UWA Lens Filter Holder

[Cage]

So I've bought a Samyang 12mm f2.8 for astro shots and I'd like to use a light pollution filter on it.

Apart from the fact that nobody offers a holder for it, yet, if ever, these types of holders, and the correspondingly large filters, are very expensive.

In my internet wanderings I came across this YouTube video of a 3D printed adapter for the lens that allows you to use circular filters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE5x02beOSY I'm trying to contact the guy to see where he had it done.

Does anyone know about 3D printing? Is it expensive for a one-of?

[J.davis]

I had one made up by a friend for my Tokina 16-28. Takes 100x100 or 150 filters. The filter adaptor kit sells on ebay, and you just use the filter mounting guides.

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Prior to that I got a piece of tube off ebay that the hood would fit in and adapted the eBay filter to it with glue.

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[Cage]

Thanks John.

Something to play around with.

[Tannin]

Nisi make a filter holder for the Canon 11-24, which offers a similar sort of challenge. I reckon that for the price they charge for that one, they'd probably be happy to custom-make one for your Samyang. And hand-deliver it by chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, of course.

[Cage]

Nisi make a filter holder for the Canon 11-24, which offers a similar sort of challenge. I reckon that for the price they charge for that one, they'd probably be happy to custom-make one for your Samyang. And hand-deliver it by chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, of course.

The Nisi 150mm filter is $369.00 plus $225.00 for a holder that would need adapting. At those prices I think they should toss the Roller in. :nod:

I'm about 120klm North of Sydney, as the crow flies, but I still get a light polluted horizon. The alternative is to either go west, or pick locations and subjects on the coast where I'm shooting South-East and away from coast and the light pollution.

[arthurking83]

I got a Nisi holder(150mm filter size) for the Sigma 12-24 a while back(maybe 6 months or so) ..
Cost a bit over $200 back then.

as far as price goes .. 100% worth it. Supremely high quality materials and design(I think!!).
all aluminium fittings and frame. rear biased light leakage is well covered(so reflections off inside of filter don't kill the image).
Nice quality plastic inner tube with protective felt lining so that it grips onto lens well but doesn't harm the lens' finish.

In terms of price/quality/design .. a heap better than the far more expensive Lee holder system(for the Nikon 14-24).
Lee's system has to be the painful PITA design I've seen and even if it were half the price of the Nisi gear .. I'd still go for the Nisi filter.

Only problem with it, is that I got the wrong holder(adapter)!!!
I accidentally got the adapter for the 12-24/4, whereas I have the old 12-24/4.5-5.6 lens ... so it doesn't fit (on my older 12-24 lens).
So my next step is to buy the 12-24/4 lens ;)

I think I've explained this before .. but the Samyang 14/2.8 filter holder is a lot more flexible than just a fit for the les it was designed for.
Did you have one, and or have you kept it?
I used to use mine on my Siggy 12-24 with good success.
Yeah... the Cokin filter size is a huge pain to deal with, but I adapted mine to fit 150mm filters.
All I did was remove the slides on each side, cut up some strips of aluminium, fitted them onto the filter holder where the slide used to fit and drilled holes on the Al strips to mount the two slides closer together to fit a 150mm filter instead.
Easy 1/2 hrs work(other than locating screws to fit).

I thought about making my own filter holders(similar to Jdavis' brown one), but if you don't make it with a shape that covers the filter fully, you can easily get light leaking(from behind the filter) that reflects back on the inside of the filter and you lose contrast in the shot .. or worse can get bad reflections.
I had the idea to size up some water pipe(eg. 90 or 100mm storm water piping) or whatever .. any decent hardware store has many sizes to suit.
It's just a matter of sizing up the inner diameter of the tube with the outer diameter of the lens.. add some felt to stop it chafing the lens and also take up any slack to that the tube sits nice and steady on the lens.
And you can get many well sized and shaped water pipe to drain fittings that can be the right size and shape for a square reflection guard for the rear of the filter .. add some sliding things for the filters to slide .. etc.

