Dropped D100

Well, I guess everybody has their first time. This was mine. I dropped my camera, finally. I was going to – long story – anyway my camera is fine, thank you.

I kicked it before it hit the floor. Though I made it like an expensive ball, my camera still works with not a single scratch but my L37c filter ring is damage so bad I cannot take it off. I wanted to just smash the filter and bend the ring but afraid to hurt the front element of my lens.

Does anybody have any idea how I can replace the filter without damaging the filter thread or the lens? It is an AF-S 17-35mm I am worrying about.

Any ideas at all would be much appreciated.

With warm regards,
Bimo.

Bimo said:

Does anybody have any idea how I can replace the filter without
damaging the filter thread or the lens? It is an AF-S 17-35mm I am
worrying about.

Click to expand...

No idea, but why is a high-end lens doing with a L37c filter?

If you think the plastic hood is too flimsy, go get the metal hood for the 85/1.4AF. There is a bit of vignetting close to 17mm, maybe you can get some local metal shop to cut it back some. I left it as-is since I do a lot of cropping.

If you should drop the lens once again, no more filter glass to worry about.

--
JR

Bimo said:

Well, I guess everybody has their first time. This was mine. I
dropped my camera, finally. I was going to – long story – anyway
my camera is fine, thank you.
I kicked it before it hit the floor. Though I made it like an
expensive ball, my camera still works with not a single scratch but
my L37c filter ring is damage so bad I cannot take it off. I wanted
to just smash the filter and bend the ring but afraid to hurt the
front element of my lens.

Does anybody have any idea how I can replace the filter without
damaging the filter thread or the lens? It is an AF-S 17-35mm I am
worrying about.

Any ideas at all would be much appreciated.

With warm regards,
Bimo.

Click to expand...

Bimo
Tape the glass on the filter (Duct tape?) then smash.
Boris
http://public.fotki.com/borysd/

Take it to any good camera store and ask them to remove the filter with a filter wrench. It should be a two minute job.

Regards,
Trent

Bimo said:

Well, I guess everybody has their first time. This was mine. I
dropped my camera, finally. I was going to – long story – anyway
my camera is fine, thank you.
I kicked it before it hit the floor. Though I made it like an
expensive ball, my camera still works with not a single scratch but
my L37c filter ring is damage so bad I cannot take it off. I wanted
to just smash the filter and bend the ring but afraid to hurt the
front element of my lens.

Does anybody have any idea how I can replace the filter without
damaging the filter thread or the lens? It is an AF-S 17-35mm I am
worrying about.

Any ideas at all would be much appreciated.

With warm regards,
Bimo.

Click to expand...

Trent Mulkern said:

Take it to any good camera store and ask them to remove the filter
with a filter wrench. It should be a two minute job.

Regards,
Trent

Click to expand...

I agree with Trent.

Smashing the glass is a bad idea. You need the glass to preserve the filter ring's roundness. Bending the filter ring will definitely wreck the lens' filter thread and make it much harder if not impossible to remove the filter.

Bob Lang said:

Trent Mulkern said:

Take it to any good camera store and ask them to remove the filter
with a filter wrench. It should be a two minute job.

Regards,
Trent

Click to expand...

I agree with Trent.

Smashing the glass is a bad idea. You need the glass to preserve
the filter ring's roundness. Bending the filter ring will
definitely wreck the lens' filter thread and make it much harder if
not impossible to remove the filter.

Click to expand...

After you break the glass you get a rubber glove or a pice of rubber and unscrew the filter,,,, if needed with the help of a channel lock pliers. I've done it a couple of times over the years....it is not brain surgery!
Boris

Hi James,

I personally hate filters and never put any of them on unless I have a good reason to use them. It was raining this afternoon; I probably would not have this problem if I put the lens hood on earlier.

Thank you for your suggestion, but I think the original hood is good enough to protect the lens if I should drop it once again.

With warm regards,
Bimo.

James Riley said:

No idea, but why is a high-end lens doing with a L37c filter?

If you think the plastic hood is too flimsy, go get the metal hood
for the 85/1.4AF. There is a bit of vignetting close to 17mm,
maybe you can get some local metal shop to cut it back some. I
left it as-is since I do a lot of cropping.

If you should drop the lens once again, no more filter glass to
worry about.

