use with WA lens: close... very close... but not quite
 

Excellent suggestion, tried it and the filter finished flush with the filter thread of the lens so the retaining ring just does not quite catch the thread.

Perhaps an optician will be able to grind a rebate into the filter so that it will seat slightly lower.

I had no idea that the filter was that thick. Oh well.

For everyone's information, I've just received confirmation of my order from Nichelle at Abel Cine. The T1 Tiffen filter is still back ordered and it is not expected before the end of next week.

Thanks for sharing as I'm still waiting for an acknowledgement to my intial enquiry.

I'm sure you will get it Paul - Nichelle is a really nice person, but extremely busy, too :)

I can confirm that the problem does seem to be in supply from Tiffen. Their local online reseller informed me two weeks ago they were waiting for a new shipment.

I can imagine just how many people want to get their hands on one of these filters. Hopefully they'll start trickling though soon.

T1 and wide angle
 

I am still searching for a way to use t1 filter with the wide angle lens.

In the spirit of Edison... here are some ways that don't work:-


1) Grinding filter:
Optician tried on diamond belt, but glass very tough. End result was the edges of the filter only got polished rather than ground much thinner. He advised against using more pressure while grinding as the risk of breaking the filter was too high. It may have been worth trying if the filters were cheap and readily available...

As the point of grinding filter was to enable the retaining ring to fix the filter, we then tried
alternative methods of fixing the bare filter in place without using the retaining ring:

2) locktight the filter in place: Did not hold

3) Glue it in place: Held OK but... the wide angle adapter would not fit.

Inspection then revealed the rear element of the WA adapter is convex and stands proud of the face of the bayonet mount. It therefore relies on the front element of the lens being recessed to provide clearance. With (only) the filter glass in place there is not sufficient clearance. Should have tried before gluing but you learn from mistakes.

Filter removed from Lens and returned to its mount.

It appears the filter will *not* fit between lens and WA.
Back to the drawing board.

[Apologies if this shouldn't be posted - as far as I can tell, there are no UK sponsors at present]

Just spoke to Top Teks in the UK and they have had their first 4 T1 filters come in, and go straight out. More are on order. They are quoting £60 plus £6 postage plus VAT and will put your name down against future stock.

N

You are correct. I just got my filters and did some measuring before making any attempts like this.

The T1 filter element is 2.5mm thick. The gap between the back element of the Sony 0.8x and the front element of the stock EX3 lens is 1.6mm ±0.1mm. I did not measure any more precisely as it was pointless given the result from the lower precision measurements.

Unless the filter was 1mm or less thick, it would not be a good idea to put it between the wide angle and the stock lens as this would severely change the optical design and cause bad aberrations. perhaps Tiffen made the filter this thick so as to prevent its use this way and to avoid complaints of poor image quality when used with a wide angle adapter.

I also did a rough measure of the light loss on my camera and it appears to be around 3/4 of a stop.

I guess it's time for a matte box and a 4x4.

Okay - sorry if this has been covered in this thread already (didn't read the whole thing) but does this filter absolutely need to be put directly on the camera, or can it be used/be effective, on a lens attached to my 35mm adapter?

anywhere in the optical chain Trevor. Its just an ordinary dye filter.

okay - wasn't sure since I haven't used a filter like this.

interesting... I may not mind picking up 3 of these to use on my three lenses... they'd just need step up rings since unfortunately they aren't offered in varying sizes... too bad they don't have a T1 IR that works in a mattebox!

The Tiffen T1 white paper says that the filter is available as 4x4, 4x5.65 and 6.6x6.6, though I guess they are flat out to meet the demand for 77mm at the moment.

ahhhh... haven't seen the whitepaper. i guess i should try tiffen directly and see what the deal is or where to get a 4x5.65... thanks Nick!