All it takes is a tube of araldite or other strong epoxy and some trial and error.

For the kind of money you'd pay for someone to 3D print you something, you're better off getting a well made ready made thing .. or cobble one up with the parts I described above from your local hardware.

I'll get you a link to a 3D printing site I bought soem bits for my car from. Can't remember it, nor bookmarked it, but I know I have the emails to a from them about the item I bought.(just take a while for me to search for them).

.. actually! no! I found it instantly(coz I'm a Nazi when it comes to filing emails away .. and it's almost autistic level fanaticism)

Site called Shapeways (https://www.shapeways.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_piTsq_S1wIVAYC9Ch1SWQZgEAAYASAAEgIQefD_BwE)

[Cage]

All I did was remove the slides on each side, cut up some strips of aluminium, fitted them onto the filter holder where the slide used to fit and drilled holes on the Al strips to mount the two slides closer together to fit a 150mm filter instead.
Easy 1/2 hrs work(other than locating screws to fit).

Yep, I still have the Samyang 14mm holder, so I think that's the way to go Artie.

I can pick up a genuine Samyang lens hood for about $40.00 (I'll keep the original for when I'm not using the holder) and attach it to the holder.

Did you get any vignetting with your set-up? And my neighbour is an engineer so the mod to bring the holder width back to 150mm should be a breeze.

Cheers

[arthurking83]

....

Did you get any vignetting with your set-up? And my neighbour is an engineer so the mod to bring the holder width back to 150mm should be a breeze.

Cheers

The filter holder had to be slid onto the lens(built in hood type) to a specific point close enough to the front element so that it didn't vignette, but not close enough so that the filter(inside face) didn't rub on the lens' hood.

I have a plan to add a dollop of epoxy onto the filter holder to act as the stop point for the holder so it was quicker and easier to slide it on without the need to finesse where to fit it(at the right spot).

Can't remember exactly if it gets mechanical vignetting at 12mm with a lot of rotation of the holder but as the entire holder needs to be rotated and not having hard stops for the holder to rest on the front of the lensit's hard to quantify properly.
Because I use only grad filters you would get vignetting of course as the lens and filter at the extreme corners had the light coming in at extreme angles. But mounted carefully I could set it so that I got no mechanical vignetting.

With the lens orientated at 90°, ie. portrait orientation .. it was a lot harder to get any vignetting at all.

Not long after the new Sigma 12-24/4 came out I basically decided to get one ASAP! :th3: seems a very good update from the old one I have.
Problem is finding the time to do any photography at all .. so it's all taken a bit of a back seat.
When I get more time to get back into it all again(soon! :confused013) all this hacking about with the holder for the old Sigma will be redundant in the end as I'll definitely get myself the f/4 lens to play with(as I already have the filter holder for it).

Did have the time(more accurately I MADE the time) a few months back to get out for a bit of a wander and my last effort with the above lens and holder was this image:

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/dbtgallery.php?do=gallery_image&id=3791&gal=gallery&type=full
Note the very slight vignette at the top LH corner. That was my stuff up.
I took lots of time to setup camera/lens, zoomed to 14mm for framing(some clutter on the left and a half a tree on the right, I zoomed out of the composition) setup the filter holder just right, switched to liveview adjusted the filter a little vertically but that adjustment knocked the holder out of whack a mm or so and I got that small vignette in the corner as a result. Only saw it at home on the PC later. Thought about cloning or cropping it out but I'm too lazy for that kind of editing malarkey! :p
Serves as a reminder for next time I'm out there!.

The mod to get the filter holder width to 150mm is easy.
The harder part is a half decent mod to make the stoppers so that the holder sits squarely on the lens .. which is the really hard part to setup .. and also to sit as close to the front element without having the filter touch the lens or element(ie. scratching).