Canon 11.5-138mm/T2.5 PL for Super 16

Tobias Mennle · January 31, 2007

Canon 11.5-138mm/T2.5 PL for S16 Super 16 and fit for HD

$10500.

Nr. 10108. PL mount. I sell because I´m filming on HD now. The lens had a complete service (cleaning, lubrification, adjustment, checking, collimation) on 10-8-2006 which cost almost $1000 and I haven´t used it since. Service was performed by Manfred Wittl/Chrosziel Munich who is probably the most renowned person in Germany for film and videolens service. Wittl claimed ?this lens is really a very good one within the series?.

I can´t see any scratches or imperfections on both the front- and backlens. Inside, the glass is very clean. Mechanically, the lens is without fault. Everything moves smoothly just like it should be. The outer parts of the lens show signs of use.

This zoom is the most robust one I have ever used. The history of my sample: I bought it in 2003 from FGV Schmidle in Munich, which is a rental company with a very good reputation. I used the lens till spring 2006.

Many DoPs claim this is the best of the long Canon Zooms and it is very much in use. 11.5-165 is not better, 10.8-180 is definitely worse ? so Wittl and another lens technician claimed. A colleague of mine refused to buy a 10.8-180 because edge performance was so bad. The German dealer for Canon zooms confirmed these problems. He had complained to Canon about it, and the answer was something like ?That´s the way the lens is constructed, we can´t change it?. Another technician said that the first few samples were excellent and then Canon changed the optics.

The lens weighs under 2kg and handles very well. 4x4 inch filters are sufficient (compare this to the Angenieux counterpart). Close focus is 1.1m which I used often and the performance is very good. Distortion is visible moustache at the wide end and pincushion at the long end. Flare and ghosts are well controlled, especially at the wide end. Centre resolution is around 200LP/mm. I had some of my material filmed with this lens telecined to HD and it looked great. Colours are perfect, and bokeh (softness of unsharp areas) is excellent.

I live in Germany and I´m willing to ship worldwide. I could send the lens to a trustworthy service company where you could check it under supervision and have the option to send it back to me within one week if you should not like it. This fee and postage is at your expense. European union buyers will have to add 19% VAT if they can´t provide a valid European tax number. The lens is ready for inspection here, too.

Pictures and more information available via e-mail: tobias (dot) mennle (at) web (dot) de

Alain LeTourneau · February 1, 2007

Many DoPs claim this is the best of the long Canon Zooms and it is very much in use. 11.5-165 is not better, 10.8-180 is definitely worse ? so Wittl and another lens technician claimed. A colleague of mine refused to buy a 10.8-180 because edge performance was so bad. The German dealer for Canon zooms confirmed these problems. He had complained to Canon about it, and the answer was something like ?That´s the way the lens is constructed, we can´t change it?. Another technician said that the first few samples were excellent and then Canon changed the optics.

Hello.

In your description above, are you referring to the new Canon 10.6-180/T2.7-3.3, or did Canon make a 10.8-180 at one time? Just curious?

-Alain

Tobias Mennle · February 2, 2007

Hello.

In your description above, are you referring to the new Canon 10.6-180/T2.7-3.3, or did Canon make a 10.8-180 at one time? Just curious?

-Alain

I´m talking about the new Canon S16 10.8-180. I talked to a German dealer today and he claimed the new Canon S-16 zooms are a complete desaster, both the short and the long one. He has 5 customers who need s-16 zooms but they all refuse the new Canons because of bad optical quality.