How to remove LTM adapter from lens?

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minoltist7

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It's so tight - I tried different ways but afraid to break something

p.s do you guys have dedicated adapters for each your thread mount lens (or at least for the most used ones) ?
 
If it's tight, I normally put a rear cap on the adapter. The cap holds the adapter and you can unscrew the lens.

I use dedicated adapters for the most frequently-used lenses.

Philipp
 
I'm sure others have better techniques than do I, but here's what I've done when I can't get the ltm adapter off of the lens body itself. First, I mount the lens on an M mount camera. Then I use the camera itself to hold the adapter while I unscrew the lens just a little bit. Then I snug the lens back up a bit on the adapter, but not so much that it's back to being stuck. Then I remove the lens with adapter as I would normally. Then I can usually remove the ltm adapter fairly easily. It also helps to mount an M mount rear lens cover on the now-loosened adapter to help grab it when you want to remove the ltm adapter from the screwmount lens. Hope this explanation makes sense and works for you as easily as it has for me.

-Randy
 
How to remove LTM adapter from lens?

minoltist7 said:
It's so tight - I tried different ways but afraid to break something

p.s do you guys have dedicated adapters for each your thread mount lens (or at least for the most used ones) ?
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Years ago I ruined a Leica adapter by removing it from a 50mm Cooke lens with a pair of pliers... I never forgot it!

You might try loosening the grip with something like cigarette-lighter fluid {Naptha}, using a Q-tip gently between the lens and the adapter and, as said earlier, putting a rear Leica cap on the back to make it easier to twist...If you don't have a rear cap, you might try wrapping the corner of a towel or dish cloth around the rear of the adapter and twist counter-clockwise...If you have a piece of rubber sheet, you might also try that, to get a little friction...
 
You MIGHT have a really old Leitz lens that has the "adapter" permanently attached. Make sure there's no little set screw.

I've also had lenses that were crazy glued onto the adapter. You can get these off with solvent.

Just put the lens on the camera and untwist.
 
I had one like this when I bought an M3 with a Summarit attached. I could not get the adpater off the Summarit and did not like to over stress the camera mount by twisting the lens with possibly excessive force while it was on the camera. In the end from memory, I think I put a couple of drops of spirit on the thread (carefully so as not to get it into the lens) and then after letting it soak for a while wrapped the adapter in a piece of cloth (an old T shirt did the trick) so I could get a better grip on it wothout harming my hand. Then I twisted while holding the lens body in the other hand. Eventually it worked. I imagine someone had kindly used loctight or similar on the adapter so the elns would not come off by accident.

When I had a not dissimilar problem un-screwing a SMC Takumar 200mm f4 lens body to get at the the internals to be able to clean the diaphragm, I actually went bit further. I used some double sided tape stuff (not sure what else to call it) to stick some thin neoprene (a computer mouse pad cut to size, actually) around the circumference of the lens to give me something to grip and also to protect the lens while twisting it. In the end it was so tight I actually went to the hardware store and bought one of those screw clamps of the sort used in cars to (say) connect a radiator hose to the radiator. These are available in various diameters. I placed this over the neoprene and screwed it reasonably tightly. This additional mechanism gave me just enough purchase to be able to unscrew the lens body by hand.
 
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Try a couple of pipe wrenches:D :D , I had an FSU lens (J-3) with perfect glass that had been dissembled like that so more wheel bearing grease could be smeared on the internals.....

minoltist7 said:
It's so tight - I tried different ways but afraid to break something

p.s do you guys have dedicated adapters for each your thread mount lens (or at least for the most used ones) ?
Click to expand...
 
Makes sense not to put strain on the mount lock of the body. In 17 years with an M3 and only screw lenses, I never had a problem removing an adapter from a lens and never left one in the body while removing a lens. T-shirts give a decent enough grip and also protect the hand from damage. Now I have an M2 with 35, 50 and 85 screw lenses -- so I have three adapters to bring up the correct frames. A single adapter would work well with a Bessa, on which frames are manually set.
 
If the adapter is really removeable and not fixed, here's one trick:

Get a rubber pad and lay it on a table. The reverse side of a rubber-foam mousepad may do.

Put the lens on the pad, with the mount on it. Lightly bear on the lens so that the adapter "sinks" lightly on the rubber pad. Turn the lens counterclockwise.

Works with stubborn filters too.
 
payasam said:
Makes sense not to put strain on the mount lock of the body. In 17 years with an M3 and only screw lenses, I never had a problem removing an adapter from a lens and never left one in the body while removing a lens. T-shirts give a decent enough grip and also protect the hand from damage. Now I have an M2 with 35, 50 and 85 screw lenses -- so I have three adapters to bring up the correct frames. A single adapter would work well with a Bessa, on which frames are manually set.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your trick of using T-shirt.
Last night I successfully removed a L39-M adapter. My summar needs this adapter to be used on M.
Cheers. :D
 
i just picked up an LTM to M mount and was trying it on my 28 elmar collapsible and I-22. both were impossible to do with bare hands, though it was possibly (but annoying as hell) to balance the unscrewing of the lens in the adapter with the adaptor in the mount.

but better and way easier is the lens cap -- by far the best way to do it.
 
I use the camera as a wrench. Attach by screwing the adapter on the mount first then on to the camera. Remove by releasing the mount button, then unscrewing lens off the unlocked adapter.
 
Hi,

Most supermarkets sell a thing for getting caps off of jars and bottles. The one I'm thinking of is a round sheet of rubber or similar about 1/16th of an inch thick. You place it over the filter or whatever and can then grip it and unscrew easily.

Very useful for filters as well.

Regards, David

PS and thse nice Chinese end caps are pretty tough, I'd use that to hold the adapter. And the proper Leica ones break in time and eventually get saved for removing the adapter from the body but nothing else. One of their worst bits of plastic, imo.
 
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