Help!! Mamiya Lens Hood (77mm) and Cir. Polarizer (77mm) have become firmly joined. The flexibility of the hood is definitely an obstacle. Suggestions , please!
P John
Hi, put a latex rubber dish-washing glove on one hand, try to undo while mostly pressing the palm of your hand against things, as opposed to squeezing with the fingers. Good luck.
After [if?] you finally get it off rub the point of a pencil along the threads, to lubricate them with the graphite, before putting them on the lens again.
Part of the problem is that when you grip the filter ring with your hand, most of the clamping force is diametrically opposite. This temporarily springs the filter rim into an ellipse. Since the filter rim is so thin, it happens easily. This temporary shape distortion greatly increases the friction between the filter and the element it’s threaded into, making turning the filter much harder and removal frustratingly difficult.
The use of a pair of filter wrenches usually gets the job done. The split band-wrenches designed for gripping filters distribute the clamping force uniformly around the rim of the filter so that it doesn’t become elliptical under clamping force. This significantly reduces the friction and makes unscrewing the filter much easier.
The filter wrenches I’ve used are thin enough that you can position the wrench to clamp onto the fixed rim of the polarizing filter and not the rotating part.
One idea that I’ve used seems to help prevent sticking. I use a toothpick or a straightened paperclip to apply a tiny amount of wax lubricant to the male thread of the filter just before installing it. I use Imperial Sizing-Die Wax or petrolatum. Petrolatum is essentially a soft wax derived from petroleum and sold in the U.S. and Canada as Vaseline and other brands. The sizing-die wax has a stiffer consistency than petrolatum.