--
JR

Click to expand...

Hi,

Boris said:

Bob Lang said:

Trent Mulkern said:

Take it to any good camera store and ask them to remove the filter
with a filter wrench. It should be a two minute job.

Regards,
Trent

Click to expand...

I agree with Trent.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Trent and Bob, I thank you for your suggestion.

The ring is badly bends in some part of it. Unscrew the filter with force using a filter wrench won’t make any good, IMO. It will give more damage to the filter thread even though it made of a solid metal.

Boris said:

Boris said:

Smashing the glass is a bad idea. You need the glass to preserve
the filter ring's roundness. Bending the filter ring will
definitely wreck the lens' filter thread and make it much harder if
not impossible to remove the filter.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Now that is exactly my point actually, after smashing the filter/glass I can use a small pliers or two to bend the ring (made of aluminum, I supposed) towards the center.
If you have any of Nikon HS snap-on lens hood, you know what I talking about.

Boris said:

After you break the glass you get a rubber glove or a pice of
rubber and unscrew the filter,,,, if needed with the help of a
channel lock pliers. I've done it a couple of times over the
years....it is not brain surgery!
Boris

Click to expand...

Boris, I thank you for your idea to tape the glass.
Unless others have a better idea, I probably will smash the glass tomorrow.

With warm regards,
Bimo.

A good double coated Nikon uv filter on the front of a lens that has the front element close to the front of the lens is a good idea regardless what all the anti filter folks say. Can't count the number of times I have had to wipe the rain off the front of my filter with anything including soft my shirt tail. Also use a 85mm hood and that stops 90% of it. Have worn out and damaged several filters as you experianced but saved those front elements.

So keep using a good UV filter. And for all of those purists that hate this idea, please post before and after shots taken with an excellent filter such as mentioned in this post. Try to not mix them up as they will look the same.

Also, take your lens to a camera shop. Think of it this way, would you hold your face 1/8 of an inch from the inside of your car side window if I were to place duct tape on the outside of it and smash it with a hammer?

Boris said:

Bob Lang said:

Trent Mulkern said:

Take it to any good camera store and ask them to remove the filter
with a filter wrench. It should be a two minute job.

Regards,
Trent

Click to expand...

I agree with Trent.

Smashing the glass is a bad idea. You need the glass to preserve
the filter ring's roundness. Bending the filter ring will
definitely wreck the lens' filter thread and make it much harder if
not impossible to remove the filter.

Click to expand...

After you break the glass you get a rubber glove or a pice of
rubber and unscrew the filter,,,, if needed with the help of a
channel lock pliers. I've done it a couple of times over the
years....it is not brain surgery!
Boris

Click to expand...

Seems all common sense is lost......
Boris
p.s. I do agree with you on the protection filter.

JimN said:

Boris said:

Bob Lang said:

Trent Mulkern said:

Take it to any good camera store and ask them to remove the filter
with a filter wrench. It should be a two minute job.

Regards,
Trent

Click to expand...

I agree with Trent.

Smashing the glass is a bad idea. You need the glass to preserve
the filter ring's roundness. Bending the filter ring will
definitely wreck the lens' filter thread and make it much harder if
not impossible to remove the filter.

Click to expand...

After you break the glass you get a rubber glove or a pice of
rubber and unscrew the filter,,,, if needed with the help of a
channel lock pliers. I've done it a couple of times over the
years....it is not brain surgery!
Boris

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Bimo,

You might try this. We do it all the time at our store. Take the lens off the camera and find a rubber glove or something similar. Maybe a fabric type mouse pad might work too. If this works you'll probably damage the glove or pad so don't use anything that you're not willing to risk ruining. Push the filter into the glove or pad and twist the lens gently. The problem with filter wrenches is they pinch the threads which sometimes binds everything up.

We've done the broken glass trick before too, but we usually only do that if the glass was broken during the initial impact. Also I don't ever remember after to do it to a $1500 lens either. With a little patience and effort you should succeed.
Good Luck!
Steve H

I would recomend you send it to Nikon for an exam. I dropped my D100 and two weeks the shutter failed. Good luck.

