Roland W wrote:
The extra 7 mm of diameter should in theory give about an additional 2.5 mm of available shift before problems show up, so consider that as you decide how to proceed.

Removing the adapter from the modified lens cap after it has been bonded on could be anything from easy to very hard, depending on how clean the surfaces were when you bonded it, and how much epoxy is actually holding things together. If it is "very easy", you probably do not want to use it that way in the field, so you might try flexing it and pulling on it to see if it comes apart. If it does, you can go for the modified metal ring. If it does not come apart easily, you will need to decide how much you want more shift. I would probably not recomend the removal of the inner metal ring while the lens cap part is still bonded on, but you may get away with it. The worst that may happen is that you damage the plastic cap portion, and need to get another one to modify.

I have noted that all the Lee Wide Angle adapters seem to have the same outer portion, with only the inner part being different for each adapter size. That means if you were modifying the adapter to remove the inner ring, you could start with any Wide Angle adapter that you have or that happened to be in stock. That had me realize that I have a Wide Angle adapter with a smaller size that I no longer need, so I will likely try to modify it, and keep my 82 mm Wide Angle adapters available for my two 82 mm wide angle lenses.

Update: I posted this while you were cutting your inner ring out, and missed the previous post. Thanks for being first at trying it, so that we all know it is fairly easy.

Or just leave it in the camera bag a year as I did with mine and the 2 part epoxy failed and the ring fell off in the bag.

My next attempt will be with a lens cap. You really need this adaptor. I was at Capitol Reef and absolutely needed a 17mm lens and a ND grad. But when I reached for the home made adaptor, I found the epoxy had failed. Next version will be with a lens cap, but I would like to find a machine shop to do it right and maybe attache the ring with screws.

I hardly ever need tilt with this lens, but often want shift. Vignetting is often solved by a crop as this wide angle is usually better in a pano crop..

Fred, can you now post a couple of pictures showing the trimming of the Lee holder and the modified ring? Thanks.

teuchter wrote:
Fred, can you now post a couple of pictures showing the trimming of the Lee holder and the modified ring? Thanks.

I recently posted a picture showing the set-up here:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1106753/1#10574554
Best,
Fred

Fred
Have you tried using a really strong ND filter with this set-up? I have on occasion used the Lee Big Stopper with my 17TSE and a filter holder made up of a bit of ventilation ducting and the Lee tandem adapter. I chose the tandem adapter as it had a larger aperture (84mm) than any of the lens adapter rings (I did this ages ago before seeing your post about modifying the 82mm one). However, I invariably get a bit of flare - I'm guessing through light leakage or internal reflections. Spraying the inside black may help with the latter, plus I'm not sure that the tandem adapter gives as tight a seal as a lens ring adapter...
It would be interesting to know if anyone's had success with such strong filtration with this lens.
Thanks, Lizzie

We really should make this thread sticky... And as we accumulate more useful threads like this one, maybe have a sub-forum for all the tips and tricks.

LizzieShepherd wrote:
Fred
Have you tried using a really strong ND filter with this set-up? I have on occasion used the Lee Big Stopper with my 17TSE and a filter holder made up of a bit of ventilation ducting and the Lee tandem adapter. I chose the tandem adapter as it had a larger aperture (84mm) than any of the lens adapter rings (I did this ages ago before seeing your post about modifying the 82mm one). However, I invariably get a bit of flare - I'm guessing through light leakage or internal reflections. Spraying the inside black may help with the latter, plus I'm not sure that the tandem adapter gives as tight a seal as a lens ring adapter...
It would be interesting to know if anyone's had success with such strong filtration with this lens.
Thanks, Lizzie

Hi Lizzie,
I have struggled with this as well.
First remember that the 82mm Lee adapter is a wide angle type ring and will give you more clearance that a non-WA larger diameter rings.
Regarding flare: This lens is a little prone to flare, especially when the sun is at around 180 degrees. You will see the flare on the LCD and it's easy to place your hand or a cardboard to block the light from either sides. However, I believe you are referring to flare caused by long exposure light leakage.
The 17mm TS-E lens cap is not 100% sealed when attached. One may not notice that when using the original lens cap but once opened to create this adapter you will see that it lets a very small amount of light come through its back.
With exposures up to 5 seconds, it won't be an issue but once you start using 6 or 10-stop ND filters and therefore longer exposures, it could be a problem. The solution I found most convenient is to use a head band or rubber band and wrap around the back of the adapter. That will block light 100% and I have tested it with 30 second exposures without seeing any light leakage on my pictures.
Fred

Thanks Fred
Yes I have both the w/a and standard 82mm rings and there's a huge difference. I'll need to buy another of the w/a ones if I want to try and replicate your holder - I do remember someone doing something similar a couple of years back but I resented the fact that a spare hood costs best part of £50 here if I recall and so I thought I'd do my own thing. I need to do some more work on it to see if I can get it more light tight, though I think I did try with a band at one point.
For normal flare problems I have a big bit of cardboard in my camera bag - easier to hold in the right place than my hand!
Anyway, more experimenting required but good to know it can be done. Below is an example from a couple of years ago - 95 sec exposure - only two relatively small problem areas here and quite easy to clone out in this instance, but not always the case! There was a reasonable amount of shift here too though I'm afraid I forget how much...

