Possible to fix?

[MadFor3D]

Its bent. Every so slightly. The front lens attachment ring? I tried screwing in my new UltraWideIII lens to my Nizo 4080, and it wont screw on straight. It will screw on, but askew. I tried a metal lens cap. It does the same. Looking at it, I can see that its bent inward on one side just enough to make it an imperfect circle. This appears to be the only thing wrong with my camera. Can this be fixed?

I guess its usable, but it worries me that using it like it is might make matters worse somehow.

Thanks,

Madrone


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[Alex]

You have to be very careful when you do this, but there is a fix.

a soft piece of wood about half-a foot to one foot long placed into the dented part of the inside of the lens ring, you gently tap the wood with a hammer. (footnote# a round wooden dowel, the diameter of a 1/4 inch to 1/3 inch should do the trick)

You have to be careful to isolate the shock to the inside dented part of the lens ring only, the soft wood helps this immensely. (perhaps harder wood is okay to)

I'm not sure how you hold the camera when you do this, but my tech guy fixed this exact problem on one of my cameras.

I believe the key is to "brace" the outside of the lens barrel/focus element against a solid/surfact (perhaps another piece of wood) while you simultaneously tap the internal dented part with the soft piece of wood.

What you want to avoid at all costs is hitting the lens and having the "jolt" go to the base of the lens. The force of the "tap" must remain only at the point where the wood hits the internal part of the threaded ring.

by using soft wood, you avoid damaging the thread while simultaneously reshaping the internal ring, by properly bracing the camera, the "force" of the "tap" is isolated to that one small area.

check the ring after a tap or two to see if you are in fact reshaping the ring.

Good Luck.

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Alex



[This message has been edited by Alex (edited October 10, 2001).]

[MadFor3D]

Hmmm,

That makes sense. Soft wood so it won't damage the threads, because your saying to hold the wood over the bent part on the inside threaded part... where its bent inwards, and hit it out again. Right?

Thanks Alex.

-Madrone

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[mattias]

hammer? ouch! i'd rather use a pair of pliers. make sure you put something soft between them and the threads though.

/matt

[MadFor3D]

Yikes, both of those ideas sound a bit scary to me. I'm going to take them into careful consideration, next time I look at it.

Seems like one of them should work.

Thanks,

Madrone



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[crimsonson]

DONT USE PLIERS. Pliers are made of harder steel and what happens when a harder object comes in contact with a softer element? The softer element will either brakes, scrtch or chip!!!

I suggest in bringing it to a local photo store.

I seriously doubt any homebrewed system will actually correct the threading. Lens barrels are made of soft steel, I do not know of a barrel in any of 16/S8 made of Titanium (which also chips) or any modern steel.

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[Alex]

If you bring it to a local photo store, ask that they do it while you wait, and while you watch, if they demure, it means they don't want you to see how easy it is to do.

Homebrewed my arse.


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Alex

[Alex]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 8th Man:
The guy at Focus Optics in the valley was ablt to fix one of my c-mount lenses where the thread porton had been bent to the point where it could not be mounted. Now it's fine.
Is it worth taking to a lens specialist?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'd be willing to make a bet there is no other way to do it than the way I mentioned.

The piece of wood should be a beveled dowell shape, not too large in diameter, (under 1/2 inch) and between 1/2 foot to a foot long.

Then just put it right on the spot that needs to be adjusted and just tap away...making sure you absorb the shock of the taps so it doesn't travel to the lens or lens mount area.

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Alex

[mattias]

> Pliers are made of harder steel and what happens when a harder object comes in contact with a softer element?

that's why i suggested the use of a softer material between the pliers and the threads.

/matt

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[Alex]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mattias:
hammer? ouch! i'd rather use a pair of pliers. make sure you put something soft between them and the threads though.

/matt<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The hammer never touches the lens, only the soft wood. The shock is isolated to the inside of the threads, by bracing the outside of the lens element against another sturdy surface, the shock is reabsorbed by that surface and does not travel to any other part of the lens.

My tech guy fixed the inner thread of my lens with this technique. And you tap the wood, you don't hammer it.

By wood I mean a wood dowell, not to thick, just wide enough to cover the indented area only...the length of the wooden dowell should be between 1/2 foot to 1 foot long.

Art's and Crafts Stores sell a wood dowell that is perfect for this purpose. It has a metal point on one end, I think it used for clay modeling, the other wooden end has a round and beveled edge to it.

That is the type of wood shape you need to use
to fix the dent on the inner thread. Of course, you will have to clip off the metal point on the opposite side otherwise you can't "tap" it properly with the hammer, or find a dowell that has the bevel but not the metal point on one end.

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Alex



[This message has been edited by Alex (edited October 10, 2001).]