Bimo said:

Well, I guess everybody has their first time. This was mine. I
dropped my camera, finally. I was going to – long story – anyway
my camera is fine, thank you.
I kicked it before it hit the floor. Though I made it like an
expensive ball, my camera still works with not a single scratch but
my L37c filter ring is damage so bad I cannot take it off. I wanted
to just smash the filter and bend the ring but afraid to hurt the
front element of my lens.

Does anybody have any idea how I can replace the filter without
damaging the filter thread or the lens? It is an AF-S 17-35mm I am
worrying about.

Any ideas at all would be much appreciated.

With warm regards,
Bimo.

Click to expand...

Steve makes a very good point, the harder we try unscrewing a filter the more pressure we put on it to force it out of round and bind even more. That is why the filter removers that wrap around the filter work so well. Having nothing more to work with, I have at times pushed the face of the filter against the sole of a rubber heal on my shoe and backed it out. Think in your case a rubber lid remover would be the best you can do before going to a camera shop.
Good luck
Jim

Steve said:

Bimo,
You might try this. We do it all the time at our store. Take the
lens off the camera and find a rubber glove or something similar.
Maybe a fabric type mouse pad might work too. If this works you'll
probably damage the glove or pad so don't use anything that you're
not willing to risk ruining. Push the filter into the glove or pad
and twist the lens gently. The problem with filter wrenches is they
pinch the threads which sometimes binds everything up.
We've done the broken glass trick before too, but we usually only
do that if the glass was broken during the initial impact. Also I
don't ever remember after to do it to a $1500 lens either. With a
little patience and effort you should succeed.
Good Luck!
Steve H

Click to expand...

--------------------------------------------------------------

Bimo said:

Well, I guess everybody has their first time. This was mine. I
dropped my camera, finally. I was going to – long story – anyway
my camera is fine, thank you.
I kicked it before it hit the floor. Though I made it like an
expensive ball, my camera still works with not a single scratch but
my L37c filter ring is damage so bad I cannot take it off. I wanted
to just smash the filter and bend the ring but afraid to hurt the
front element of my lens.

Does anybody have any idea how I can replace the filter without
damaging the filter thread or the lens? It is an AF-S 17-35mm I am
worrying about.

Any ideas at all would be much appreciated.

With warm regards,
Bimo.

Click to expand...

I just looked at my AFS 17-35 with the L37c filter on it.

Based on my measurements with a ruler, I would say that the maximum clearance between the front element and the filter is 1/8 inch and occurs at zoom 25 mm. The minimum clearance occurs at zoom 17 mm where the front element almost touches the filter.

First off, let me say I'm glad to hear the camera is still functioning! Last week I dropped my CP4500 and the outcome was a bit less favorable. It fell from six feet and hit the tile floor with a horrible thud. This was my first digital camera and I only had it for three weeks prior to this happening. Needless to say I was very upset with myself for dropping it. Now, when I turn the camera on it makes a humming noise and the lens doesn't move at all (even while on full auto). Being new to cameras I may not be explaining that correctly. The part that moves back and forth behing d the lens doesn't move, but I can hear the motor constantly running. It won't even shut off using the power switch. In order to turn the power off I have to take out the battery. Oh, and guess who didn't bother with a protection plan :-(

Well, now I have another CP4500 (with the protection plan!) and I'm going to send the broken one to Nikon and see how much it will be to fix it. Assuming it's not too much money, my brother will be getting his first digital camera when it's repaired.

Other than internal parts nothing was harmed on the exterior. I can't find a single scratch on the whole thing, and the lens is fine as well!

Good luck with the filter ring Bimo. I hope everrything works out for you.

Angelo78

Bimo said:

Well, I guess everybody has their first time. This was mine. I
dropped my camera, finally. I was going to – long story – anyway
my camera is fine, thank you.
I kicked it before it hit the floor. Though I made it like an
expensive ball, my camera still works with not a single scratch but
my L37c filter ring is damage so bad I cannot take it off. I wanted
to just smash the filter and bend the ring but afraid to hurt the
front element of my lens.

Does anybody have any idea how I can replace the filter without
damaging the filter thread or the lens? It is an AF-S 17-35mm I am
worrying about.

Any ideas at all would be much appreciated.

With warm regards,
Bimo.

Click to expand...

This might be ovious and so you may have thought of it. But I have in my kitchen a rubber lid remover that I use to remove tight lids on jars. I have also used this to remove tight filters to great success. But you have alread thought of this.

dave