Super Symmar XL 110 (filter size)

[shaman]

Schneider recommends using an EW filter for this lens since the front lens eleme nt is too close and may be damaged by a regular size 67 filter. Bob Solomon (if I recall correctly) suggested to use Heliopan filter, cause they are spaced a li ttle further from the filter thread. Has anyone actually tried this and found th at indeed you can use Heliopan filters without damaging the Schneider lens?

Are there 67-67 "step-up" rings? Since all my other lenses have 67mm thread, I'd like to stay with that filter size if possible. Thanks!

[Trevor Crone]

Andreas:I found on my 110XL that if you screwed the Heliopan filter(which is wha t I normally use on all my lenses)all the way home it did seem to just touch the front element,it clearly does on my 47XL.So to get round this I removed the gla ss filter from an old 67mm Hoya and use it as a spacing ring between lens and fi lter.The 110XL has such a large image circle on 45 that you should not encounter any vignetting with this set-up. All the best,Trevor.

[paul owen]

Andreas, luckily I realised the filter "problem" prior to using a 67mm filter on my 110xl. I got around the problem by using a 67-77mm step-up ring. If you want to stick to your 67mm filters one solution would be to take an old/used 67mm and remove the glass, you should then be left with a 67-67mm step-up ring. It may be worth a try!! Or if you were brave enough to leave the front element unprotected you could try using rear mounted 52mm filters!! Best of luck Paul

[Bob Salomon]

" Or if you were brave enough to leave the front element unprotected you could try using rear mounted 52mm filters!!"

And put up with focus shifts and degradation if anything is on the filter.

[shaman]

Great idea - I think I will sacrifice one of my older 67mm filters. Perhaps a silly question; how does one remove the glass in a "clean" way???

[paul owen]

I've had a look at some of my filters and they appear to have a very thin metal retaining strip where the glass meets the inner filter rim. I should imagine that removing this first should let you "pop" the glass out fairly cleanly. ***re; using a rear filter,I was not aware that they cause such problems - many apologies!! (you learn something new every day!!) Paul

[shaman]

Thanks Paul, it worked beautifully - I popped off the retaining ring holding the filter glass and could simply take it out.

[Michael S. Briggs]

Of the filters that I have tried, B&W Extra Wide are the best for this lens. However, I have found regular B&W 67 mm filters to fit without touching the front glass, although the clearance is very small. One of the regular filters doesn't cause vignetting on 4x5 unless you use extreme movements. A regular polarizier is more likely to cause problems. The Extra Wide filters should never cause vignetting.

The one regular Heliopan filter that I tried did contact the glass of the lens.

Some cheap filters won't even screw onto the lens because the thickness of the filter threads needs to be small to prevent interference with the lens retaining ring.

Making a 67 to 67 spacer ring from an excess filter would work, but be sure to check for vignetting at the maximum lens rise that you would use.

My test procedure: be sure the glass is clean. Place a piece of lens tissue between the lens and filter and slowly screw the filter on, observing whether the tissue is free to move. Alternative procedure: breath on both lens and filter to cause moisture to condense (esp. in the centers), then VERY slowly screw on the filter. If the two layers of condensation touch, they become transparent instead of having a milky light-scattering appearence. If you see this, don't screw on the filter any further because the glass would contact.

The 110 mm Super-Symmar XL is a wonderful lens, but I don't think Schneider thought through the filter situation. Extending the front of the barrel by a fraction of a mm would have allowed use of regular filters.

[Trevor Crone]

Andreas:If using an old filter as a spacing ring causes vignetting another solut ion is to use the screw-in retaining ring found on certain filters like TOKO.The ring is only about 1mm thick and must be a screw-in type and not just a spring clip.You carefully screw it into the lens as if you were screwing on a filter(do not overtighten)then simply screw on the filter you want to use,and your filter should then sit comfortably from the front element,although they must be deep t hreaded filters like those made by Heliopan and B+W otherwise they wont screw on to the lens.I had to use this method on my 47XL because this lens just covers 45 and a 67mm filter holder caused vignetting. Regards, Trevor.