Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Purcellville, VA
    Posts
    1,785

    Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

    As one whose knowledge of practical machining would fit on the point-end of fine needle, I am asking an idle question. What would it take to measure and create a quality custom adapter filter ring in black at around 39mm? Cost and time. Could a qualified home machinist make, say 20 or 50 and offer at a reasonable cost (i.e., modest profit margin on a competitively-priced item)?

    My curiosity was recently peaked by acquisition of a limited-production Leitz lens (made for the Leica CL but fitting the M line), the 90mm f/4 Elmar-C. The filter ring was made with an evidently unique, or at least very esoteric, diameter and/or thread-pitch, so that a special adapter is needed, which, for similarly bizarre-seeming reasons, holds unthreaded Series 5.5 filters. (Why not just adapt to hold 39 or 40.5 mm filters?)

    After much back and forth over on the RangeFinder Forum and reviewing alternatives for this oddity, I chose to take the path of an experienced user who has used a 39mm filter for years with no ill effects. The filter threads in about a quarter turn, just enough to keep it in place (burden-free) and not push the mismatched threading into trouble. Works for me.

    In any case, having read one post by someone years ago who made his own adapter to a common threaded size, I wonder if one (meaning home machininst) buys a length (say, two feet?) of aluminum tubing that's close enough not to require thinning on a lathe, then slices individual rings from, then cuts the internal and external threads, and finishes them, or something like that.
    Philip Ulanowsky

    Sine scientia ars nihil est. (Without science/knowledge, art is nothing.)
    www.imagesinsilver.art
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/156933346@N07/

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    San Joaquin Valley, California
    Posts
    9,599

    Re: Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

    Gee, way back when High Schools offered Vocational Ed classes, you could have asked the machine shop teacher.
    How about "printing?"
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  3. #3
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2001
    Location
    Fond du Lac, WI, USA
    Posts
    8,954

    Re: Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

    I just had SK Grimes make a custom adapter for me. It works perfectly.
    “You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
    ― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Sep 1998
    Location
    Loganville , GA
    Posts
    14,409

    Re: Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

    Heliopan makes an extremely large range of brass adapter rings. Check this page:

    http://www.heliopan.de/wp-content/up...Preisliste.pdf

    Pages 12 to 16

  5. #5
    Jim Jones's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Chillicothe Missouri USA
    Posts
    3,065

    Re: Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

    "Reasonable cost" is the project killer of the home machinist's time is worth more than pennies per hour. Semi-skilled workers in basic machine shops overseas can afford to sell them postpaid anywhere in the World for a very few dollars if they know there is a market.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    332

    Re: Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

    I think Peter had the right idea-call SK Grimes.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Santa Barbara
    Posts
    1,376

    Re: Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

    I think they are 39mm, but the 'pitch' is different than regular filters. Tiffen used to make a whole slew of series filter adapters that 'pushed on' to the outside of the lens front.. maybe you can find one that will work in series 6

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Purcellville, VA
    Posts
    1,785

    Re: Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

    Thanks.
    As it turns out, the filter I ordered, a Himatt Fire-something, is internally threaded in front for 39mm, i.e., it's a regular 39/39 filter, which I mention because the ad indicated that there was no internal threading.

    It will do fine for now, though I probably will check with Grimes, just out of curiosity. Maybe they know the secret thread on this lens.
    Philip Ulanowsky

    Sine scientia ars nihil est. (Without science/knowledge, art is nothing.)
    www.imagesinsilver.art
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/156933346@N07/

  9. #9

    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    SooooCal/LA USA
    Posts
    2,802

    Re: Curious about creation of a custom filter adapter, what it would take

    The bean counters at Leica made the company make odd size filters so they could sell overpriced specific filters for individual lenses presumably to sell at top dollar prices... Some were threaded, some were series, but expensive...

    If you can find a scratched junk filter that size, you can probably remove the glass, screw the ring to the lens with maybe an old glassless 39mm filter ring bonded to it so you can screw a 39mm filter into that...

    This is the cheap, mad scientist way to do it...

    Steve K

Similar Threads

  1. GND filter holder adapter for 110mm filter size
    By Dwarak Calayampundi in forum Lenses & Lens Accessories
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 16-May-2013, 13:27
  2. I'm curious! Do you use UV filter in your LF lenses?
    By Joćo Francisco Mariano in forum Lenses & Lens Accessories
    Replies: 17
    Last Post: 15-Mar-2010, 19:04

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •