Can't remove cracked filter

I have a B + W UV filter with cracked glass on a Canon 24-105 lens, and I can't

get it to unscrew so I can remove it. Any ideas?

Ring wrench. Wrap a fat rubber band around it. Put it face down on a nonskid surface and turn the lens.

I used to carry a 12-inch long piece of ordinary 16-gauge lamp cord in my camera bag to deal with stuck filters. It makes a great strap wrench.

 

Just wrap the flat side of the cord around the filter, pinch the ends tightly and turn the filter.

I had the same problem with a Hoya MC. Tried all the usual stuff

>>>Ring wrench. Wrap a fat rubber band around it. Put it face down on a nonskid surface and turn the lens.<<<

I had dropped it on the cement garage floor. Sent it to Canon Service in California. Best my memory can recall it was around $175 to get it off and make the lens right. Money well spent as lens is working well enough to let me photograph a friend's son's wedding a couple of weeks ago.

Canon USA Service

15955 Alton Parkway

Irvine, CA 92618

Camera Filter Wrenches are reasonably widely available.

 

They vary in quality.

 

The best ones have a really good rubber grip.

 

I have a set of three.

 

Mine are better designed than the example below I quickly searched.

 

Mine are designed like a mini ring wrench, as mentioned above, but have really good rubber grip on the inner.

 

I find them a very useful tool, especially for slim CIR POL, which I often have trouble releasing

 

http://www.adorama.com/FLFWB.html

 

WW

Check out the filter wrenches at www.bhphotovideo.com; they've worked for me a couple of times.

A flat sheet of rubber. The problem with bent of broken filters is that they go out of round and gripping them by their sides amkes them go more out of round which makes them tighter. The answer is to unscrew them fromn the front. You may be able to do this with your fingertips if your hands are large enough to be able to place the fingertips at points spread out evenly around the front of the filter.

Go to a grocery store and get one of those round rubber thingies used to get a grip on overtightened lids on glass jars. Then you will have something for your stuck jars as well!

Sometimes if the right wrench doesn't work, you can put your fingernail on the glass so that it touchs the ring in front of the lens and pinch the ring between your index finger and your thumb, in effect holding the filter by the tiny metal nub sticking up from the surface of the glass and then slide sideways.

 

Kind of hard to describe but it sometimes works for me when every time I try to remove the filter, I get the lens head instead.

Find another cylindrical object the same size as your filter - 77 mm I believe. Could be a jar, another lens, whatever you have at hand. Get a roll of duct tape and tape the cylinder to the filter. Wrap the tape VERY tight for maximum grip. Now twist hard.

 

Or maybe try vise-grip pliers.

pipe wrench :)

All the above... or just walk into any camera repair shop and they'll have it off there in 2 minutes.

I dropped my 20D with lens and smashed the filter while on vacation. I borrowed a large wrench and making sure I held the extended barrel of the lens i.e. not the zoom or focus rings, I was able to remove the filter OK. Both the lens (17-85 IS) and the camera survived and the vacation was saved.