Need help with my Polarizer!!

Please help!! I forgot to take off my polarizer on my lens and it's only been on for about 2-3 weeks. Now I am trying to unscrew it, but no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't come off!!! My fingers are chaffing like crazy! I am afraid I'll ruin the lens.

Has anyone had this problem before? Any advise? Please help! Thank you.

I appreciate your frustration since I've had similar problems. I have a thin, wide angle polarizer that is especially prone to binding. But I haven't needed to resort to a hammer and chisel, yet.

I wonder if the camera repair shops have a special tool to better grip the filter edge. ???

I haven't needed it yet, but I'm wondering if one of these small strap wrenches would work?
http://www.epinions.com/content_87880994436

Take a rubber band, and put it around just the polarizer ring and try unscrewing then.

I just bought something called a 'Filter Wrench' at B&H (item #GBFW6277). You could try ordering that as well.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

I had a similar problem recently and the rubber band technique worked for me.

I've used a filter wrench before and it's worked fine for this type of situation.

Try pushing the filter against the CLEAN rubber bottom of a tennis shoe (or any soft rubber surface) and rotating the lens. The filter should be parallel to the bottom of the shoe. Amazing how well this works. Many times the filter won't come off because you are sqeezing it into an oval shape when you grip it.

Was this filter installed when the ambient temp was warmer/colder? The coefficient of thermal expansion of the filter is probably different from that of the lens. If you can figure out a way to warm the lens while cooling the filter that'd be ideal. If you can't do that, then you might try getting the whole thing cooled down and then try some of the tips mentioned above. Good luck!

Ditto on what George said!

When I have a filter stuck to my lens I am usually always able to get it off but unscrewing with a very gentle touch. It seems counterintuitive, but always seems to work. Hope you get the thing off!

I'll bet a strap wrench, which I'll bet is just a generic filter wrench that can be bought at sears, would probably be able to zip that filter right off.

Latex rubber cleaning gloves, maybe?

This also sounds silly but several times I've actually turned to tighten it further then tried to loosen it and it worked every time.

Holy Cow!! After more skin coming off my fingers, I tried the rubber band idea because I had one close by, and it worked!!!! Still had to put up a good fight though. From now on I'll carry a rubber band with me in my kit. If that fails, I can use the bottom of my shoe. But let's hope I won't have to go through that again.

I was in the desert last time I used it and it was windy as hell, so I think some loose grain of sand got it to the groove.... Maybe...

Thank you everyone!

I'll third(?) the gentle approach. I have issues with filters on my 80-400VR - especially my polarizer - and the gentlest touch is usually the best. I usually wind up struggling with it before backing off and just being patient.