The hd200 got struck by a tank last week (full shooting report to follow) and in doing so whacked the matte box thus threading an 82mm adaptor ring into the lens. It's as stuck as stuck can be.

Anyone know if you can remove the sun shade which holds the 82mm thread at the end of the stock lens so I can be a bit more aggressive in getting it off? Obviously any pressure exerted against the threaded ring acts against the lens as a whole and I don't want to do that.

My last resort is to carefully hack saw the top of the ring in the hope that that would release the tension enough and allow me to break it off.

We have a job which requires screwing a different adaptor into the lens and we can't do that until we get this wretched adaptor ring out!

by the way...the camera survived!

I had almost an identical thing happen to me (well, not with a tank). I drilled a 3mm hole through the flange top and bottom, 180 degrees apart. Then I put a rod through from top to bottom. This gave me the pressure I needed, spread evenly so the ring doesn't distort and jam. A quick heave and it came unstuck quite easily with no damage. A little black sharpie colouring in left the ring quite usable and without the usual grooves, cuts or pliar rings.

Hi Paul,

So, you ended up with a rod running across the face of the lens? Do I understand that right? I'll have to see if there's room to drill in that direction but the adaptor ring is pretty much all the way in so I doubt it.

How did you support your lens when twisting by the way?

Stuart

just gripped the front element in one hand, finger and thumbs on the rod where it emerges - kind of gives you enough grip - same idea as the old peoples jar openers. On my ring, when screwed in there was easily enough to drill through. If yours doesn't protrude enough, how about doing your hacksaw cut at both opposite edges, then putting the hacksaw blade, teeth edge down, into the jaws of a workmate, lowering the camera towards it so the slots engage, then turning the camera? You get the leverage you need. As soon as the jam clears it will unscrew easily, I hope?

Paul, the problem I'd have with such a method is that the resistance when turning would come from the lens mount on the camera body before any force acted upon the stuck ring itself. This ring is in so tight I'd be worried about stressing or distorting the bayonet fitting on the camera body or some part of the lens body itself.

It's for this reason that I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to remove the sun hood from the end of the lens first as then I can go mad trying to get the ring out without worrying about the camera body or lens.

When I say sun hood I mean the last part of the lens in which the stepped focal ring turns into (that make sense)? I seem to think I've heard of this being removed before but maybe I'm imagining it!?

Once I've got this off I'll have a go at your suggestion and drill through across the face of the ring.

Cheers.

This is a real problem even if a tank wasn't helping out.

This solution probably would work but it's worth a try. Get a cooler gel pack or a sealed ice pack and hold it to the ring without touching the rest of the lens. Keep it there for about 5 minutes and then try to move the ring. If you are lucky the ring will have shrunk enough to move. This works well for filters or rings that have sand jammed into the threads when screwed onto the lens.

Maybe you could try chilling the ring a bit, or a drop of penetrating oil to the threads through the gap between the ring and lens barrel. Also you could use a jar lid remover available in the kitchen utensil section of a department store (Walmart, Target, Sears).
Good luck,
Ken

All great ideas guys but I'm reluctant to try any more forcing until I can get the sun hood which the ring screws into away from the lens itself. I've obviously got the lens off the body now but any twisting forces are transferred through the lens body and I want to avoid this.

Cheers

Is this the 16x5.5? I can tell from experience that one can't have too much pressure whatsover. Good time to get another lens :-)

Thanks Werner but buying a new lens that only fits this camera just doesn't make economical sense! I'd rather just get the threaded adaptor off.

Anyone out there know if the adaptor thread holder / sun hood is designed to come off before I start hacking at it?

I've removed stuck filters or adaptors from camera lenses several times using two rubber strap wrenches. They are inexpensive and available from most tool sources (Sears, Home Depot, etc).

For me, the first step would be to remove the lens from the camera body.

Then a strap wrench around the adapter ring and one around the lens as close to the adapter as possible. No marks, cuts or scratches. The trick will be to keep the strap wrench on the adapter ring when you start turning.

Yes the lens hood usually comes off the standard lens Stuart. Looking at the front of the lens, push the lens hood in slightly and twist it anticlockwise. You then slide it towards you and off. It is a tight fit and the problem may well be that it won't slide off with a filter still attached.

One other Idea maybe (and you are right, take the lens off the camera first) I would gently try using a good, reversible, variable speed electric drill with a rubber sanding disk (no sand paper!) cut to about 85mm,carefully protect the front lens element with a piece of sheepskin (buffing pad?) and place the exposed edge of the rubber disk against the outer face of the stuck ring. Hold, push against the ring prey and having made very sure the drill is turning in the right direction, just give it a very short squirt. The friction and jerk should do the job.

The second idea is to ask to see the tank drivers insurance cover!

Good luck Stuart

Stuart

That's great Stuart. I'll give that a try as soon as I get into the office in the morning and let you know!

Stuart

Try a filter wrench:
General Brand | Filter Wrench (Set of 2) | B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/251749-REG/General_Brand__Filter_Wrench_Set_of.html)

Jack that looks like a very useful tool.

