Guy Mancuso
Administrator, Instructor
I bought the VC 15mm III a little time ago and I love this lens on the A7RII body but what always bugged me was this fixed hood. The lens itself take a 58mm thread but its buried inside this hood and a little tough to deal with. But more important the hood really has no effect outside of maybe protecting the lens element. Which is great but I really do not want it and want to use bigger filters that match my Batis 25 and 85 which are 67mm. I want a new combo of hood because i rarely use front lens caps as i always have my hoods on. Less caps to deal with but I also want to use 1 size ND filters , Polarizers or graduated filters so 67mm will work on all three lenses plus anything smaller than 67mm with a step down adapter .
So here is the stock image of the hood. I put in red lines on where i want to cut the Petals . Im trying to go as flat as possible becuase I will be putting a 58mm to 67mm step up ring and want it to be as flush to the lens as possible.
So here is what I am after on the cut
So in prepping the lens I taped everything off and I had a old lens cap that I taped down to protect the glass and the filter threads . Than I used a Dremel with a cut off blade and just cut each petal off. Now as far as this setup it worked but I have a better idea which I did after the cut . Get two 58mm filters get cheap ones they will get ruined. But screw in two filters throw a lens cap on and you can cut right to those filters without any damage to the lens filter threads and the glass.
Here is what I did initially
But if your going to do this look at this and I much prefer to see folks use this idea instead as its much safer on the cut , the grinding and the wire brushing.
So just imagine the Petals are still in place here
Notice the one filter thread you see under the tape having these two filters in place stops you from going into the glass area and protects the lens threads themselves. I did okay with the above setup but I recommend this more
Here you can see after the cut what the lens looks like and the setup
Where I got in trouble was with the wire brush. I had the two filters in place and lens cap which protected the lens itself but I did not put gaffers tape on the area where the white dot sits and when I used the wire brush it slipped to the sides and buffed it up . That was my one fatal mistake . So take gaffers tape right up to the cut than use the Dremel with the wire brush and if you slip than your only hitting tape. Its not as bad as it sounds. I just need to paint that now
Couple more shots after the cut, grinding and wire brushing
Now the whole idea here is the area that has been cut , and such will never be seen becuase I will be screwing down the 58-67mm step up ring and frankly folks i won't be taking it off either. It will become a permanent piece so I am screwing it down very tightly and you will see why in a minute.
No wi used a Sharpie Enamel Paint and it worked great except its glossy so in this area which does not get seen I don't really care but Testers Has a Black Enamel Matte paint that Im going to fix the sides with where I buffed it up. It has the gloss on it now and don't look to bad but I'm going to repaint that part. Bunch of images coming
Here you can see the 58 to 67mm step up ring in place PLUS one 67mm empty filter ring. Why this you ask well its my new hood. Together with the step up and one filter ring I now have a new hood in place. To use filters without vignetting I just remove the one filter ring and replace with a ND filter lets say. I get a hood and i get to use 67mm filters
Now with one filter ring removed I can use the polarizer
At the moment I am using my Batis lens cap until a Push on cap gets here
Link to Push on lens Cap. Its 67mm but it fits over the filter so it is really 70mm
B+W Slip-On Lens Cap #305 for 67mm Slim-Line Filter 65-014141
So here is where I will repaint with the Matte paint, its just too shiny for me. See arrow that band around lens. This is my fault I did not tape that off when using the wire brush and I slipped.
So there you have it. Now let me add something here on options. I am choosing to have that extra 67mm empty thread ring as more of a hood before it hits any Vignetting so right there its all clear. But I do have to take that empty ring off to use a filter. You do not have to have that empty 67mm filter ring there if you do not want it You can go step up ring only if you want and you could use a Lee filter system for 67, 72 or 77 depending how big you really want to go. Im happy with 67mm as it keeps the look of the lens nice and small and I like the Extra filter ring there as the hood. The 58-67 is not that big a jump with regards to size and it looks pretty dang cool too.
