Stuck filter on lens

My saga with the Quick Strap and the broken SB-800 did not end with fixing the SB-800 and purchasing a new SB-900. No, I just realized this morning that the drop inflicked even more damage than severing the SB-800. The Hoya Pro1 Digital glass UV filter I had screwed onto the Nikkor 18-200mm lens took a hit too. The glass was fine, but the filter ring got dented. Without the filter, I might have had to replace the lens too but now, it was well stuck to the lens. I tried many times to remove it by hand. As hard as I tried, it would not budge. I get only a sore hand.

Notice the dent on the filter ring? I tried all my might to untwist the filter. I used a rubber band around the filter but it was just stuck solid. I needed some more leverage. I read somewhere someone used a lens cap but I did try that too. My next course of action would be to buy this lens filter wrench from eBay:

It probably would work but I'd have to wait a good couple of weeks for it to arrive. I had to give the rubber band another try, but this time, teaming it up with the lens cap, this way:

There was enough surface for the rubber band to stay on the filter ring. I then applied the same amount of elbow grease as before, with one hand on the extended barrel and the other hand around the rubber band. Lo and behold, the filter started to move. I thought maybe it was the lens cap that moved, but no, the filter did!

(As it turned out, the filter ring got warped. The lens seemed to work completely fine, except for a slight heaviness in the zoom ring.)

SB-900 picked up

Ok, I got the SB-900 in my hands now, for $400. The SB-900 is a significantly larger than the SB-800. I like it that the flash surface is bigger--the larger the surface the smoother the shadows, but I really doubt the surface area increase will make any difference in practice.

Here is an image of the two flashes (source: http://www.nikonsb900.net/compare-vs-sb800/):

SB-900

I am going to pick up an SB-900 tomorrow morning if noone picked it up tonight. It is a second hand flash and that is good enough for me. I wonder if the SB-900 is really any better than the SB-800 though. Power-wise, the SB-800 beats everything else in the Nikon SB series. I like shooting long distance ...

SB800 Flash (part 2)

Well, the flash gun is in one piece now. Although the base of the head is not flush against the body, it works fine. Krazy Glue is holding up quite fine so far. I took the flash out today and walked around with it with the same Q-Strap setup I had on Friday, except without the hang grip.

In this photo, it is not obvious where the crack line is, but the crack runs left to right across the entire width of the flash gun. The crack is right under the capacitor housing compartment (that is the round barrel). There are also two other, shorter crack lines on the capacitor housing compartment.

SB800 Flash

I was horrified to see my camera drop to the floor today. I was shooting a conference at work so I decided to use the Q-Strap. It worked great the entire morning, then came lunch. I walked out of my office and turned a corner when I heard a big thunk. I looked down and was shocked to see my SB800 split in half. It broke the fall. The SB800 head was now connected to the body by a bundle of wires. The batteries fell out of the battery compartment and the door laid some distance away. I gathered the pieces together and put it away in my backpack. I was not happy the rest of the afternoon but I had to keep on shooting.

What happened? It was not because of the Q-Strap. It worked as it should. It was the hand grip I purchased for my old D80. The tripod mount was this cylindrical metal piece that fits tightly in a groove. The hand grip bottom part is hard plastic and it virtually impossible to pull the metal piece out by hand, but I guess with enough wiggling, it can come out, and it did.

Here, I re-inserted the tripod mount back into the groove:

Lesson learned. I hesitated to attach the Q-Strap to the hand grip. I should have listened to my instinct. I have to shop for a SB800 or an SB900 now. In the meantime, I'll take my Krazy Glue out.