Shame I need to get this filter off very quickly now otherwise I'd give one of those a go.

I finally managed to remove the adaptor (after trying ALL other methods) by;

removing lens from camera (obviously)
removing zoom demand servo
drilling 2 x 3mm holes opposite to each other through the outer most edge of the adapter ring.
carefully screwing the entire lens assembly (face downward) into a block of hardwood and clamping the block to something firm such as a workbench.
holding the sun hood / end of the lens turn the entire assembly until the ring begins to turn.
DO NOT USE THE FOCUS or ZOOM rings to turn the lens.

Hope this helps anyone else who may find themselves in a similar position. When the tank struck the matte box in pushed the adapter ring across an opposing thread, thus locking it.

Best way to avoid it would be to not put your camera in the way of a speeding tank!

Stuart.


A welcome good outcome on two levels.


1. You succeeded in recovering the lens and hood.

2. You survived the encounter with the tank. These things have ended badly.


An independent cameraman from Australia operated with the mujihadeen in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation when few others if any were doing so. He was using a Super8 camera I think and was it seems a largely unsung source of visual record from that conflict.

He filmed a captured tank being driven past and was struck and killed. There is apparently some sort of target fixation and misjudgement occurs because the sheer bulk of the object, also error in distance perception introduced by the viewfinder if used, similar to people being drawn into the sides of trains pulling up at a platform.

You would likely know first hand the truth or otherwise of this legend from firsthand experience.

Subsequently, his widow went to Afghanistan with her two young children to determine the full story and to get some closure.

A memorable documentary recounted their story and her journey.

Congratulations!

One other method I though of would be to use a dremel tool to saw into one sice of the ring. Then take a small and strong pair of pliers and twist and break the ring inward. I have never tried this on a filter but it works on 2 inch pipe.

Yes, I imagined it might have become cross-threaded, so, at the least, it would have to be pulled our and snapped back into the correct thread track.

Andy was a legend among those of us working out of Peshawar into Muj controlled Afghanistan in the late '80's. A great man, a good friend, and still sorely missed. I'm glad his family finally found out what happened to him - at the time we all believed he'd been killed by a bandit (or more likely by Hekmatyar's men) while he slept. That's still the commonly related story of his death. I've not seen the documentary you referred to.

Andy was a Brit, though - of Polish descent - who was in the British Special Forces before he became a freelance cameraman.

On another note:

So come on, Stuart: what were you doing with the tank to get that close to it? and where you behind the camera when it got hit?

Tell all....

Best wishes

R

Sorry Robert.


He was an Australian citizen of Italian ancestry. I don't know if he was born in Australia or migrated.

My recollection of the documentary, possibly now a bit vague is that after he was killed filming the tank, the mujihadeen he had joined were were less than fully forthcoming as to what happened. The film that was was taking when he died was broadcast as part of the documentary.

When his wife went there, she took their two children with her. Apparently they were blond headed and their hair was died black so they would be less apparent as foreigners.

No probs, Bob; I'd love to know who he was. I knew most of those guys - we were a fairly small clan. I can't recall another freelance cameraman who was killed in Afghanistan in the '80s apart from Andy. If you remember his name, please drop me a line; we should have him listed on the Rory Peck Trust Memorial to freelance cameramen and women killed on active service:

The Rory Peck Trust (http://www.rorypecktrust.org/remember.htm)

But this guy clearly knew the first lesson of conflict camera work: if that incoming has your name on it, make sure the little red light is glowing.

Best wishes

R

Robert the camera got hit by the tank during the filming of a recruitment film we're making. It was on the end of a crane when the 'incident' occurred.

Getting back to the threaded ring, I was amazed to see that all the threads on both the camera and the adapter were still entirely intact...nothing chewed! For such soft aluminium I found that amazing.

Stuart, that's really good news! I'm not sure that the lens front is made of metal though, it appears to be some sort of plastic or nylon compound. I wasn't too keen on that but if it has survived maybe I'm wrong and should think more of it.

I've been run over by an electric car while getting "the sexy ground level, very wide angle, 3/4 on, up and past, over Paris cobbles" shot, (or TSGLVWA3/4UPOPC for short). That's the real danger of keenly studying a wide angle shot - you can so easily misjudge how close the thing is. It climbed my Betacam SP, up and over me; Oddly nothing but the car was damaged.

You are right Bob, that phenomenon is known as spotlighting, basically it's concentrating so hard on the object you might hit rather than the way of avoiding it that you do hit it. It's common in skiing and one of the reasons ski resorts tend to only operate "Piste Bashers" at night, too many skiers seemed to aim straight at them and come out the other end as pre-cut chips. There's a clip up on my website Paris Cameraman, France, Stuart Nimmo (http://www.GluedTo.tv/) Show Reels, 2nd item down left column with some dodgy skiing/ shooting with a Piste Basher.

Enough.... Very glad about the jammed filter cure Stuart