Hi everyone,

i'm currently looking for these 3 lenses, wide angle, fisheye and telephoto conversion lens for my HVR-V1P. i'm actually not really sure, wether to use bayonet mount or screw in types (62mm for V1 if i'm not mistaken), what actually the different? are there any pro and cons between this two? if any of you guys has any suggestion base on what you are using right now, will be very appreciated. thanks in advance.

-Faiq

It depends on what you are shooting. I would look into Century Precision Optics, they have a line of bayonet lenses for the v1. I love my .6 wide angle, and the .3 fisheye I have used but i do not own one, and it is incredible. I don't know about a telephoto.

Bayonet mount is my favorite because I shoot alot of action sports and I am constantly needing to change between my fisheye and long lens. It's a half twist and the lens is off. I love it. But it all depends on what you shoot.

I've never heard of a screw-in type lens converter to be an "advantage" over a bayonet design.

Bayonet-style attachments are very quick & easy to attach and take off, so it's definitely an advantage to go with one of those. But there's no qualitative difference for bayonet vs screw-on when it comes to build quality necessarily. It's just a question of convenience.

I compared the Sony VCLHG0862K against the Raynox HD-7062PRO recently at Henrys. Hands down, the picture quality on the Sony was sharper. It had a much greater depth to the image, kept full-zoom through capability and remained pin-sharp. I suppose it's not a fair comparison though, since the Raynox sells for only $200.

For the price, the Raynox is great. It certainly gave a lot of extra coverage over the Sony and had less barrel distortion, but in the end I couldn't rely on the PQ. Since it is a screw-on type lens, it's hard to take it off quickly... so the downside is that I would have to detach it if I needed to zoom significantly, which is hard to do for event videography. If you leave the Raynox HD-7062PRO on while zooming, once you go past approx 60% a whiteish haze washes over the image, highlights start behaving strangely, etc.

I would probably buy the Raynox if it were a bayonet, come to think of it, then I could detach it easily and not cause much of a disruption during shooting. But the screw-in turns it into somewhat of an ordeal. If you do get the Raynox, only use it when you know you won't need to zoom with it. For $200 though, it's a very good lens.

I'd love to try the Century Optics. It's a .65x bayonet, and looks like a high quality piece of glass. I feel like that would be a better comparison with the Sony.

Personally, the barrel distortion on the Sony WA didn't bother me. It is there, and it was slightly more than the Raynox...but barrel distortion isn't really a deal breaker for me. I expect some barrel distortion if I'm using a wide angle conversion lens. The sharpness of the image and reliability of using the zoom without risking those anomalies that the Raynox showed is more critical to me.

16x9 Inc. makes a WA adapter for the V1U now, but the images on their website show quite a bit of barrel distortion. I suppose I would draw the line somewhere. But I still don't have any experience with the Century Optics or 16x9 lenses, so I'll reserve any judgment.

Some people have said that for the extra coverage the Sony offers it's not worth it. I kind of disagree. It's still bringing the wide angle down from approx 37.5mm to 30mm. While not a huge difference, it's still a difference I appreciate. It's wider than what I was used to shooting when I used the Z1U/FX7 stock lens. Which I felt was wide enough for my needs.

thank you guys for the response.

i'm also attracted with the Sony WA, but do i really need it with the lens hood? because it is almost $200 difference between the one with the lens hood at B&H.

what about the fisheye? i came accross this one from Raynox, the MX-3062PRO 0.3 Semi-Fisheye... i'm not very sure whats the "Semi" fisheye means?

- Faiq

How about an affordable/decent telephoto? I don't need zoom capability as I would leave it on full zoom most of the time. I wouldn't mind getting some surf video and the V1 has so much zoom it is close to being sufficient. A bit more magnification and I could get fairly tight shots of some serious surfing at Waimea bay.

I use FE-180 my sample : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9aXMR63B88
I feel it too fish-eye.... if you gus have some alternative for wide (with thread 62mm) please share the samples. TIA

Agatha

refer raynox site http://www.raynox.co.jp/english/video/hdrfx7/index.htm

I do not know the quality of MX-3062Pro (mounting thread 62mm fit V1P), if this same as HD3032Pro (mounting thread 37mm - fit my Pana GS-320) then I would feel comfortable, better than FE180 (too much barrel)

Sample my raynox 3032HD Semi fisheye 0.3x http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KQr6l8D4Uw

Apologize the compression, not that good on you tube

Regards, Agatha

whats the Fe180 you talk of? who makes it?

i have the raynox right now.

whats the Fe180 you talk of? who makes it?

i have the raynox right now.

