samyang 14mm 2.8 won't focus to infinity

Lemaildetom

Lemaildetom

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Hi all. I just bought a second hand Samyang 14mm f2.8 (version II) nikon mount. Sadly it look like the focus won't go as far as infinity but stop before...

Anyone has had this problem? Is there a fix?
I have find a lot of explanation on internet about folk which have the infinite mark not matching the infinity focus and how to calibrate this but in my case it is not this. I don't want to align the infinity mark with the infinity focus i just want to be able to focus to infinity in the first place.

PS: i had a similar problem with a tokina lens and it was not to difficult to solve, i would like to know how to do with the samyang before trying anything.
 
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Does it actually focus to infinity?
Is it just the marker that doesn't line up?

Your post is not exactly clear :)
 
No it don't.
As far as it goes it seems to be focus at 1-2m distance :-(
Thanks if this help clarifying thing.
 
No that was my question, is this adjustment can make you focus further or it will only align the infinity mark where you want it? I don't want starting this is it's not the result i hope for.

PS: why does he put his lens with a extender?
 
This calibrates the lens to focus at infinity; then he adjusts the mark, in the last part of the video, to the correct place.

He said he uses the extender to make calibration easier. It's not necessary.
 
Lemaildetom said:
No it don't.
As far as it goes it seems to be focus at 1-2m distance :-(
Thanks if this help clarifying thing.
Click to expand...
Are you saying it only focuses at 1-2m then everything behind is out of focus?
 
This was my lens I have sold and I had no problem with it!! You've had it over a week and tested it "quickly" in a car park! And now after 9 odd days with the lens wanting to send it back!!
 
I created this thread to see if there was an easy fix but there isn't one, the lens is out of calibration and need to be open to be sorted (at least to match my body).

I got the lens on tuesday and tuesday night i went out shooting the northern light. I wasn't full happy with the result, really sharp foreground and slightly blurry start (shot on a solid tripod and at 8s exposure so no motion blur). I give it doubt of possible user error and contacted you to say that i'll do some test before leaving feedback.

My next day off work which happened to be Sunday morning i went on a carpark next to my house to try the lens again and rule out user error. I've taken serie of shot on a tripod at every single marking on the focus ring and in between to find out that as of my previous message:
"i've tried it and the further focus that can be obtained is when you turn the lens right to the end of the focus ring. I would guess that the real infinity focus would be achieved 1-2mm past the further you can turn the ring. A working lens would go to infinity and a bit further, in this case it fall 1-2mm too short!".

Yes it's a quick test on a carp park but it is enough to see that there is something not right with this lens.
As you said yourself in a message you expected infinity focus to be a bit before infinity and not right at the end of the travel of the focus ring which show that the lens is out of calibration.

Also i have experience exactly the same problem with a tokina 11-16 in the past so I soon realised what was happening.
 
Arg, this is so annoying, looks like Snooky did a runner on this one?

I need to figure out what to do with this lens.

I can try the calibration in this video
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtt9bcJDU2U

But i'm still not convinced it would work, most people seems to have infinity at around 0.7m so they need to adjust it futher, mine cannot reach infinity so I need to adjust it closer. How is this translate term of manipulation to do to the internal ring. It seems too easy the way he turn it to the end and it is done.

There's also this technique
http://www.4photos.de/camera-diy/Sa...Vivitar-Falcon-14mm-2.8-Focus-Correction.html
but there i would definitly not try it myself and a few comment suggest that it can results in a wobbly front element
 
Lemaildetom said:
I created this thread to see if there was an easy fix but there isn't one, the lens is out of calibration and need to be open to be sorted (at least to match my body).

I got the lens on tuesday and tuesday night i went out shooting the northern light. I wasn't full happy with the result, really sharp foreground and slightly blurry start (shot on a solid tripod and at 8s exposure so no motion blur). I give it doubt of possible user error and contacted you to say that i'll do some test before leaving feedback.

My next day off work which happened to be Sunday morning i went on a carpark next to my house to try the lens again and rule out user error. I've taken serie of shot on a tripod at every single marking on the focus ring and in between to find out that as of my previous message:
"i've tried it and the further focus that can be obtained is when you turn the lens right to the end of the focus ring. I would guess that the real infinity focus would be achieved 1-2mm past the further you can turn the ring. A working lens would go to infinity and a bit further, in this case it fall 1-2mm too short!".

Yes it's a quick test on a carp park but it is enough to see that there is something not right with this lens.
As you said yourself in a message you expected infinity focus to be a bit before infinity and not right at the end of the travel of the focus ring which show that the lens is out of calibration.

Also i have experience exactly the same problem with a tokina 11-16 in the past so I soon realised what was happening.
Click to expand...
The infinity not being infinity on the lens mark doesn't mean it's out of calibration, that's a common thing (just seen your post below)...

Not being able to get to infinity certainly is an issue.

If this is being disputed with Snooky it's probably best to take it to disputed trades in the classifieds.
 
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a1ex2001 said:
Can you not send it back, that would certainly be the first avenue I explored!
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Nop i bought it on here and the seller disagree with me and now seems to have vanished.

mark richards said:
try and see if the front optic has moved, this once happened on a nikon 2.8 lens I owned,front optic was loose , when i screwed it back in tight it, worked ok. if it does turn, screw it back tight with a big lump of bluetack..
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Thank for the advice but i don't think it is this, The lens feel strong, no moving part

odd jim said:
Are you saying it only focuses at 1-2m then everything behind is out of focus?
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No, not that bad in fact i think the infinity focus would be achieved 1-2mm past the end of the course of the focus ring. The common thing is to have infinity misaligned but in my case i can't reach it.
 
