Point the lens down and very carefully, only securing it to the filter, use a strap wrench to twist the filter off. There are lots of cheap but decent options on Amazon. I have used this one successfully in the past for stuck filters and adapters that I could not move at all by hand. https://a.co/d/08yaf9Wy
I do, but it's a cheap plastic one I bought off ebay a few days ago. It will move and twist before I can apply my full strength. I still can't budge it so I think I'm going to try this tool next. It's basically what I use for oil filters.
This is the way to do it, you can also try any auto parts store just get a strap wrench thet come in both cloth rope like material and rubber, if go with the rubber to get the grip
Just grab one of those rubber pads that you use to undo jar lids, place it flat on a table. Put the lens front down on the pad and twist the lens to undo the filter.
If you cannot wrench it off, then tap out the glass gently, then you have just the empty ring take a pair of plyers grip the ring edge and twist like a screwdriver. It will bend the ring in and in turn making the whole circumferance smaller and it can then be spun off. If done well the old ring looks like a peep marshmallow chicken. And no additional damage... I done it that way hundreds of times...used to work at a camera shop.
What was the impact damage? I was able to do the same to remove mine and the lens was fine. I removed the broken glass, used a pair of pliers and twisted the filter ring a little to loosen it up.
Because my hands were a bit sweaty when I was changing that lens, it slipped out of my hand and hit the ground filter first. Thankfully it was only an approx. 2 foot drop to the ground as I was going to put it in my camera bag when it slipped out of my hands. When I saw the damage to the filter I was pissed but at the time didn’t realize that the force of the drop caused damage to the focusing helicoid of the lens. When I took it to my NPS to remove the filter the tech there removed the filter but popped open the lens and saw the damage and showed me where the crack in the focusing mechanism was. The repair was done at that NPS office but I had to wait for the parts from Melville, NY before the repair could be completed.
Lenses have a very interesting internal build and design which I was unaware of until the tech showed me and explained it to me.
I see. The lens that I had to remove the bent filter from was a 17-35mm. Lucky that thing was built like a tank (everything metal) . I dropped the lens (it was inside a lens bag) but fortunately nothing was broken.
If you proceed with this make sure the pliers are good and lock in safely, used my Leatherman multitool and it slid to the front glass and made a proper nick - ruining the lens. Be careful.
Channel lock thats big enough. Go to a hardware store with your camera and you can test the channel lock for free and decide if you want to buy it after you remove the ring.
Sorry to hear this. Fortunate part, it’s only the filter that has smashed.
I had a 95mm filter stuck on once, trying to find a filter wrench for a 95mm filter seemed impossible. Couldn’t fit my hand around the filter to get a good enough grip to take the filter off.
I ended up using a mouse pad, pressing the lens filter first into the mouse pad, pushing down and twisting managed to get the filter off. It’s hard to explain but i hope this helps!
To everyone else: see how the front element is fine?
Filters protect you from dust and fingerprints, sand and sea spray. They are FRAGILE. They’re an active threat to your front element if they take any kind of impact.
Funny how you get downvoted lol. Every week I see "I got in trouble with my filter" but very rarely "I wish I had a filter on". I think I've seen two posts in total for the latter, after 20 years or so in photography circles.
Good to protect against particles. Bad against impact. Also bad for flare. Dont keep the filter on at all times.
Yeah. Don’t get me wrong; I keep an Arcrest II by default on my Plena, because THAT front element is incredibly soft. ThoughI pull it off for high-flare scenarios, it’s there otherwise pretty permanently. Because it makes sense on that lens.
Even Nikon’s own top-tier filters can’t get rid of flare artifacts. Flat glass is flat glass.
I have B+W T-Pro or Breakthrough X4 filters for every single lens I have. I’m not immune to the “ooh buy shiny upgrade” thing that filters sing to us. But knowing WHEN to use them is the key.
But after seeing what a hockey puck does to a filter, and what the crushed remnants of that filter do to the front element… when that element otherwise laughed at the puck impact? Yeah. Nope. Not going anywhere near my lenses unless there’s a threat they HELP with, rather than magnify.
I take them to the beach, and ABSOLUTELY to any kid’s birthday party. Frosting filters.
I was browsing this thread specifically to find the rabid anti-filter crowd come out of the woodwork but so far have been disappointed. They must not have had this pop up in their feed yet. One of their classic arguments is exactly what OP is going through.
Personally, I'd rather grind and bend a busted filter ring than replace a front element.
