Man, I am getting tired of this. Second 1.4 I have purchased off Ebay, the Iris doesn't work. Trying all kinds of combinations with the aperature lever - nothing seems to work. Always open, can't close it. Any ideas?

Eh, what lens are you talking about here? There's lots of different f/1.4s, and if you happen to be buying digital lenses, more often than not they offer no manual control over iris.

Sorry, second Canon lens that I bought FD 1.4

Leo,
Are you moving the pin into position on the back? All FD lenses need to have the pin all the way across to activate manual aperture.

Well, there is only two positions the pin could be in and I have tried both ways. I can't even see the iris move when I fiddle with the aperature lever, which I think is a bad sign.
In fact, lookng at my 1.8, it works when I flip the lever, but the 1.4 (older model), it does not. Must be broken. Another horay for ebay!

sorry to hear that

Well, back to bidding. I just hope this seller hasn't flown the coop.

Did you try holding the iris lever in place and also moving the manual aperture ring at the same time? A silly question I know but it might be the combination.

you did "trick the lens out" first with toothpicks or something and turned it didnt you? i misunderstood the instruction in doing that when i first bought mine so you might have the same problem. I have some that can do it themselves and some that you need to press the two little pins down at the same time then turn

quote from dan diaconu that helped me :

There are two small pins: one close to the red dot and the next one in the following opening.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view...00008.JPG.html
Push one down while gently keeping a light rotation pressure on the mount as if you were doing the same WITH the rear cap on, and then push the second one down. It will unlock the mount, allowing you to rotate it as if you would have it mounted on the camera. Now the aperture is free. All you need to do is stick a piece of plastic to keep the larger aperture lever tensed counterclockwise.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view...00009.JPG.html


hope it helps.. before i read this and fully understood i was ready to toss it and buy another.

Please tell no one out there is "tossing" FD lenses.

take some tops off pill / medicine / vitamin bottles.

find one that fits on the back of the lense between the metal locking ring and protruding plastic

cut a small notch in the lip of the bottle cap, then hollow out the middle of the bottle top. put it in place, press in and twist. should open the iris up all the way.

I've found 3-4 tops that fit perfect, I even ghetto-rigged one as an fd mount, though I wouldn't recommend it as there is no locking action.

not "tossing" in the literal sense.. i mean posting it back on ebay the day i got it :) if i ever feel the need to throw a nice piece of glass out ill send it to you instead .. dont hold you breath

Trying all of these thing. I have manage to get the breech lock turned (off the letus) with the aperature lever in the RIGHT locked position. When I turn the barrel, the other little lever moves back and forth (like it should), but the blades inside do not move.
I have a 24mm and a 50mm 1.8 that work by fiddling around this way, but this one refuses. I should, technically speaking, be able to move the iris open and close with the levers in the back of the lens (without touching the barrel). And since I cannot, it looks like it is stuck. I really cannot find a combo that lets me see the blades close at all (even turning the barrel, flipping the aperature levers etc) But I am going to try and find an A-1 today at a pawn shop and try it out on there. Maybe there is something that I am missing. I would love to see a walk through of this on video, it would really help alot of people out ;)

Mandy Leo (you got your name backwards all of a sudden), why would you want to change the iris setting? It would only give you a wider DOF, more vignetting and more chance of visible grain or dust on the GG. If you want more DOF, than it's a problem of course, but you could also try a filter.
I always use the camcorder iris (also F1.4), but then again I have a static adapter.

You could try to open it and see what's wrong in there, if you remember or write down how you took it apart than you can put it back together again without a problem. Just watch out for dust, but lost of times the lenses inside are attached in pairs to small tubes or something, so you don't have to take apart all lenses (less chance of dust coming in).
Maybe an expert here knows, but I think painted screws inside the lenses are the ones you'd better not unscrew because they are to adjust something.

its still nice to be able to have control over the aperture... lenses dont give their best picture full open