raid
Dad Photographer
I have an M adapter that seems to be stuck on an old lens. How can I remove it without messing up the delicate lens?
Rob-F
Likes Leicas
Which lens it it, Raid? I have a 50mm Summarit with an M adapter that won't come off. I sent it to Sherry, who said it was probably glued on. I think that was done in an effort to "convert" LTM lenses to M mount, possibly around the time when the M3 came out.
Pablito
coco frío
mount lens on camera, unscrew lens, remove adapter from camera.
AlwaysOnAuto
Well-known
I have an old Wallensac lens that had an M mount, or so I thought. I tried like crazy to remove what I thought was an adapter, all to no avail. I put some alcohol on it and tried to remove it, but it wasn't budging.
Fast forward a couple of months to a few days ago. While trying all my old lenses out on my new to me NEX 7, low and behold what happens? The adapter decides it's time to come off the Wally lens! It really is an LTM lens after all.
I'd recommend using some alcohol, and let it sit for a while.
Fast forward a couple of months to a few days ago. While trying all my old lenses out on my new to me NEX 7, low and behold what happens? The adapter decides it's time to come off the Wally lens! It really is an LTM lens after all.
I'd recommend using some alcohol, and let it sit for a while.
raid
Dad Photographer
It is a custom made Xenon 50 2.8 in ltm. I added the M mount adapter, so it should come off, but the lens is "put together", and it may not be a solidly built lens.
raid
Dad Photographer
I have done this before, but then I am at a loss on how to safely remove the adapter from the camera.:bang:
raid
Dad Photographer
I will try the alcohol treatment for the lens mount.
madNbad
Well-known
Any infinity locks or stops you can use for leverage?
ruby.monkey
Veteran
Voigtlander rear lens caps, at least, also act as adapter-removal tools.
raid
Dad Photographer
I will try this out. Thanks.
peterm1
Veteran
I have had this problem years ago when I bought a Summarit mounted on an M3. I wonder if some people do use "locktite" (or nail polish or some other substitute) to lock the thread of an adapter onto a lens. If so, I cannot imagine why as I have never had an issue with my lens unscrewing accidentally from one of these things. (Interestingly I have had a problem of having a bayonet mounted lens come off the camera as it did not properly "click" into place when mounted). I just could not get the damn thing off and even tried putting a few drops of alcohol or nail polish remover (acetone) on the joint. In the end I think I resorted to wrapping the adapter around with some cloth - I think I used something like a small piece of towel or flannel washcloth which protects your hand and is "grippy" so does not slip. Holding the lens body in my left hand I unscrewed vigorously with my right hand and after a little effort it came loose. It took quite a bit of effort but eventually it came off as indeed they must all do eventually, being nothing more than a screw fit. I must say I took care to try to grip the lens (with my left hand as I said) on the base part of the lens, not on the upper part which rotates the focusing helical. I was not sure that putting a lot of torque on that was wise. I presume the alcohol helped loosen it. On the adapter I mean not in me. That came later.
If all of those things were to fail I could only assume that the thing had been glued in place by some misguided person. The only fix I could then think of would be to have the lens disassembled and soak the relevant metal parts in a suitable solvent for long enough to soften the offending glue. Then repeat the twisting treatment. However this may not be possible as from memory I think some Leica lenses have screws in their base and these would be made inaccessible by the presence of the adapter.
As an aside. Many years back I used to be involved in black powder muzzle loader shooting and knew a guy who had a wonderful german silver mounted half stock rifle. It really was beautifully executed wwith fine professional engraving on all the metal parts. He decided to bed the barrel in epoxy to improve its accuracy. This is a common technique in rifle shooting. To prevent the barrel being glued a release agent (e.g. grease or petroleum jelly) is first applied to the metal parts to prevent them being glued to the gun stock. The idea is that when the epoxy sets hard, the barrel and the rebate in the stock which holds it are perfectly matched theoretically improving accuracy. But of course there is not intention to permanently fix them together. Long story short, I guess he missed a bit! The barrel became permanently fixed to the stock. Not sure how that affected accuracy but it would have made full servicing and cleaning a bit difficult.(Although there are ways around that). So its not only a problem limited to cameras and lenses.
As a final point I assume that this is not a corrosion issue. If so dampness would be required and that would cause other more obvious issues with the lens.
If all of those things were to fail I could only assume that the thing had been glued in place by some misguided person. The only fix I could then think of would be to have the lens disassembled and soak the relevant metal parts in a suitable solvent for long enough to soften the offending glue. Then repeat the twisting treatment. However this may not be possible as from memory I think some Leica lenses have screws in their base and these would be made inaccessible by the presence of the adapter.
As an aside. Many years back I used to be involved in black powder muzzle loader shooting and knew a guy who had a wonderful german silver mounted half stock rifle. It really was beautifully executed wwith fine professional engraving on all the metal parts. He decided to bed the barrel in epoxy to improve its accuracy. This is a common technique in rifle shooting. To prevent the barrel being glued a release agent (e.g. grease or petroleum jelly) is first applied to the metal parts to prevent them being glued to the gun stock. The idea is that when the epoxy sets hard, the barrel and the rebate in the stock which holds it are perfectly matched theoretically improving accuracy. But of course there is not intention to permanently fix them together. Long story short, I guess he missed a bit! The barrel became permanently fixed to the stock. Not sure how that affected accuracy but it would have made full servicing and cleaning a bit difficult.(Although there are ways around that). So its not only a problem limited to cameras and lenses.
As a final point I assume that this is not a corrosion issue. If so dampness would be required and that would cause other more obvious issues with the lens.
raid
Dad Photographer
Not really.
madNbad
Well-known
With the Voigtlander cap, mount the lens on the camera body, unscrew the lens from the adapter, use the notches on the back of the cap to remove the mount from the camera body.
Or try the alcohol method, have a drink and worry about it tomorrow
Or try the alcohol method, have a drink and worry about it tomorrow
raid
Dad Photographer
Your point is well taken.
kxl
Social Documentary
This has happened to me in the past. Not sure why you'd mount the lens on a body, and risk damage to the body just to pry off the adapter. When this happened to me, I just used an M rear lens cap on the unmounted lens and twisted off the adapter using the rear lens cap.
raid
Dad Photographer
I prefer this approach. It is safer.
jaapv
RFF Sponsoring Member.
Old type Leica lens caps have three notches to remove an adapter from the body. Just apply, depress button and twist.
However I too would simply use a rear lenscap to remove an adapter.
raid
Dad Photographer
I agree with what you said, Jaap.