Raynox DCR-FE 180
Pro http://www.raynox.co.jp/english/dcr/dcrfe180pro/dcrfe180proindexeg.htm


Agatha

Hi everyone,

i'm currently looking for these 3 lenses, wide angle, fisheye and telephoto conversion lens for my HVR-V1P. i'm actually not really sure, wether to use bayonet mount or screw in types (62mm for V1 if i'm not mistaken), what actually the different? are there any pro and cons between this two? if any of you guys has any suggestion base on what you are using right now, will be very appreciated. thanks in advance.

-Faiq

Ahmad,

Please look at the following products for the V1U. I recommend our .8x for the V1U if you are looking for zoom through performance. Otherwise, check out the .55x partial zooming piece as it is very wide, small size, and excellent image quality. Nobody has a telephoto that matches or exceeds the performance of our 1.6x or 2.0x converters so those are worth a look as well.

Most of our Century brand lenses use a bayonet mount. The reason for this is simple; it allows one handed operation to take the lens on and off and it provides a perfect fit every time. If you scew-in a lens too little it throws off the spacing of the cells and reduces image quality and focus. If you cross thread a lens it will create uneven image sharpness. A bayonet mount avoids both of these.

Most of our lenses accept a shade (except Fisheyes of course which the shade is built in to the design). Most of our lenses can accept a filter as well making this an important advantage over other lenses.

http://www.schneideroptics.com/century/dv/hvr-v1u/hvr-v1u.htm

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics

I know it might be a little late but www.cavision.com has some stellar deals on these lenses. I bought a .3x fisheye from them originally for my HVX but works on my V1U and its been great. No vignetting. I will warn though its an impressive lens and you will get lots of attention from people walking by.

I'll throw in my .02 about screw on vs bayonet mount. I have owned both. The bayonet is great for all the reasons mentioned above, HOWEVER, I'm on my 5th camera and they all take different boyonet mounts! If they were screw on adaptors I could've bought a cheap thread converter and could use them with my other cameras. If you go bayonet, plan to use that lens for that camera ONLY! There is no converter to use it on another camera.

Something to think about! Especially since new cameras are coming out at an alarming rate! While I had my PD-150 as main camera for 5 years, now my 1 year old V1 is looking to be replaced with an EX. Which will mean yet another wide angle adaptor! I'm sure the lens companies LOVE this!

Ryan,
will y'all have a V1 at your NAB booth this year?

I'd like to check out these lenses on the camera and am hoping to leave mine at home. Where I live there are no stores to visit, so NAB is a big chance to get hands on experience. I was considering bringing a tape for capturing comparison shots.

Ryan,
will y'all have a V1 at your NAB booth this year?

I'd like to check out these lenses on the camera and am hoping to leave mine at home. Where I live there are no stores to visit, so NAB is a big chance to get hands on experience. I was considering bringing a tape for capturing comparison shots.

Scott,

We bring the whole kit to NAB. We have a really nice 20x20 this year. You can come see me at the booth and I will show it to you on the camera with all the attachments available.

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics

thanks Ryan, Agatha and all of you guys here,

now i have already got all my lenses. for the wide-angle, i took the Sony VCLHG0862 0.8x without the hood. so i use it with my Cavision Matte box. for the fish eye, i took the Raynox MX-3062PRO 0.3x Semi-Fisheye. as for the telephoto, i took the Impact DVP-TP20-62 2.0x for just $100. all i got from B&H, and the performance of these lenses are quite good, excellent for the Sony wide-angle.

- Faiq

since i said about the Cavision Matte box, i think i have to mention here that the tool is not so good in its constuction. the screw provided cannot hold the camera plate with the rod bracket at all! each time i try to put my V1 on the camera plate, it will slip to the front because the screw is too short. then i went to a hardware to get a longer screw with the same diameter and thank God that solve the problem.

I've been brought on to shoot a snowboarding DVD by a major company, and I notice they always use fisheye lenses (comes from skateboarding world). Of the lenses listed previously in the thread (or perhaps one that isn't) are any of the fisheye lenses "more fisheye" than the rest? Barrel Distortion isn't a bad thing it seems in the snowboarding world, in fact it's often a stylistic choice.

Also if anyone already shoots pro snowboarding stuff and has info or a different opinion about the fisheye versus standard wide-angle, etc... I'd be more than happy to hear it.

*I have a Sony V1U.

p.s. You mentioned that Raynox as the fisheye you chose. It's listed as semi-fisheye? Might be a obvious answer, but what exactly does that mean?

