> Myself, and others have performed flange-ectimy's on our lenses with > the excessive flanges. It is relatively simple . . . I masked off the > glass using electricians tape, and then used a file to file down the > offending portion of the flange.
> Just be sure that none of the metal filings get onto the glass > surfaces, and that none fall into any holes in the lens and you'll be > alright. That's basically it (as above). (I've discussed it a bit previously, with similar advice and a couple of photos, as below.) Fred ========================================================================== I've removed the flange from several ol' VS1 cult classics before. It's not that big of a procedure. Here are some image links illustrating the removal of this flange: First, here are two VS1 35-85/2.8's, the left one of which shows the extra baffle, while the right one has been modified - http://www.cetussoft.com/pentax/v358528/1ofeach.jpg . Lacking access to a bench grinder, I resort to simply cutting of the excess baffle material with a hacksaw (but leaving the protective "hump" near the coupling lever, as in jen-you-wine Pentax K-mounts). (Another PDML-er reported using a thin file for this procedure.) I don't try to remove the baffle entirely, but I leave about a mm or two of it still sticking out (since trying to remove all of it would tend to scar up the face of the K-mount flange, and removing it entirely is not really necessary, anyway). I then smooth off the remaining edge of the baffle with a fine-toothed file and finally I touch up the exposed (shiny) metal edge of the remaining baffle area with a black "magic marker" (for a little flare prevention). It is important, of course, to mask off completely the rest of the lens when the extra baffle is being removed from the lens (since you don't want any little aluminum filings "adding" to the lens' innards - <g>) - http://www.cetussoft.com/pentax/v358528/lensmod.jpg . It is also possible to ~carefully~ remove the K-mount flange from the lens and then remove the extra baffle after masking off only the flange - http://www.cetussoft.com/pentax/v358528/flangmod.jpg . Fred
