Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Need some help. My buddy dropped his 70-200 2.8 and it cracked the UV filter on the front. We can't tell if the actual lens is damaged because we can't get it off. Should he go to the Canon Service Centre in Mississauga and drop it off to get it looked at or Sun Camera Service?

I'm not suggesting your friend do this, but what I would do is just get a filter wrench and remove the filter...at the same time a second filter wrench would be put on the lens so there's no stress put on the lens; a filter wrench is basically a strip of rubber that wraps around the filter with a plastic handle for leverage which applies pressure equally around the filter.

Other ways I'd try it is put the lens filter down on a rubber surface (which you don't mind damaging), put some downward pressure, and turn the lens in the direction that would unscrew the filter.

Again, these would be things *I* would try, and probably methods the service centres would use, and you should only try them at YOUR own risk.

Use the second suggestion as mentioned above. Bottom of a tennis shoe works great, been there done that.

ok, I told my friend to do the second method and he said it didn't work. He thinks it's really on there. Here are some pics he took from his iPhone.




Any other methods/suggestions?

Mississauga or Sun??

Channel locks

Blow torch?

Or maybe a less drastic way to warm up the broken lens.
I believe there are people in the world who would solve this problem with liquid nitrogen on the main lens.

Have you tried some liquid wrench on the threads? Although I would be afraid of the solvents in the oil degrading any coating on the main lens but maybe some glycerine or even dish soap?


If you knew someone with a rock steady hand and a dremel tool, you might try cutting into the edge of the ring of the UV lens.
Or maybe drilling holes into the UV lens so you can get it out.

That should come off using the shoe... Just use a bit more elbow grease!

the double wrench is safer as there is less stress on the lens. Actually hardware, crappy tire and tool stores carry the rubber band type wrenches which should work

In case you didn't know, this is what a rubber strap wrench looks like (and they come in different sizes):


And this is the actual filter wrench designed for photographers (you have to get the right size wrench for the filters you are using):

Thanks guys. Maybe he can buy the rubber wrenches and then return them after he gets the filter off

Do you think he should get the lens checked out? He said it fell about 4ft AND into a bit of h2o

take a picture with the lens filter or no you'll get an indication of whether the lens is working or not.

Good luck

Thanks for all your help everyone. My friend tried the shoe method with no luck. He then bought those rubber straps from Canadian Tire but the strap is too wide and doesn't allow the wrench to properly turn the filter (keeps on falling off). In the end he just took it to Sun Camera Service. They tried taking it off there but the tech said the filter is wedged in there and needs to remove it by breaking the glass, cutting a bit of the filter ring and removing it with a machine.

How well do the Canadian Tire special's work for the purpose?

Alternatively, where to buy a pair of 77mm filter wrenches?

The straps are too wide to have a firm grip on the filter. It just kept slipping off.

Not sure about the wrenches..Vistek or Henry's??

You ended up doing what I was going to suggest, take it to Sun Camera. I was sure they'd try it for you while you were there, which seems like they did.

The impact probably bent the ring, possibly on the lens itself too. Will be interesting to see, after the filter is removed, if a new one can be easily thread on or not.

For what it's worth to say, I brought my bent dropped exact same lens (70-200 F2. to Sun Camera, and they fixed it fine. Cost me a few bucks, but worked.

Good luck,

]{evin

I had to do this recently when my camera bag clipped a pit wall while I was jumping over it, at the track. I put the lens in a plastic bag, in the freezer for about an hour so that the aluminum of the filter would shrink a bit more than the metal of the lens. Then I cut two notches in the filter, on opposite sides of it, with a Dremmel Tool and then used a butter knife in the grooves to get enough leverage to turn it.

After that it took some careful blowing and brushing to remove the glass dust from the primary element, but all is now good.

New filter fits perfectly. My friend said it doesn't bind or anything.