rowan666•3d agoProlific Poster

That trick with the rubber band on a stuck filter ring saved me $60 on a new lens yesterday

I read a tip from a guy on a Pentax forum about wrapping a wide rubber band around the filter ring for grip, and it worked first try on a stubborn UV filter that hadn't moved in 3 years, so has anyone else found a weird trick that actually works?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylan_patel3d ago

Old hiking trick that works shockingly well - put the whole lens and filter in a ziplock bag and leave it in the sun for about 15 minutes. The heat expands the metal ring just enough to break the seal. Did this with a stuck circular polarizer that had been fused to a vintage Nikon 50mm for years and it spun right off.

wyatt_green2d ago

Gotta admit @dylan_patel, I used to think the ziplock sun trick was just some old wives' tale but you totally proved me wrong with that Nikon story. That's actually genius how the heat expansion does all the work without risking damage to the glass.

palmer.henry2d ago

That ziplock trick is pretty smart, I've done something similar with a sticky jar lid using hot water and it worked like a charm. It makes me think about how we overcomplicate fixes - like when people buy those expensive filter wrenches when a simple rubber band or some heat does the same thing. I've noticed it with other stuff too, like getting a stripped screw out with a rubber band works way better than buying a whole extraction kit. There's something satisfying about using stuff you already have lying around to fix a problem, even if it sounds a bit hacky at first.