wide angle converters

27 Jul 2005 2:01 AM

Johannes Leckebusch

I'm trying to gather some information about wide angle converters for video
lenses. Some camcorder manufactorers have one, but for example with the
canon mv880 x comes one which is only usable in the "wide" position of the
zoom (it doesn't focus with other focal lengths). There are others (from
Hama for example) which I can use on a Panasonic NV-GS11 in all zoom
positions - works great. Manufactorers seems not to give any information
about this on their web sites. The Hama converter is only usable on a 27 mm
filter diameter, canon uses almost 28 mm on small camcorders.

--

Jödel.

27 Jul 2005 2:27 AM

Cail Young

On 27/7/05 12:01 PM, "Johannes Leckebusch" <jln***@johannes-leckebusch.de>
wrote:

> I'm trying to gather some information about wide angle converters for video
> lenses. Some camcorder manufactorers have one, but for example with the
> canon mv880 x comes one which is only usable in the "wide" position of the
> zoom (it doesn't focus with other focal lengths). There are others (from
> Hama for example) which I can use on a Panasonic NV-GS11 in all zoom
> positions - works great. Manufactorers seems not to give any information
> about this on their web sites. The Hama converter is only usable on a 27 mm
> filter diameter, canon uses almost 28 mm on small camcorders.

It depends more on the lens in the camera than the glass you're putting in
front of it. Some lenses will handle the focal shift, others won't.

Arguably, there's no need for them to be able to focus beyond a slight
zoom-in - why would you put a wide-angle on then zoom in beyond where you'd
ordinarily be without it?

27 Jul 2005 2:51 AM

Johannes Leckebusch

Cail Young wrote:

>> I'm trying to gather some information about wide angle converters
>> for video lenses. Some camcorder manufactorers have one, but for
>> example with the canon mv880 x comes one which is only usable in the
>> "wide" position of the zoom (it doesn't focus with other focal
>> lengths). There are others (from Hama for example) which I can use
>> on a Panasonic NV-GS11 in all zoom positions - works great.
>> Manufactorers seems not to give any information about this on their
>> web sites. The Hama converter is only usable on a 27 mm filter
>> diameter, canon uses almost 28 mm on small camcorders.
>
> It depends more on the lens in the camera than the glass you're
> putting in front of it. Some lenses will handle the focal shift,
> others won't.

Sorry - I think there is a fundamental difference in the principle of
working. If I just hold the mentioned Hama converter in front of the lense
of the little canon, it will focus in all positions of the zoom (even it has
a stronger factor of 0.5 compared to the 0.6 of the canon kit lens). If I
put this converter near to my eyes, I see sharp, but only with a reduction
in size - with the canon adapter, all is blurred.

> Arguably, there's no need for them to be able to focus beyond a slight
> zoom-in - why would you put a wide-angle on then zoom in beyond where
> you'd ordinarily be without it?

Because I won't do still fotographs with the camcorder! If I want to change
from a complete view to a long shot, I do not want to stop recording,
removing the adapter and start the camera again ... {;-)))

--

Jödel.

27 Jul 2005 5:31 AM

Cail Young

Show quote Hide quote

On 27/7/05 12:51 PM, "Johannes Leckebusch" <jln***@johannes-leckebusch.de>
wrote:

> Cail Young wrote:
>
>>> I'm trying to gather some information about wide angle converters
>>> for video lenses. Some camcorder manufactorers have one, but for
>>> example with the canon mv880 x comes one which is only usable in the
>>> "wide" position of the zoom (it doesn't focus with other focal
>>> lengths). There are others (from Hama for example) which I can use
>>> on a Panasonic NV-GS11 in all zoom positions - works great.
>>> Manufactorers seems not to give any information about this on their
>>> web sites. The Hama converter is only usable on a 27 mm filter
>>> diameter, canon uses almost 28 mm on small camcorders.
>>
>> It depends more on the lens in the camera than the glass you're
>> putting in front of it. Some lenses will handle the focal shift,
>> others won't.
>
> Sorry - I think there is a fundamental difference in the principle of
> working. If I just hold the mentioned Hama converter in front of the lense
> of the little canon, it will focus in all positions of the zoom (even it has
> a stronger factor of 0.5 compared to the 0.6 of the canon kit lens). If I
> put this converter near to my eyes, I see sharp, but only with a reduction
> in size - with the canon adapter, all is blurred.
>

Of course, that's a possibility - however because you're using two discrete
systems (Camera A- Wide Angle A and Camera B-Wide Angle B) it's difficult to
tell what the problem really is.

