14x manual lens

[Robert Castiglione]

Hi everyone,

Just bought my 14X manual lens. For those thinking about doing the same - was it worth it?

Hell yes. The issues are nicely summed up by Ken Tanaka in his excellent article.

If you do tripod work get it. I use it for drama. It is great to have all controls on the lens. Feels like finer control. I fancy that resolution does look sharper but cant be sure.

I have to say that I find it hard to go back to the standard lens after using the manual lens. Even for hand held work I am getting more and more used to the manual lens.

Rob Castiglione

[Chris Hurd]

Thanks Robert -- the article Robert is referencing is http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/articles/article82.php.

[Stephen Birdsong]

I own a 14x lense, I have never tried to allow the camera to control the zoom, iris etc... untill one day when I tried to use the stock lense. The camera could not control the zoom, but since I was in the middle of an event, I kept using my manual 14x. I didnt think much of it.
I decided to try to let my camera control the iris one day, and found to my dismay, that this also did not work. I searched through the menu to find some setting to change, and found none. the zoom grip and zoom handle options under the cam setup menu is shaded out.
Any ideas?

a bit concerned,
Stephen

[Chris Hurd]

Stephen

On the Canon 14x lens, everything -- including iris -- is full manual. There is no auto exposure with that lens; that's the way it's made. Hope this helps,

[Stephen Birdsong]

thats what I always thought, but what is the servo looking thingy for?

[Chris Hurd]

It's just a shroud to cover internal gears.

[Stephen Birdsong]

Yeah, but what are the gears for? do you know if there are any aftermarket parts for this lense?

[Christopher Egli]

Hi. I only just joined this group yesterday and don't know too much about how it works - I hope this is the right way to post a question.

I'm hoping to shoot a feature length film on my XL1 this summer, and I'm just wondering whether it's worth the expense to buy the 14 x manual lens - does it really make a signifigant difference in the overall image quality?

Any comments or suggestions would be welcome, or direct me to the right page to read about this.

Thanks alot, Chris

[Nori Wentworth]

It makes a huge difference, and is well worth the price, especially if you plan on eventually screening it in a theatre.

-Nori

[Don Palomaki]

So which is the better manual Canon lens for the XL1? the 14x or 16x?

[Josh Bass]

Keep in mind with the 14x you can't put stuff that screws on, onto the front, because of the rotating front lens element. No screw on filters, wide angle adapters or converters that are attached bayonet style (is that the right term?) or any of that. I THOUGHT I also might have read (though I might have misread) that you can't use a matte box with this lens for some reason?

That'd be a dealbreaker for me.

The only thing people don't like about the 16x versus the 14x is that the 16x doesn't have the iris on the lens itself, while the 14x does. This is a more professional setup.

[Dylan Couper]

To clarify: The 14x works fine with many filters, even though the front rotates. Where you run into a problem is grad filters and polarizers, which change the picture when you turn them.

It works fine with my matte box (Cavision) which eliminates all the filter issues by holding them in a fixed position.

I'd rather have the 16x lens, as the on camera zoom rockers will control the zoom on it whereas the 14x can only be controlled on the lens barrel itself. However, the 16x is something like $500 more. I can live (and do) with the 14x for that price.

[Ken Tanaka]

Welcome Christopher,
I'd say you've got the question-posting-thing mastered!

If you've not already done so, you might be interested in reading through my article on the 16x Manual Servo lens. I include some additional information on the 14x lens in the article.

To my knowledge, the 14x lens is no longer in production. So you will either have to buy one used (I'm selling one if you're interested, btw) or find one still stocked at a retailer.

As Josh pointed out, the front element of the 14x rotates (unlike the 16x). In practical terms that means (a) a matte box would need to be mounted on rods rather than to the lens, and (b) using a polarizing filter could become a challenge. These may or may not be issues for you.

Everything is manual with the 14x. Zoom, focus and iris are all controlled strictly with barrel rings. Interestingly, the iris ring freely rotates within its range with no set f-stop clicks. The 16x's iris control, being on the camera's body, is a bit of a design oddity. Since its operation is strictly limited to assigned stops you cannot finely-tune the iris -quite- as well as with the 14x. This is not a major issue, just a design difference.

Many experienced camera operators prefer the all-manual nature of the 14x and the lens is still in some demand. In terms of imaging the 14x and 16x are nearly equivalent for all practical purposes.

I really don't think either lens is strictly the best for all purposes. The 16x, with its servo zoom option, is more versatile in my opinion. But for staged dramatic or documentary work the 14x would certainly give you excellent control of your imaging at a lower price.

[Josh Bass]

My bad on screw on filters and bayonet mounted Wide angles.

[Bob Safay]

I need a little from my friends. I bought a used 14x. It is in excellant contition, there were no instructions with it. My question is this. Can some one out there in video land FAX me a copy of the instructions on how to set the back focus? You can email me at RSafay@aol.com and I will send my FAX number. Thank you. Bob