HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spins.

D

direktor

Member
I just bought the ana lens and threaded it on. The directions say to tighten the screw down tight, but not too tight - did that, no problem.

I threaded the lens onto the camera, and it just spins around 360-degrees. Unlike the Lens guard that comes with the camera, there seems to be NO stopping point!

Now the screw won't tighten down and the lens will NOT COME OFF!

What did I do wrong?

I bought the lens through ZGC.com - should I send it to them to have them remove it? Does anyone out there think the lens is screwed?

Thanks!

-Declan
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

FYI:

I was in panic mode! - I DID get the lens off finally. I had to press down on the thumb screw to get it off though.

ZGC said it has happened to them before. They said a possible fix for it is to have them insert a metal thread into the plastic (now completely stripped-out "PLASTIC"???) housing and install a new thumb screw.

So my question to Panasonic is, WTF? I mean what were they thinking when they designed a metal thumb screw to thread onto plastic threads - over and over and over again when using the $850 lens????????????????????????????

If anyone out there has a fix - please let me know. ZGC IS allowing me to send this lens back. Unfortunately, it is the "last" lens they have in stock. Figures - good ol' Murphy's Law in affect right there.

Just wanted the gang to know.

PS> I welcome any responses.

-Declan :'(
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

it is a dumb system, but after some practice it works quite well . . . not if you strip the thread mind you . . . but there is a optimum tension at which the thread works.
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

yich... yet another reason i wouldnt touch that lens with a 10 foot pole
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Yeah - pretty scary! :o

I spoke to an authorized repair center in Tallahassee and they stated they've "heard" but have never done - of drilling out the stipped hole a bit and inserting a brass brat or something which has its own internal threads so the original thumb screw will work.

To me a metal thumb screw on plastic is just GONNA STRIP after many uses. In my particular case, I got a defective lens - DOA! I guess someone's gotta get a DOA and it was me this month!

-Declan
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

i JUST got my lens yesterday night nad i was a bit surprised at the quality and i'm worried about doing the same.

i have lenses from cavision and century optics and they seem to be much higher quality.

matthew
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

I too was and I am still surprised at the quality.
I wrote a very LONG letter to Panasonic (acutally an email) and they replied, "...we are going to pass on your feedback to our marketing department." I have NO idea what that means, but I had to ***** to them about it. I basically accused their lens-engineers of smoking weed or taking too much prescription medication when they designed the darn thing, not that I could do any better mind you...

ZGC.com is totally fixing the issue. They have a NYC-based rental house that makes the same modifications to the lens for the matte boxes that 16:9.com does. They are sending it to have a metal-thread barrel inserted so there will no longer be a metal thumbscrew to plastic. Chris at ZGC stated I will be very satisfied.

My thought was - if I get a replacement, it will happen eventually. I am NOT a gorilla on my equipment -quite the contrary, but I am not confident in the design, that's all.

-Declan
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

This may be heresy to mention on a board named DVXuser... but it's this sort of thing that would make a fella want to go straight to an XL2 for native 16:9 recording with no flimsy (or overpriced) gadgets attached. Considering a new customer, if the Century anamorphic lense is released at $2,000, it will cost more to do 16:9 recording on a $3,500 DVX than on a $5,000 XL2. :(
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

i dont think its heresy ..i think its just plain honesty .. i can certainly see what your saying, and i definitely think that people should buy whatever camera that they think will suit their needs and meet their expectations the best. however, IMHO ..to base such a choice off of something like one small design weakness of an add on lense alone would be somewhat silly, as there is alot of important factors to consider when purchasing a professional camcorder. hopefully people looking to buy will dig a little deeper then a thread such as this to be able make a real informed decision on their purchase. ;)
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

[quote author=iamloser link=board=Links;num=1095972139;start=0#8 date=09/24/04 at 11:28:12]i dont think its heresy ..i think its just plain honesty   .. to base such a choice off of something like one small design weakness of an add on lense alone would be somewhat silly

[/quote]
Like the XL2'S lens is so perfect
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

This may not be a popular position, but quality optics and mechanics are expensive. While I realize $800 is a significant amount, it is not enough to produce and sell a high quality anamorphic attachment for the lens on the Panasonci DVX100.

It is a clever design and in my opinion, a reasonable value for the money. It is a molded plastic housing and two single glass elements. While the simple design works reasonably well at shorter focal lengths, with only two elements the image cannot be corrected well enough to produce top quality at longer focal lengths, but because the DVX 100 has a rather short tele end (45mm) they almost get away with it.

And yes, the unit we are in the final stages of developing will have more elements, a precision metal housing, and higher performance, but will cost perhaps 2.5X as much. We realize that the cost would present a problem for many users, but there is no way to build and sell a high quality unit (optically and mechanically) for the price of the current Panasonic Anamorphic.

My point is don't nit pick the Panasonic unit, in truth you got your monies worth. And by the way, it was certainly neither designed or manufactured by Panasonic, but by a specialty vendor who is making it for them on a private label basis.

Bill Turner
Century Division
Schneider Optics
 
Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

Re: HELP!!! Ana lens on - won't come off! Just spi

well, I like all I hear about the DVX except this part, but when the one weakest feature on the camera happens to be one of the most important parts in a sepcific purchasing decision (widescreen high-quality recording in various controlled and spontaneous environments), it does stick out like sore thumb.

It may be "good for the money", and for existing DVX users even the high-cost Century lense might be worth the money. I'm just looking at it from a "just about to buy" perspective, and I'm still trying to convince myself one way or the other. I know that whichever one I buy won't always be in the hands of experienced photographers (regrettably), and anything that makes it harder to use for good footage will make it harder to justify.

The benefit of the XL2 is that "in theory" since the 16:9 is native in the camera, that it will be easier to use since the photographer doesn't have to take manual focusing steps to deal with what the camera design itself would describe as an "unforseen" image distortion.
 
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