Help getting Tiffen 77 variable filter off B&W protective filter

HI,

Screwed my tiffen 77MM variable ND filter on top of a B&W protective F Pro filter that was protecting my 70-200. Now my issue is I took off the B&W filter from the lens but the Tiffen is locked on to the B&W and cannot take them apart. Any thoughts or ideas on how to separate them without too much damage? Thanks

Put a rubber band around the outside of the protective filter, that'll give you a better grip. You can also warm them gently with a blow dryer to expand the joint slightly.

If need be, there are also special plastic wrenches designed to remove these filters, giving you more leverage than you can possibly obtain from hand-turning pressure.

Thank you very much for that help and suggestion. Will see what I can do and report back the results. Thank you both!!!!!

Something that slips by a lot of folks when trying to remove stuck filters is the fact that if one uses only the thumb and a single finger (two-point contact with the filter), the force to hold onto the filter also is trying to change the shape of the filter ring to an oval. This actually makes the thread contact tighter (and thus making it harder to turn the filter) while the two-point pressure is applied.

A far better way to grip a filter is with the thumb and two fingers, evenly spacing the three contact points around the filter. This 3-point grip will not tighten the thread contact nearly as much as a two-point grip will, making it easier to remove a tight filter.

I like using a piece of the rubbery lace-like material that you put under throw rugs to keep them from sliding around. Use the throw rug material (available at any big box store) to get a good grip on both filters, I find palm-to-palm works well for applying pressure evenly.

Again, great ideas. I tried the rubber bands but had no luck, really stuck. Will give a try with the last two posts and see what happens. I did want to point out it is a variable filter so now attached to the B&W it is the center part that is not moving or coming off from the B&W. So envision three rings with the center one which is very tiny and hard to grip which need to come apart from the B&W. Not the outermost ring. The center ring has very little to grab on to so thus the problem with gripping it properly. The outer ring just keeps on turning.

You might also try the rubber jar openers. My preference is actually the lens wrenches below, which put circumferential pressure on the filters.

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Filter wrenches are the ticket. I've found the shelf liner handy for gripping some objects with stuck threads or slick surfaces like battery caps, jar lids, etc.

http://www.walmart.com …elect-Easy-Liner/16486841

Shelf liner looks very similar to the product I described, it's worked well every time i've needed to use it

Hmmm...brass (used by B+W) is not supposed to 'stick' to aluminum (used by Tiffen)! Is the B+W an perhaps it is one of the lower cost aluminum versions that apparently B+W makes for sale in the less economically blessed parts of the world (and it came into your hands to a grey market importer, and/or B+W does not make a low cost version at all and they are counterfiter manufactured)?

OP, how did you acquire the B+W, on the internet? And were prices there lower than B&H usual prices for same filter?!

As far I as know, the F Pro should be brass, and easy to separate from aluminum rings/lens barrels (of 40 years ago...does anyone use aluminum for lens barrels today?!)