Many photographers keep some sort of filter on their lenses at all times — even if it's just a UV filter to stop the glass from getting scratched. But what do you do when a filter gets hopelessly stuck? Photographer Craig Pulsifer was faced with exactly that problem, and the method he says was advised by a Canon Professional Service technician is more than a little scary.
In order to protect the delicate inner threads of the lens, he had to carefully destroy the filter so that he could unmount it. Here's the steps:
- Use hacksaw to cut rim of the filter down to the glass on 4 ‘sides’.
- Use Ballpein hammer to strike filter glass in progressively harder taps until filter glass breaks.
- Pick out shattered glass of filter
- Blow off glass/metal bits, then using pliers, bend/peel edges of filter rim into the centre of the filter to pull pressure off of inner threads of lens
- Again, blow off glass/metal bits, and replace with new filter
This is very definitely a last resort maneuver, only to be attempted when nothing else works. I'd be terrified of even getting vaguely near a nice piece of L glass like that with a hacksaw and ball-pein hammer, for fear of destroying thousands of dollars worth of gear. Could you bring yourself to do it?
[via Foto Actualidad]
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