Canon 3x Wide Angle or 16X Manual?
 

This is not meant to be a which is better thread. I'm interested in getting a new lens for my XL2. I shoot a lot of short films, commercials, music videos. I can only get 1 new lens, so I was wondering which you guys thought would be a better purchase for the time being.

Thanks.

I heard the 16x manual is a real pleasure to work with.
Do you need the wide field of view?
I can only state what I heard and read here, because I have neither of the two lenses.
I heard the 3x can come in handy when you need it, but I heard the 16x manual is such a pleasure that most people don't use the standard lens anymore when they have the manual lens.
Some say it's a little bit sharper too.
My vote would go to the manual lens, also because that's the lens I would be most interested in to buy.

Good luck choosing!

Josh,

I haven't used the 16x manual, but I have the wide and I wouldn't trade anything for it. The 16x might let you get shots better than the stock lens, but the wide lets me get shots that I simply couldn't get with either other lens. Any close-quarters shooting, dialog, wide shots of facilities, I really like it. I can sit two feet away from you and shoot a medium CU - chest up.

Having the wide, I woud also like the 16x manual... but not instead.

Good luck.

When you said 16x manual lens, did you mean 16x servo lens? I'm not trying to sound pretentious, or anything. I just thought it was called the 16x servo lens, which can do the slam zooms, right?

I have only been doing this for a short time, and just have the standard lens that came with my XL2. I am finding a need for the wide angle lens every time I go out to shoot. I am saving for one now. Hoping to find a great deal on a used one. The manual 16x is on the list but further down. Good luck!

I have the Canon 3x Wide and the Optex (fujinon) 14x manual. As to which is the best, it all depends on what you want to do. Consider this:

The 3x Wide get's you shots you just can't get with the other lenses (as already stated in a previous reply) such as exagerated perspective and working in close spaces, and the manual gives you better control with focus, and allows the effect of a quick zoom in & out (if that's what you want) and is favoured over an automatic lense by many people.

If I had to choose between the two I would go with the 3x wide as, with practice, you can focus reasonably with the 20x Lens, and you can program a rack focus or slow zoom if needed (also if you're on the move, as you might be with a music video, then the image stabaliser would be a bonus). The 3x lens, although that doesn't have the image stabaliser, by being a wide angle, provides more stable shots anyway (with practice of course).

What I really like about the fujinon lens (apart from the manual focus ring and manual zoom), is that lens has an analog manual aperature ring ,unlike the Canon 16x (which uses the wheel control on tha camera).

Hope this helps.
Declan

Speaking of which, is there a way to control the speed of the programmed focus, is there a way to have it take more than .5 seconds?

Hi Miguel. In the menu, I think there is a setting for this that lets you choose slow, medium and fast. Not sure of the exact times this translates to, but you might want to try it out.

Richard

Found it, thanks, worked just like I needed it to, next time I'll RTFM.

Has anyone tried the micro35, I am thinking of getting it for wedding indoor shoot in conjunction with a 35mm 16-35 EF camera lens. I don't know if this would be better than getting the 3XWide.

It translates to fast, faster and fastest.

Wait, only "one" lens? As in you bought the body-only kit? If so, then I would have to say go with the 16x manual as the wide doesn't work in all situations.

If you have the retail version of the XL2 with the default 20x lens, then don't sweat it, go with the 3x wide lens. The 20x, though not very flexible, provides decent regular filming and, like everyone else on this thread has been saying, the 3x gives you shots you wouldn't normally get.

I wonder though, why not just use a screw-in wide angle lens? At least until you can get enough dough to get the 3x wide as well as the 16x manual.