>> Arguably, there's no need for them to be able to focus beyond a slight
>> zoom-in - why would you put a wide-angle on then zoom in beyond where
>> you'd ordinarily be without it?
>
> Because I won't do still fotographs with the camcorder! If I want to change
> from a complete view to a long shot, I do not want to stop recording,
> removing the adapter and start the camera again ... {;-)))

Then you should get a lens/camera with a better focal length range. Sorry,
but diopters just aren't meant for use in that kind of context, they're
almost all meant solely for giving you a wider view at minimum focal length.

27 Jul 2005 4:35 PM

PTravel

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"Cail Young" <nospam@anywhere.com> wrote in message
news:BF0D5969.70D8%nospam@anywhere.com...
> On 27/7/05 12:51 PM, "Johannes Leckebusch" <jln***@johannes-leckebusch.de>
> wrote:
>
> > Cail Young wrote:
> >
> >>> I'm trying to gather some information about wide angle converters
> >>> for video lenses. Some camcorder manufactorers have one, but for
> >>> example with the canon mv880 x comes one which is only usable in the
> >>> "wide" position of the zoom (it doesn't focus with other focal
> >>> lengths). There are others (from Hama for example) which I can use
> >>> on a Panasonic NV-GS11 in all zoom positions - works great.
> >>> Manufactorers seems not to give any information about this on their
> >>> web sites. The Hama converter is only usable on a 27 mm filter
> >>> diameter, canon uses almost 28 mm on small camcorders.
> >>
> >> It depends more on the lens in the camera than the glass you're
> >> putting in front of it. Some lenses will handle the focal shift,
> >> others won't.
> >
> > Sorry - I think there is a fundamental difference in the principle of
> > working. If I just hold the mentioned Hama converter in front of the
lense
> > of the little canon, it will focus in all positions of the zoom (even it
has
> > a stronger factor of 0.5 compared to the 0.6 of the canon kit lens). If
I
> > put this converter near to my eyes, I see sharp, but only with a
reduction
> > in size - with the canon adapter, all is blurred.
> >
>
> Of course, that's a possibility - however because you're using two
discrete
> systems (Camera A- Wide Angle A and Camera B-Wide Angle B) it's difficult
to
> tell what the problem really is.
>
> >> Arguably, there's no need for them to be able to focus beyond a slight
> >> zoom-in - why would you put a wide-angle on then zoom in beyond where
> >> you'd ordinarily be without it?
> >
> > Because I won't do still fotographs with the camcorder! If I want to
change
> > from a complete view to a long shot, I do not want to stop recording,
> > removing the adapter and start the camera again ... {;-)))
>
> Then you should get a lens/camera with a better focal length range. Sorry,
> but diopters just aren't meant for use in that kind of context, they're
> almost all meant solely for giving you a wider view at minimum focal
length.

Sorry, but none of this is right at all. Some adapters are "zoom through,"
i.e. they will stay in focus at all focal lengths, others are not. I'm
unfamiliar with consumer WA adapters, but I certainly do know the ones
manufactured for the prosumer camcorders. I use an Optex with my VX2000 --
it is "zoom through," and usable at all focal lengths (and costs $300).
Your "advice" to "get a lens/camera with a better focal length range" is
really off the mark -- most prosumer camcorders (with non-removable glass)
and ALL consumer camcorders have limited WA capability in the interest of
limiting the size and weight of the camera. As an example, my Optex weighs
darn near a pound, about 20% of the weight of the camera. There are NO
consumer camcorders manufactured that have a lens capable of going very
wide.

As for the OP, cheap glass is the problem. The solution is spend some money
on a good adapter. If you're using a Canon camcorder, I suspect Canon makes
an adapter for it. Canon's prosumer line includes some very nice (and very
expensive) WA adapters, so I assume there's something at the lower end.

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>

27 Jul 2005 4:49 PM

Johannes Leckebusch

PTravel wrote:

> Sorry, but none of this is right at all. Some adapters are "zoom
> through," i.e. they will stay in focus at all focal lengths, others

(...)

Thank you very much for these informative comments.

Johannes Leckebusch