."
He took the lens over by the cash register, opened a drawer, pulled out some old pliers, told me "You might not want to watch this!" (I did!), smacked the filter glass and broke it, then gave a sharp twist of the filter ring to collapse it and pulled it out. Brushed off the front lens, and sold me a filter which screwed in fine.
Not for the faint of heart though.
SG
-
I've had this on a couple of occasions and feel it's more a matter of the very fine thread offering resistance to moving due to friction rather than cross threading. Where there's friction you need lubrication, so WD40 can come in handy here. I squirt a drop on to my finger and then rub it around the gap where the filter ring and lens join, you might have to do it a couple of times, but having let it soak in for a minute or two the filter usually turns. I'm not sure of the effect of WD40 on lens coatings so am very sparing with it.
I have often wondered about using locksmiths carbon on the thread before screwing it in, but using a fine dust so close to a camera may not be a good idea.
-
I missed this thread until the recent posts. It's a good read in a gonzo-DIY sort of way, but, were this to happen to me, instead of getting out the hacksaw, I'd pack up the lens and send it to Nikon.
I know, I know; what fun is that?
Jim
-
I missed this thread until the recent posts. It's a good read in a gonzo-DIY sort of way, but, were this to happen to me, instead of getting out the hacksaw, I'd pack up the lens and send it to Nikon.
I know, I know; what fun is that?
Jim
Expensive and time consuming fun.
-
Hi,
When I have had a filter which wont budge I get a hack saw and cut two groves across the filter. Then I get a steel ruler and put the edge of the ruler in the saw cuts. Its then a simple turn of the ruler.
Cheers
Simon
-
Of course, a lot of this depends on the value of the lens and the value of the filter. Given the 70-200mm is likely worth way more than the filter, I'd be less likely to try saving the filter. I certainly wouldn't try breaking the filter glass as it is most likely going to end up marking the front element of the lens. Taking the glass out in some orderly fashion is also a good option to take stress off the ring. Then you can collapse it inward trying not to further damage the lens threads.
There is a big difference between on too tight and cross threaded. On too tight is usually just a matter of getting enough grip on the ring to unscrew it. Cross threaded introduces possible damage to the lens going on and possibly more damage coming off unless the filter ring is collapsed to get the threads disengaged.
-
How did this ever turn out?
-
Actually, I smear a little "locksmiths' carbon" on the threads of sticky filters. The delivery agent is a ..... PENCIL....with a soft lead. Apply off camera, blow off excess, screw filter on camera.
-
Actually, I smear a little "locksmiths' carbon" on the threads of sticky filters. The delivery agent is a ..... PENCIL....with a soft lead. Apply off camera, blow off excess, screw filter on camera.
Tip of the year already! :)
-
Just read through this thread as I have a 72mm UV stuck crossed on a 24-85mm Nikon VR. Tried a few ideas but the filter a Hoya has very thin ring and this is impossible to grip even with a turn of soft rope, or holding filter flat onto a cork board.
As 4/5 of filter was one thread(?) further out, and only so only a small portion up tight against the lens, I ran a small kitchen knife around the tightest part of thread and the filter popped free.
The lens had been wrapped in cling film and put in the freezer for 15mins or so a little while earlier so that may have helped but I don't think so as it probably warmed up... No damage to lens or filter!
-
Time to renew the thread on its fifth anniversary :)
I just got a new Kenko (Hoya) 82mm EX slim polarizer for my 24mm T/S lens and tried it on. As I was carefully and gently screwing it in, I thought how would I know when it is fully screwed? I mean, with ordinary filters you don't even have to screw them all the way, at least not tightly, but with a polarizer, you'd need to be able to rotate the front part without rotating the base at the same time. As I was thinking that, I felt that the filter almost snapped into the no-more position. Yep, it was firmly there. I immediately tried unscrewing it, to no avail. You see, the latest generation of slim filters is even slimmer than the previous, even slimmer than a photoshopped Vogue model. Now, given how thin the filter already is, you can imaging how thin is the non-moving base. Long story short, after several panicking attempts with a rubber glove, it relented.
So the question is how do I prevent it from happening in the future? Nancy's pencil idea? WD-40 in advance*? Or simply admitting that filter and that lens do not like each other and look for alternatives (btw, which polarizer, those who have the 24mm T/S, you use?).
P.S. The filter came with a 3"x4" "non-slip silicone sheet" included... what is that for?
* Which reminds me why it is useful to have a man around the house:
-
Don't have time to read all of this, but what works for me every time is to take a piece of flat rubber or the bottom of a shoe, place the filter face down on the rubber surface and turn in the correct direction.
-
Don't have time to read all of this, but what works for me every time is to take a piece of flat rubber or the bottom of a shoe, place the filter face down on the rubber surface and turn in the correct direction.
Right, might work on non-polarizing filters. Unfortunately, mine is a polarizer, with a rotating front.
-
Right, might work on non-polarizing filters. Unfortunately, mine is a polarizer, with a rotating front.
Ouch! Sorry, I didn't read carefully enough. Have not run into that.
-
Actually, I smear a little "locksmiths' carbon" on the threads of sticky filters. The delivery agent is a ..... PENCIL....with a soft lead. Apply off camera, blow off excess, screw filter on camera.
Yep, a bit of graphite will do wonders to prevent sticking, and a soft lead pencil+ will deliver.
As to removal, force distribution (=balanced pressure/deformation) is the only way (besides active lubrication after the fact).
Cheers,
Bart
-
"P.S. The filter came with a 3"x4" "non-slip silicone sheet" included... what is that for?"
A poor mans glove ?
Frank
-
Right, might work on non-polarizing filters. Unfortunately, mine is a polarizer, with a rotating front.
What has worked for me many a time is a two handed approach: hold the camera in one hand with the thumb and index fingers holding/squeezing the filter from behind at its 3 and 9 o'clock positions; with the other hand hold/squeeze the filter from the front with thumb and index fingers on the 6 and 12 o'clock positions. Trying to apply equal pressure on the four points gently turn the filter with all four fingers in the direction it needs to. If it's not badly jammed it usually comes right off.
Jack
-
At a 'cook shop' they should sell round floppy silicon devices that are for unscrewing lids on jars. It has worked for me on getting off stuck filters.
Good luck.
-
Many good suggestions. I have used silicon as a flat surface remedy and have also used flexible rubber gloves - the kind that can be bought at Lowes or Home Depot. I also think that mechanics flexible rubber gloves would work well - similar to food service gloves. Most importantly I have learned not to apply too much force as that can cause more of an issue. A very slight tapping at various places on the edge of the ring with a screw driver before applying torque has helped.
Victor
-
Had a polarizer stick on me once. A friend who is an engineer popped it off pretty quickly. Maybe I was just lucky but he said the trick is to first turn it right just a touch (tighten) and then left to untighten. YMMV.