Dear Fuji: Fewer filter sizes, please

Immanuel wrote:

Vic Chapman wrote:

Immanuel wrote:

Vic Chapman wrote:

Immanuel wrote:

The 35@1.4 works fine with a 49 mm filter. It also works fine with the 60 mm lens hood, if you don't use an OVF So if you have a hood for the 60 mm, you can even use bigger filters too
The 60 mm works fine with a 37 mm filter. And with a spacer and a step up ring, you can use large filters with it too.
The 18-55 works fine with a 52 mm filter.

The 18 mm has roughly 21 mm of the front glass exposed. It also works with smaller filters.
Those are the lenses I have actual experience with.

It's easy to say you can use the 60 with larger filters but that's where the practice doesn't work. I have a 39mm (no glass) as spacer which enables me to fit a step-up ring. Obviously, as the point of the exercise is to save buying more filters I get a step-up to fit the 58mm filters I use on my 14mm (my most used lens for IR). But then the hood won't fit over the filter or ring so I also buy a new 58mm hood. Basically the same for other lenses/filters even though I have IR in 3 sizes. I restricted myself to only buying ND filters in the largest (62mm) size but that then demands yet another lot of rings for 14mm and 60mm (58-62) and for 35mm f1.4 (52 - 62) and another hood for each of the 3 lenses - this time in 62mm.

Like I said - easy in theory - not so easy in practice. I have the step-up rings, filters and hoods to prove it.

Put the hood on before (some of) the rings. Just for the exercise, I managed to mount 67 mm filters on both my 60 mm and my 35 mm@1.4 while using the 60 mm lens hood.

60 mm lens
Attach 39 mm spacer
Attach 39-49-52 rings
Attach Lens hood
Join 52-55-58-62-67 mm rings
Attach the rings
Turn the lens upside down with one hand and sink it down on the 67 mm filter you hold with the tips of your fingers in you other hand (I have 2-3 mm nails, and that helps me not to touch the edge of the glass - which wouldn't be a problem anyway).
Turn the lens to screw in the filter (not too tight).

34@1.4 lens
Attach spacer or 52-49-52 rings
Attach Lens hood
Join 52-55-58-62-67 mm rings
Attach the rings
Turn the lens upside down with one hand and sink it down on the 67 mm filter you hold with the tips of your fingers in you other hand (I have 2-3 mm nails, and that helps me not to touch the edge of the glass - which wouldn't be a problem anyway, being so far out of the lens' field of view).
Turn the lens to screw in the filter (not too tight).
If the last procedure is difficult to you, you can attach step down rings in front of the filter before attaching it.

I use very light weight rings from Ranger http://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_odkw=rangers+step+rings&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xrangers+step+rings+37.TRS0&_nkw=rangers+step+rings+37&_sacat=0
Well, I actually bought the 49-77 set, so my 39-49 ring is a standard no-name thick one.

Are you kidding! You've just explained the problem better than me. What a palaver - that is not way to work and I have tried to fit stuff with the hoods fitted why only mention 2 lenses, one of which has a huge hood unlike any other Fuji lens? I can't even do it with the enormous 60mm lens hood let alone the smaller ones and I can safely say even you would not be able to do it with my hoods which are no bigger than than necessary. The 60mm has a hood same size as lens barrel and fairly long like all my hoods. I certainly wouldn't risk playing about with filters in the field (which is where the NDs, CPs and IRs are used). Getting fingers on the filters is a cert with any filter fitted the way you describe but that is the least of worries compared to dropping the things. Step-ups with filters are a way of saving a little money on filters but only with some combinations of lens/rings/filter/hood all of which have to travel every trip (about a dozen rings and half a dozen different hoods) on every trip because if you don't - you know the one ring/hood left behind is the one you need.

Step-ups work well between 2 lenses of fairly close filter size but once you include even one more lens filter size or a greater disparity in size between two you realise the limits and awkwardness of the idea - it doesn't work in practice.

Well, I am more of a one camera one lens kind of guy. And in any case, I tend to deal with this stuff before I leave home. However, If you go with 52 mm filters, they will work easily with a lot of Fuji lenses - without doing the stunt I just explained.

Damn me. After what I wrote about forgetting something with so many bits I arrived to shoot a prom this afternoon with no 52-58 step-up for my 35mm and no hood to fit it if I had. It was the first really bright day we've had for a while but I managed okay with 23mm f1.4 on XP1 and 60mm f2.4 on XT1 and just as I began shooting, very light cloud cover appeared to take the edge off the light so I didn't need to use ND filters and was free to use the 35mm with square hood.