I have made a filter holder using the cap and a step down filter ring where you can screw in 82mm filters. I used Sing Ray Gold N Blue and Vari Nd Filter.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-2IqxYr71o&featu re=g-upl

Added a second video on how to make a filter holder using the TS-E 17mm lens cap and the Lee Foundation Filter Holder

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3pitu0xKN0&featu re=youtu.be

The Lee foundation filter did not have any vignetting at full Tilt and very feeble with 12mm shift...

Note: For the wide angle adapter I cracked the front rim and removed the extra lip. I almost got extra 12 mm clearance.

I am doing this mod now. I have the lens cap apart and need to cut apart the filter adapter, I am using a spare 77mmwa.

The question I have is how much do you need to cut off the hood? I am assuming you take it apart and remove the front end then put it back together without that piece. But the part that remains is too long.

I also looked at just using the piece that fits on the end of the lens, but it needs the inner piece to be able to latch. Or am I missing something?

I never found an English translation for the original article that Fred posted.

ben egbert wrote:
I am doing this mod now. I have the lens cap apart and need to cut apart the filter adapter, I am using a spare 77mmwa.

The question I have is how much do you need to cut off the hood? I am assuming you take it apart and remove the front end then put it back together without that piece. But the part that remains is too long.

I also looked at just using the piece that fits on the end of the lens, but it needs the inner piece to be able to latch. Or am I missing something?

I never found an English translation for the original article that Fred posted.


Here is Google Translate version of the article.

Fred Miranda wrote:
ben egbert wrote:
I am doing this mod now. I have the lens cap apart and need to cut apart the filter adapter, I am using a spare 77mmwa.

The question I have is how much do you need to cut off the hood? I am assuming you take it apart and remove the front end then put it back together without that piece. But the part that remains is too long.

I also looked at just using the piece that fits on the end of the lens, but it needs the inner piece to be able to latch. Or am I missing something?

I never found an English translation for the original article that Fred posted.



Here is a German-English translation using "systran".


Thanks Fred, a pretty rough translation. It seems to say the inner ring is a two part that can be split. But mine is a solid ring. No matter, going by the pictures, it needs to be cut down such that it is flush with the outer ring.

But another reading seems to talk about a saw, so I guess its time to break out a saw and cut and sand this thing. I wish I had a lath to do a proper job.

I hope my next epoxy job works better than the last. I really miss that adapter.

I finished my new holder and added images to my Smugmug galllery. I also did a write up but can't figure out how to put it in my SmugMug. As I recall it took me half a day to get the previous one up.

In short, it will work fine, but but may not provide as much shift as my old one which had the filter holder closer to the lens.

Anyway, Here is a link to the images.

http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/Utility/17TSE-lens-hood-adaptor/15776282_tWQXNF#!i=1855432676&k=dRdJxvq


And here is a link to the write up and drop box.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/77536572/New%20filter%20holder%20a.docx

Well looks like the link does not work. I suspect that converting a word doc into a jpg so I can upload it to SM will take more time than making the filter holder.

Ben, the link works fine for me on an iPad. I wonder if I ever get around to build this, laziness is a drag

Ben,
The inner ring is very easy to remove. This is something we discovered and it's not in the article. You will need to make a small cut on it though. After that, the inner ring comes apart. See my description here:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1081875/1#10335991



Also, you should have used a Lee 82mm WA ring instead of a 77mm.

Hi Fred.

I got the ring out pretty fast, but I had to make a third cut so that I had a small piece to wiggle out and then it fell apart. The ring was glued in pretty tight.

The 77 WA is the same as the 82WA after the cut. I had the 77 in my bag. I am using a Lee hood instead of the regular filter holder. It has a front thread for an 105mm filter that is the limiting thing for shift. I am going to buy a linear 4x4 polarizer and remove the ring at the front which will provide more shift.

My old adaptor got the filter closer to the lens. If I had a lath, I would have cut a bit off the outer ring and got the whole thing closer.

I found a good way to stow the adaptor. I just keep it attached to the hood which has a nice pouch.

My first outing after I built it I left it in my car. I had to hike to get to a solar eclipse location and carried my stuff in my vest. I thought I had everything, but the adaptor was still in the bag. After the eclipse, I had a great sunset and used the 17, but had to hand hold the ND grad. You get a great reflection of whatever is behind you on the front of the lens that way.

ben egbert wrote:
Hi Fred.