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I would try the calibration thing in the video that kendo1 posted above. You have nothing to lose by giving it a go since it appears that the seller has pulled a fast one. Otherwise you're left with a lens that is no use to you.
 
Lemaildetom said:
Nop i bought it on here and the seller disagree with me and now seems to have vanished
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The seller seems to have been banned rather than disappeared. Perhaps you should contact Admin to see what help, if any, they can give you. The sale is in the Disputed Trades section so they will be aware of your problems.
Did you exchange addresses on completion of the deal?
If nothing comes of that then you may have been sold a dud. Sorry!
 
canon_togger said:
I would try the calibration thing in the video that kendo1 posted above. You have nothing to lose by giving it a go since it appears that the seller has pulled a fast one. Otherwise you're left with a lens that is no use to you.
Click to expand...

I would agree, it's possible the previous owner calibrated it for their camera and that could be why it wont focus to infinity on yours?
 
Steve B said:
I would agree, it's possible the previous owner calibrated it for their camera and that could be why it wont focus to infinity on yours?
Click to expand...
Would certainly try this it is a known issue with this lens and the fix seems relatively easy, I did mine by trial and error and once I'd found a focus point I was happy with taped the lens I only ever planned to use it for the northern lights and then sell it on.
 
mickledore said:
The seller seems to have been banned rather than disappeared.
Click to expand...

IIRC from the notes in the staff room, his account has been temporarily suspended, with a "login message" telling him to contact the site admins, at which point he will be told in no uncertain terms that his further participation in the forum relys upon going into the disputed thread and resolving things one way or another...
 
Hi all, just to clarify the admins have been helping. By first moving the sale to the disrupted and then later on with this "login message" restricted access. So thanks Cobra and thanks TheBigYin for your help.

But yes i'll likely try to adjust this lens, get the screw driver out and give it a go...
 
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a1ex2001 said:
Would certainly try this it is a known issue with this lens and the fix seems relatively easy, I did mine by trial and error and once I'd found a focus point I was happy with taped the lens I only ever planned to use it for the northern lights and then sell it on.
Click to expand...

So you did calibrate yours?
Was it that simple.
Step 1 - Loosen 3 screws in the front of the barrel, rotate the internal ring as far as it goes to the right, tightened gain.
Step 2 - Adjust the scale marking (which i'm not even bother with to be honest)
 
Lemaildetom said:
So you did calibrate yours?
Was it that simple.
Step 1 - Loosen 3 screws in the front of the barrel, rotate the internal ring as far as it goes to the right, tightened gain.
Step 2 - Adjust the scale marking (which i'm not even bother with to be honest)
Click to expand...

Have you fixed your problem? Looks like i have exactly the same. The only difference - i have Vivitar version. As your wrote "the real infinity focus would be achieved 1-2mm past the further you can turn the ring". All videos and links i found explain how to fix the opposite - focus point is before infinity mark. Any help of advise would be very appreciated.
 
Sadly not but i didn't really try. The seller did a runner without wanting to take the lens back and was banned from this forum. Don't think there is an easy fix, not sure there is a difficult fix either. I bought a nikon 20mm 1.8G instead not as wide but wide enough for me on full frame.
 
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ecoleman said:
Ive had this lens from new and luckily it's fine but it does appear to be a common issue due to poor quality control.

The fix looks pretty easy to do though.
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Hi, do you mean fix from posts above? I tried it yesterday, my problem is that lens can not focus on infinity at all, even with released internal focusing ring (or whatever it called)...
 
bzzup said:
Hi, do you mean fix from posts above? I tried it yesterday, my problem is that lens can not focus on infinity at all, even with released internal focusing ring (or whatever it called)...
Click to expand...

That what i was wondering myself. Is the fix only moving the infinity mark or actually allowing the lens to focus further. But i didn't try it myself so i cannot tell you.
 
The fix is to calibrate the lens for infinity.

As I said almost a year ago :)

The second part is just moving the scale.
 
kendo1 said:
The fix is to calibrate the lens for infinity.

As I said almost a year ago :)

The second part is just moving the scale.
Click to expand...

Looks like we are talking about different things :)
"The fix is to calibrate the lens for infinity." if this is about to unscrew 3 screws and then manually move internal focusing ring - this does not help, as lens can not focus on infinity at all. Doesn't matter how you rotate this 'internal focusing ring'. Feels like it needs 2-3 more millimeters to obtain the focus.

"The second part is just moving the scale" this part is not important at all as with focus peaking you never look at this scale (i use Sony mirrorless camera)

The first my impression was that EF - Sony E adapter i use is too long. But it's sigma mc-11, not a Chinese noname, and all my canon lenses work fine as well.
That's why i'm wondering if this could be fixed with some 'internal adjustment'...

Anyway, will try again with Canon body tomorrow.
 
bzzup said:
Looks like we are talking about different things :)
"The fix is to calibrate the lens for infinity." if this is about to unscrew 3 screws and then manually move internal focusing ring - this does not help, as lens can not focus on infinity at all. Doesn't matter how you rotate this 'internal focusing ring'. Feels like it needs 2-3 more millimeters to obtain the focus.

"The second part is just moving the scale" this part is not important at all as with focus peaking you never look at this scale (i use Sony mirrorless camera)

The first my impression was that EF - Sony E adapter i use is too long. But it's sigma mc-11, not a Chinese noname, and all my canon lenses work fine as well.
That's why i'm wondering if this could be fixed with some 'internal adjustment'...

Anyway, will try again with Canon body tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Fair enough :) I don't have this lens but I have done similar fixes with other older lenses - Helios 44-2 and a Jupiter 8.
As for the scale, I'd do it as I'm a bit OCD in that respect :D

I just use cheap Chinese adaptors with my Nex 6, one of which was pretty useless.
 
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