How to remove jammed filter?

[MachineGun]

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Hi

My 50mm Summicron has a stuck UV filter. Can someone tell me how I can safely remove it without damaging it?

 

Thanks

MachineGun

[duckrider]

Use rubber gloves, You'll be suprised how powerful You are!

 

regards

Thomas

[brucek]

Well, you can try wrapping a rubber band around the outside of the filter to give you better grip on it. You can also try putting the lens (with filter) in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to see if that helps. There are also plastic filter wrenches available that I've found to be a godsend.

 

Good luck.

[ho_co]

Grab the filter only on one side. Squeezing it can deform it and make it grab harder.

 

Or use a rubber cap removal cloth and press down, don't press from the sides.

[250swb]

Press it down onto your mouse mat and turn the lens. A tight grip on it with your hand etc will distort the filter ring enough to make it tigher and not looser.

 

Steve

[MachineGun]

Grab the filter only on one side. Squeezing it can deform it and make it grab harder.

 

Or use a rubber cap removal cloth and press down, don't press from the sides.

 

 

This is the best idea I have ever heard.

I used a rubber pad that my wife had in the kitchen for removing jar lids. I tried to squeeze it and turn, and it didn't work. I put the pad over it and pushed in with the flat of my hand and it practically fell out. I couldn't believe how easy it was to get it out.

Many thanks for the great tip.

MachineGun

[antistatic]

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I love happy endings.

[jaapv]

I normally use the rubber sole of a shoe -after wiping it Press the filter against it and turn. Works 100% of the time.

[gbealnz]

Yep, me too, got a section of old tyre inner tube. Cut it into a square, place it on a flat surface, and use that to push the filter against. Holding onto the lens and turning, the filter "pops" off.

Gary

[Washington]

Just a story.

My cousin visited a while back and I saw that one of his lenses was terribly bent

and deformed on the outside end.

I took a look at it and it turned out to be a smashed filter….. there wasn’t a chance

of getting it to unscrew.

I ended up cutting through the ring (very, very carefully) with a Dremel tool and a

fine tooth carbide bit…. not wanting to cut into the actual lens thread.

When I got deep enough I broke the filter ring loose with needle-nose pliers and

rolled the ring around them…. it was as if the ring was bonded to the lens thread!

Anyone remember the old sardine cans with the key to unwind the top seal: it was like that.

Anyway, once I got it off…. I saw that I hadn’t even marked the lens thread… and a new

filter screwed right on. I was very proud of myself.

[lars_bergquist]

A grain of prevention ... I apply, with a toothpick, an infinitesimal amount of Vaseline to the thread either of the lens or the filter. You neeed only a quasi-molecular film of the stuff. Screwing in the filter will even it out, and the filters will unscrew smoothly.

 

The hood threads of the new M mounts (I have the 35mm Summilux ASPH v.2 and the 21mm Super-Elmar ASPH, which btw. use the same hood) are so smooth that I suspect that they come pre-lubricated, like the bayonets do.

 

The old man from the Age of Gun Grease

[01af]

I apply, with a toothpick, an infinitesimal amount of vaseline to the thread either of the lens or the filter.

I wouldn't do that. Instead, simply draw a line onto or into the threads with a soft pencil. Unlike greasy or oily lubricants, the graphite won't attract any dust or debris. But don't do that on pre-lubricated threads. If you feel you don't need any lubrication then don't apply any.

[gyoung]

I have some plastic filter wrenches which grip evenly all round. I got them free on a magazine cover offer but maybe they are available via googling. When I worked in a shop years ago we had a fan y adjustable tool like a small oil filter wrench for such jobs, if you have a really stubborn one repairers should have those

 

Gerry

[asmith]

One way I have found successful is to wrap round the filter with adhesive tape - a couple turns anti-clockwise as you view it. Then pull on the free end. This distributes the pull round the circumference of the filter.

Alwyn

[lars_bergquist]

I wouldn't do that. Instead, simply draw a line onto or into the threads with a soft pencil. Unlike greasy or oily lubricants, the graphite won't attract any dust or debris. But don't do that on pre-lubricated threads. If you feel you don't need any lubrication then don't apply any.

 

Leica do pre-lubricate their lens and camera bayonets – with what, I do not know. But when a bayonet becomes bone dry, they recommend a very small amount of – Vaseline. And they are not warning us of dust and debris.

 

Dry graphite powder, in my experience, is too impermanent to be satisfactory. You don't want to apply pencil to a filter thread each time you change the filter. A graphite or molybdenium based lubricant is a different matter, but then there is a carrier medium to attract dust and debris.

 

General cleanliness is the only solution. And perfect solutions exist only in the wold of mathematics.

 

The old man from the Age of Gun Grease

[Clook]

I use the Jaap method for removing - sole of shoe or boot, suitably wiped clean, press the lens with filter onto it and twist. I usually always have footwear with me when out with my camera, so you don't worry about trying to fit a spare boot into your Domke reporters satchel for this eventuality!

[IWC Doppel]

I have always found removing tight filters is best done with the lens on the camera, strange but true