Milich adapter removal

[weshamilton]

At the risk of asking a stupid question. I am new to rangefinders. I recently purchased a CV 35 mm Skopar and a milich adapter. I attach the adapter to the lens and attach them both to m8. When I remove them the lens unscrews leaving the adapter on the camera. The adapter is very difficult to remove. What am I doing wrong or how do I remove the adapter from the camera? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[etrigan63]

Did you hold down the release button when you tuned the lens + adaptor? The adaptor locks in place on the body while the lens just screws in.

 

[gdi]

The M8 mount seems to be very tight- you can try 2 things:

- tighten the lens onto the adapter after mounting (so the lens/adapter connection is tighter than the adapter/camera mount connection) then remove the lens/adapter
- use the little bosses/nubs on the back of your adapter end cap to remove the stuck adapter, remembering to press the release button while doing so.

Good luck

 

[Solinar]

gdi has it right, tighten the lens to the adapter. Hold the release button down to remove the lens with the adapter attached. Then use a rear lens cap to remove the LTM to M mount adapter from the lens. Good luck.

 

[saxshooter]

The adapter makes your LTM lens a M-mount lens. It could also make your M8 a screwmount camera, but I don't think that is a common use for the adapter 😉

 

[weshamilton]

Thanks for your suggestions. I initially had the adapter fixed tighter to lens than adapter to camera. Unfortunately the lens unscrewed from the adapter and the adapter remained on the camera. The milich adapter (at least my version) has only one visible and accessible notch when attached to the camera. It's a bear to get off. I press button w one hand and use end of screw driver w the other. I am hoping there's an easier way. Again thanks. Wes

 

[stephengilbert]

If you only use the adapter on a single lens (and thus leave it on the lens all the time) you might consider using a few drops of Loctite thread locker. I'd check with John Milch before trying this, but if I'm wrong we'll probably hear why fairly soon. 🙂

 

[saxshooter]

Thanks for your suggestions. I initially had the adapter fixed tighter to lens than adapter to camera. Unfortunately the lens unscrewed from the adapter and the adapter remained on the camera. The milich adapter (at least my version) has only one visible and accessible notch when attached to the camera. It's a bear to get off. I press button w one hand and use end of screw driver w the other. I am hoping there's an easier way. Again thanks. Wes

Hi Wes. Do you feel resistance when you mount the lens (with adapter) on the camera body. And do you feel resistance with other lenses. If you feel resistance with that lens (using that adapter) and other lenses, then you may have an issue with your camera mount. If it is only that lens using the Milich adapter, perhaps the issue is the adapter.

Depressing the lens release button on the body and turning the lens to remove, I've never had the screw mount lens come undone from the adapter before the entire thing is able to turn off the body. Assume you are screwing the adapter onto the LTM lens tightly before mounting on the body? You can use a rear cap to do this. You can even do it (dunno if recommended or not) while it is on the body.

 

[CameraQuest]

you will find mount / unmounting instructions here
http://www.cameraquest.com/adaptltm.htm

use your M body as a wrench to remove the adapter

the written instructions with the Voigtlander screw mount adapters should be used ONLY if you have no lens to help you remove the adapter from the body.

Stephen

 

[Ben Z]

I've never seen a Milich adaptor but the Leitz and Voitlander adaptors have little semi-circle cutouts around the edge. The older Leitz M-bayonet rear lenscaps (with gray plastic inserts inside) have lugs on the backside and can be used as a wrench to remove an adaptor that was left behind when the lens unscrewed. Be sure to press in the lens release of course.

I would be very very cautious about using Loctite to hold an adaptor onto a lens. There are at least 2 types of Loctite and one of them requires heating to 500F to break it loose 😱 The other type is more like crazy glue, which can be dissolved with acetone, although in my experience acetone doesn't ususally penetrate fine threads well enough to do the job. The most I would feel comfortable doing is using one or 2 TINY drops of clear nailpolish. You have to spin the lens down very quickly though because it dries really fast and you wouldn't want the lens to seem like it was all the way home if it wasn't quite, because focus would be off everywhere. I've never used any kind of threadlocker and don't plan to. Even lacking one of those old lenscaps, I find that if I hold the lock button in with one finger and place the palm of my other hand flat against the adaptor and twist, it usually comes loose.

 

[HenningW]

I've never seen a Milich adaptor but the Leitz and Voitlander adaptors have little semi-circle cutouts around the edge. The older Leitz M-bayonet rear lenscaps (with gray plastic inserts inside) have lugs on the backside and can be used as a wrench to remove an adaptor that was left behind when the lens unscrewed. Be sure to press in the lens release of course.

I would be very very cautious about using Loctite to hold an adaptor onto a lens. There are at least 2 types of Loctite and one of them requires heating to 500F to break it loose 😱 The other type is more like crazy glue, which can be dissolved with acetone, although in my experience acetone doesn't ususally penetrate fine threads well enough to do the job. The most I would feel comfortable doing is using one or 2 TINY drops of clear nailpolish. You have to spin the lens down very quickly though because it dries really fast and you wouldn't want the lens to seem like it was all the way home if it wasn't quite, because focus would be off everywhere. I've never used any kind of threadlocker and don't plan to. Even lacking one of those old lenscaps, I find that if I hold the lock button in with one finger and place the palm of my other hand flat against the adaptor and twist, it usually comes loose.

I've used Loctite on a couple of lens/adapter pairs for lenses that I would probably not use on a screw mount body. The one to use is blue loctite; stay away from the green one. Red should also be avoided. This has worked well, and I've been able to separate them reasonably easily after more than a year. These were Leitz/Leica adapters. I don't have any CV adapters.

The Milich adapters don't come with back caps, and the Leica caps with the tabs are not that useful as tight lenses will shear off the tabs. Actually, I don't think the Milich adapters have the cutouts to allow the tabs to work. The best way to free stuck (or loctite'd) lenses from adapters is the method outlined by Stephen Gandy above. It's easy, the tools don't get lost and the parts are strong enough to handle the strain.

Henning

 

[weshamilton]

Again thanks for your help. Stephen, your idea sounds like a good one. What do I use to grip the adapter when the camera is a wrench. The resistance feels appropriate (having never owned a leica previously) and not too stiff.
Wes

 

[CameraQuest]

Again thanks for your help. Stephen, your idea sounds like a good one. What do I use to grip the adapter when the camera is a wrench. The resistance feels appropriate (having never owned a leica previously) and not too stiff.
Wes

screw a lens into the adapter, tight enough to rotate the adapter after you release the lens catch

once the adapter is unlatched and still attached to the lens

keep turning the lens to remove the lens from the adapter

Stephen