Canon has announced the CINE-SERVO 17-120 KLL/P1 0.8mm and 25-250mm KLL/PI 0.8mm cinema modification kits. Both modification kits involve the removal of the servo drive unit and the installation of industry-standard 0.8mm ring gearings for focus, zoom, and iris.
Both of these modification kits can only be installed at a Canon Factory Service Center by a certified technician for an estimated price of $1,100.00 USD. This seems like a lot of money to add three 0.8 pitch gears.
According to Canon, the modification allows users to more seamlessly integrate the lenses into nearly any cinema-style production. This modification is a little odd, given that both lenses are listed as being Designed for Cinema Style and Broadcast applications and that the servo drive unit is already user removable. Both lenses also already have grooved gears (although not 0.8 pitch) on them that you can use with follow focus systems.
The majority of users who buy a servo zoom are buying it because they want to use the servo drive unit. If you need to remotely control a lens like the 17-120mm or 25-250mm it is easy to do with a variety of different FIZ units that are on the market without having to remove the servo drive unit.
Look, I am not knocking the modifications kits and they still serve a purpose for certain applications, however, they are still quite niched. In a lot of ways, it would have made sense to have just included proper 0.8 pitch gears on the lenses in the first place.