One thing I did do is screw down the adapter ring down pretty tight so when i grab that extra ring to take off for filter needs it just unscrews very easy than pop on whatever filter I want.
Also you do not have to even keep the step up ring on but it does hide all the conversion stuff and looks very clean with the ring on. You have some options to decide here. This is just my choice
So here is the stock image of the hood. I put in red lines on where i want to cut the Petals . Im trying to go as flat as possible becuase I will be putting a 58mm to 67mm step up ring and want it to be as flush to the lens as possible.
So here is what I am after on the cut
So in prepping the lens I taped everything off and I had a old lens cap that I taped down to protect the glass and the filter threads . Than I used a Dremel with a cut off blade and just cut each petal off. Now as far as this setup it worked but I have a better idea which I did after the cut . Get two 58mm filters get cheap ones they will get ruined. But screw in two filters throw a lens cap on and you can cut right to those filters without any damage to the lens filter threads and the glass.
Here is what I did initially
But if your going to do this look at this and I much prefer to see folks use this idea instead as its much safer on the cut , the grinding and the wire brushing.
So just imagine the Petals are still in place here
Notice the one filter thread you see under the tape having these two filters in place stops you from going into the glass area and protects the lens threads themselves. I did okay with the above setup but I recommend this more
Here you can see after the cut what the lens looks like and the setup
Where I got in trouble was with the wire brush. I had the two filters in place and lens cap which protected the lens itself but I did not put gaffers tape on the area where the white dot sits and when I used the wire brush it slipped to the sides and buffed it up . That was my one fatal mistake . So take gaffers tape right up to the cut than use the Dremel with the wire brush and if you slip than your only hitting tape. Its not as bad as it sounds. I just need to paint that now
Couple more shots after the cut, grinding and wire brushing
Now the whole idea here is the area that has been cut , and such will never be seen becuase I will be screwing down the 58-67mm step up ring and frankly folks i won't be taking it off either. It will become a permanent piece so I am screwing it down very tightly and you will see why in a minute.
No wi used a Sharpie Enamel Paint and it worked great except its glossy so in this area which does not get seen I don't really care but Testers Has a Black Enamel Matte paint that Im going to fix the sides with where I buffed it up. It has the gloss on it now and don't look to bad but I'm going to repaint that part. Bunch of images coming
Here you can see the 58 to 67mm step up ring in place PLUS one 67mm empty filter ring. Why this you ask well its my new hood. Together with the step up and one filter ring I now have a new hood in place. To use filters without vignetting I just remove the one filter ring and replace with a ND filter lets say. I get a hood and i get to use 67mm filters
Now with one filter ring removed I can use the polarizer
At the moment I am using my Batis lens cap until a Push on cap gets here
Link to Push on lens Cap. Its 67mm but it fits over the filter so it is really 70mm
B+W Slip-On Lens Cap #305 for 67mm Slim-Line Filter 65-014141
So here is where I will repaint with the Matte paint, its just too shiny for me. See arrow that band around lens. This is my fault I did not tape that off when using the wire brush and I slipped.
So there you have it. Now let me add something here on options. I am choosing to have that extra 67mm empty thread ring as more of a hood before it hits any Vignetting so right there its all clear. But I do have to take that empty ring off to use a filter. You do not have to have that empty 67mm filter ring there if you do not want it You can go step up ring only if you want and you could use a Lee filter system for 67, 72 or 77 depending how big you really want to go. Im happy with 67mm as it keeps the look of the lens nice and small and I like the Extra filter ring there as the hood. The 58-67 is not that big a jump with regards to size and it looks pretty dang cool too.
One thing I did do is screw down the adapter ring down pretty tight so when i grab that extra ring to take off for filter needs it just unscrews very easy than pop on whatever filter I want.
Also you do not have to even keep the step up ring on but it does hide all the conversion stuff and looks very clean with the ring on. You have some options to decide here. This is just my choice
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) i would chuck the petal end in a lathe and carefully part off making a perfectly straight cut, holding the lens the entire time with my hand. about a 2 minute operation