I got the ring out pretty fast, but I had to make a third cut so that I had a small piece to wiggle out and then it fell apart. The ring was glued in pretty tight.

The 77 WA is the same as the 82WA after the cut. I had the 77 in my bag. I am using a Lee hood instead of the regular filter holder. It has a front thread for an 105mm filter that is the limiting thing for shift. I am going to buy a linear 4x4 polarizer and remove the ring at the front which will provide more shift.

My old adaptor got the filter closer to the lens. If I had a lath, I would have cut a bit off the outer ring and got the whole thing closer.

I found a good way to stow the adaptor. I just keep it attached to the hood which has a nice pouch.

My first outing after I built it I left it in my car. I had to hike to get to a solar eclipse location and carried my stuff in my vest. I thought I had everything, but the adaptor was still in the bag. After the eclipse, I had a great sunset and used the 17, but had to hand hold the ND grad. You get a great reflection of whatever is behind you on the front of the lens that way.

Makes sense Ben.
I tried the Lee 105mm filter adapter and can confirm that it's not the way to go.
I use the Lee "4x4" Circular Polarizer Glass Filter" instead and love it. I am afraid that you may need the regular Lee Kit instead of the hood type in order to get that extra shift.

Best,
Fred

ben egbert wrote:

Thanks Fred, a pretty rough translation.

I agree, that translation was tough to read.
I replaced it with a Google Translate version:
Here.

Fred Miranda wrote:
ben egbert wrote:
Hi Fred.

I got the ring out pretty fast, but I had to make a third cut so that I had a small piece to wiggle out and then it fell apart. The ring was glued in pretty tight.

The 77 WA is the same as the 82WA after the cut. I had the 77 in my bag. I am using a Lee hood instead of the regular filter holder. It has a front thread for an 105mm filter that is the limiting thing for shift. I am going to buy a linear 4x4 polarizer and remove the ring at the front which will provide more shift.

My old adaptor got the filter closer to the lens. If I had a lath, I would have cut a bit off the outer ring and got the whole thing closer.

I found a good way to stow the adaptor. I just keep it attached to the hood which has a nice pouch.

My first outing after I built it I left it in my car. I had to hike to get to a solar eclipse location and carried my stuff in my vest. I thought I had everything, but the adaptor was still in the bag. After the eclipse, I had a great sunset and used the 17, but had to hand hold the ND grad. You get a great reflection of whatever is behind you on the front of the lens that way.

Makes sense Ben.
I tried the Lee 105mm filter adapter and can confirm that it's not the way to go.
I use the Lee "4x4" Circular Polarizer Glass Filter" instead and love it. I am afraid that you may need the regular Lee Kit instead of the hood type in order to get that extra shift.

Best,
Fred


Ha, I already bought another 4x4 polarized and it was 4mm thick and would not fit. I returned it and found the Lee 4x4 which I will order when I return from a vacation.

I had considered that I may need the standard filter holder, but I sure do want a shade. I never see those flares until I am home. I mean those sneaky flares that you think are behind your back. The shade also helps some when in a light drizzle like at the coast. No help in rain though.

ben egbert wrote:

My first outing after I built it I left it in my car. I had to hike to get to a solar eclipse location and carried my stuff in my vest. I thought I had everything, but the adaptor was still in the bag. After the eclipse, I had a great sunset and used the 17, but had to hand hold the ND grad. You get a great reflection of whatever is behind you on the front of the lens that way.

I had considered that I may need the standard filter holder, but I sure do want a shade. I never see those flares until I am home. I mean those sneaky flares that you think are behind your back. The shade also helps some when in a light drizzle like at the coast. No help in rain though.



Its my experience that the 17 TSE lens will flare everytime sun hits the front element. Thus the requirement to shade it with the hand. There is a good reason there is no hood on this lens, the tilt or shift lens movements would require such a wide hood that its effectively no hood at all. Of course in practice we rarely use full tilt with this lens, but its the shift that seems to vignette more easily with Fred's lens cap adapter hood.
Mike K

For the Lee filter holder system, including the Lee lens hoods that have filter slots, remember that you can reconfigure the holder to accomodate 4mm filters by changing out the filter guides. You can put between one and three slots on Lee holders, and each slot can be for any of three different filter thicknesses, 1mm, 2mm, or 4mm. The Lee side guides, and various lengths of the special Lee screws, are all sold through various Lee dealers, including B&H Photo. Note that the screws are not a common thread size, so go ahead and get the Lee screws of the length you need.

For very wide angle lenses like the Canon 17mm TS-E described in this thread, it can be very helpful to change to just one slot on the Lee holder, to give you the best chance of nothing showing up in the image.