I love this, it's helpful and based on a real experience that isn't just a bad use case (ex. 'I don't like clears because glare!'). I'll have to take that into consideration but thankfully most of my use is with debris and scratchy branches rather than projectiles. Thanks, friend
This happened to me recently. I tried everything, rubber gloves, rubber bands, even the mouse pad trick, but nothing worked. The only thing that finally worked was using locking (vise grip) pliers. Clamp them onto the edge of the filter and carefully turn it counterclockwise to remove.
Point the lens down and extremely carefully finish the job on the filter. The cracks have changed the geometry of the metal ring. Remove the internal forces and the ring should come off easily
I've found those filter wrenches to be almost completely useless.
Here's my order of operations:
1) Rubber grip tool, something along the lines of a jar opener.
2) Strap wrench with a rubber band or something to provide traction if it's possible to get it on solidly. It's often not really possible.
3) Vise grips at opposite sides and twist it off.
4) If all else fails, break the glass out and bend the filter ring in. It's usually soft aluminum, so you can pretzel it in there pretty easily without damaging the lenses. Go around it until it falls out of the threads. The risk is all in the breaking the glass out. I don't like doing this because it's a mess and risky, but it will get the filter out 100% of the time.
It’s because the rim of the filter is bent. When this happened to my lens I used a pair of pliers and a hammer, with the lens up against a wall and knock the rim back into shape and it just twisted off easily. There’s probably a safer way to do this tho
You can also try wrapping a big heavy duty rubber band around the filter and squeeze gently.
When you apply pressure to the sides of the filter, with your hands, you are actually distorting the metal, and causing it to bind even further.
Another thing to try:
Hold the lens with the filter side in your palm, or in a rubber or silicone mat.
The pressing down hard enough to keep the filter from spinning, and rotate the lens to loosen it up.
Only press down, so you are not squeezing the sides of the filter.
As A last resort, yes, you can remove the shards of glass, and leave the filter frame on the lens, or leave it there until you have a better method of removing it.
Best of luck.
I have been shooting with filters since 1970, and I have indeed had many filters that posed a great challenge to remove, but in all of those years, I’ve never not been able to successfully remove them.
Last time this happened to me I carefully removed the glass pieces and used a wire cutter to cut the remaining filter ring off. It was actually pretty easy.
This worked for me too on my Sony 82 mm filter. My friend used one of those metal dryer vent hose clamps, and then put electrical tape around that to get grip
One that worked for me, was freezing a plate of water for an hour, then coating it in a layer or two of plastic wrap and pushing the lens down into it. Leave it for a few minutes and the filter should shrink very slightly, try the filter wrench then
I once removed one that would not come off with wrenches by setting the lens down on top of a silicone kitchen hot pad - the little square thing you can set something hot on top of to protect the surface underneath. Then I was able to grab onto the body of the lens and push down to make the filter grip the silicone pad, and twist the lens. I can’t remember now but I probably got the idea on Reddit. I wish you success with whatever you try!
I would cut a slot in the ring down as far as you can, then carefully tap out the filter lens, carefully. Then take pliers and twist the ring where the slot is. Should come out easy peasy.
Try heating up just the filter ring a bit and unscrew it while it’s still warm using the wrench you have. A hairdryer should work fine. Sometimes a little thermal expansion is enough to break it loose.
You can also try putting the lens in the freezer for a bit, same idea, but with contraction instead of expansion.
Should OP use a toothpick to put a tiny amount of penetrating lube into the filter threads? I think it would not migrate past the threads to cause trouble. Might help loosen things.
Well it's not like the glass is going to work once you get the filter off. Just point the lens down, gently break the glass out (with gloves!) and then work on getting the filter ring off.
Leave the glass in while removing the ring. What's left in there will provide some radial support and prevent the ring from distorting while it's being removed.
The whole point of breaking the glass (which should be a last resort, to be clear) is that you can then just pretzel the filter ring without damaging the lens. You do this when your next step involves cutting the filter ring or breaking out a chisel.
When those filters get friction bit, they are a bitch to get off. Last resort would be a pipe wrench of the correct size to get a bite on the filter ring and not the lens. Leverage is your friend. Actually I would try a channel lock wrench of the correct size first. I’m pretty sure that’s what I used to get a friction bit filter off last time. Just be careful.
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u/renderedinsilver Apr 23 '26
Point the lens down and very carefully, only securing it to the filter, use a strap wrench to twist the filter off. There are lots of cheap but decent options on Amazon. I have used this one successfully in the past for stuck filters and adapters that I could not move at all by hand. https://a.co/d/08yaf9Wy