PDA

View Full Version : Lee Lens Adapters - permanent mounting ?



Ron Bose
14-Sep-2003, 18:35
Just wanted to thank everyone involved in this forum, I could not imagine getting into LF without the knowledge, enthusiasm and help from the members of this 'community', anyways on to the question ...

I've read many threads discussing the woes of Schneider and Rodenstock lenscaps, especially on the new XL range where the front elements are very convex.

Now, many of us use Lee filters, so if we were to keep the adapter rings mounted full time to our lenses, and if Lee could make a standard lenscap which would fit their standard ring, then we'd be all set, right ?

I'm on the verge of asking S.K.Grimes to fabricate a number for me, so I wanted to find out if anybody had other solutions ? Is there anything else out there which we could use as lenscaps on Lee adapter rings ?

Cheers, Ron

Jason Greenberg Motamedi
14-Sep-2003, 19:49
One solution, although it is a bit clumsy, is to use snap-on lenscaps with the Lee Adaptors. The regular (but not the wide angle) Lee adaptors have threads on them, so a snap-on lenscap will work nicely. One problem with this set-up is that the adaptors are pretty large and clumsy.

Julio Fernandez
14-Sep-2003, 22:22
I was thinking of that myself but gave up the idea. One problem with the permanently mounted ring is the polarizer. The round pola on the front of the kit is no solution as it eliminates the hood. Of course if you can use a compendium hood instead of Lee's that is OK but to users that want to take advantage of the adaptability of the Lee system on several of their cameras that is not a solution as compendium hoods that attach to the camera body are not available for all cameras. What would you do with a Nikon? I've come to the conclusion that the permanently mounted Lee ad ring is not a practical option. I might want or not want to use a polarizer in which case the ring should be mounted on the polarizer instead of the lens. Thus, the ring must be unmounted until ready for use and the lens cap on the lens or the filter. Turning the pola will turn the kit, other filters and the hood but that can be avoided by first setting the pola to the position required and attaching the add-ons to the ring afterward.

Thilo Schmid
14-Sep-2003, 23:45
Depending on your gear, Lee adapter rings would be a rather expensive solution, IMO. Isn't there any aftermarket supplier of metal or hard-plastice lens caps?

Doug Dolde
15-Sep-2003, 00:15
The Filter Connection sells Schneider caps in all sizes.

http://www.2filter.com/welcometo.html

Bill Jefferson
15-Sep-2003, 03:47
Ron,

I had S.K. Grimes make me an adapter for my 12" Commercial Ektar lens, Compleyely satisifyed with the adapter, Thats the only way to go for me.

Bill

Ron Bose
15-Sep-2003, 13:00
Just to add some background, I wouldn't actually buy Lee adapters just because they'd provide a good lens cap solution, no.

I use my Lee filters all of the time and find it a pain to mount and unmount them each time I use them. If I could keep them on all the time and have something to keep dust off the front element then I'm killing two birds with one stone.

I just measured the Lee adapter (guess I should have done that first) and it looks like it might accept a 77mm snap-in lens cap ...

Thanks for all your help so far ...

Bruce M. Herman
16-Sep-2003, 00:19
If you were to use standard step-up rings, and they don't have to be expensive, you could set up all or at least many of your lenses to use the same size filters and end caps, say 77 mm for example. Then you could 1) purchase several lens caps of the same size that would work for all of you lenses, 2) you would need only one 77 mm Lee adapter for all of those lenses, and 3) you could also work with one polarizer or even one set of glass filters for all of these lenses. I've done this myself to bring all of my lenses to 67 mm with the exception of my 90 mm f5.6, whose front filter size is so large (82 mm) that I chose to leave it on its own. I must admit that I've put some pretty cheap step-up rings on some nice lenses, but it has no impact on the image quality!

Bruce

Richard Fenner
28-Sep-2003, 02:01
Late, but maybe someone doing an archive search will find it.

Some people in the UK use Haagen-Dazs lids, which usually need to be dipped in hot water first to give them the flexibility to go onto the adapters.

Not a bad excuse to buy half a dozen tubs of ice-cream!