Hello Ahmad.

Nice that you liked the result these lens provided.

I was looking into wide angle converters, specially the Raynox ones.

I've read some reviews saying that the 7062 starts showing some Chromatic Aberration once you zoom through it too much (actually that would not be a problem for me).

Could you post some grabs shot with the 3062 once you have time? That would be of great help.

Thx.

I would also love to see some examples of the Raynox, but still have the interest (mentioned above) of a fisheye lens with heavy barrel distortion, or any fisheye normally related to Snowboarding or Skateboarding, with respect to my Sony V1U.

A genuine fisheye lens forms a circular image within the frame, where any diagonal line across the circle shows 180 degrees of arc. This is pretty limiting aesthetically, so to counteract this full frame fisheyes fill the frame but the 180 degree view is only available across the diagonals within the rectangular frame.

There's still oodles of barrel distortion in the image of course, as there is with 'semi-fisheyes', those lenses that still see pretty wide but don't cover the full 108 degrees diagonally.

tom.

Ok, got the Raynox lenses!

The 7062 is AWESOME.
The 3062 is good, softens TOO MUCH on the corners, some may find it unnaceptable.
Since I'll be using the 3062 very rarely, I can live with that.

I'll post some samples:

The one with the buildings (taken with 7062) has some Magic Bullet applied and the corner softness is from it.
Notice the lens flare in the center bottom, call me crazy, but I like it!

The ones with noticeable barrel distortion are taken with the 3062.
Lots of factors contributed to the weird look of them:

a) Lots of gain needed inside my house at night.
b) Used camera's photo function, they are not grabs.
c) I was using (inadvertedly) the profile with the highest sharpness value.

Hope it's useful, I love these lenses, specially for the price!

While we're on the subject of lens adapters, has anyone tried any of the close-up diopters? I noticed that Schneider doesn't produce a 62mm diopter, just the Z1's 72mm and a step-up ring. I have been using my 58mm Century Optics diopter from my old PD150 (with a step down ring) but have nothing to compare it with.

dear Ahmad can u enlighten me on your telephoto lense, quality and zoom factor, do u have any footage up, seems like a bargin for 100 bucks

regards

luke

Since we're revisiting this thread, I'm on the lookout for a bayonet mount .5 or .6 wide angle. Anyone tried the Raynox versions of those lenses that would like to give a report. I tried my Raynox 6600 that I use on my HV30 with a step down ring and got serious vignetting (as expected I guess.) Looking for the option to go wide in tight spaces. A little softening on the edges & distortion might be acceptable but vignetting and glowing highlights is not. Any help?

You don't tell us what camera it's for James, but have you considered the Sony w/angle lenses? OK they're not 0.5x powerful, but you won't get obvious vignetting or barreling.

V1u Tom. I'm just not sure the .8 is wide enough. But, since most of my work will be documentary style, I'd like to be able to transition to the wide lens pretty quick.

For that style I'd suggest just put the Sony 0.8X on and leave it on, then only take it off on the odd occassion you want to do a long shot. That's what my mate does with his V1 and 0.8X.

MEGAKIT (WIDE ANGLE, MACRO, AND TELEPHOTO KIT) for Sony HVR-V1E (http://www.digitaltoyshop.be/product.asp?pt_id=1250&p_id=4824&lg=1&c=MEGAKIT_(WIDE_ANGLE,_MACRO,_AND_TELEPHOTO_KIT)_for_Sony_HVR-V1E)


anyone tried these??? price seems too good to be true

There are so many spelling mistakes in the advert that I'd think there may be mistakes in the lens' manufacture as well. But if you can get a refund if you're not satisfied, then I'd be tempted to say go ahead.

Bet the macro lens isn't sharp at the edges and bet the wide-angle barrel distorts like crazy. And with 8 elements there should be lots of lovely flare.

tom.

have macro lenses been discussed on this forum for the v1 one??? i cant seem to one and am keen to purchase one of high quality , the raynox seem ok i guess but hard to tell without trying

does anyone know if the mic for the v1u shows up in the picture when you are using a century optices .3x fisheye?

The fisheye...
.3X ULTRA FISHEYE ADP HD SONY - Schneider Optics (http://www.schneideroptics.com/Ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=1386&IID=6227)

Any help appreciated... Thanks!

The "Megakit" of lenses seems to be a bundle of Raynox lenses (though I could be wrong - the picture is quite small). Go to Welcome to Raynox (http://www.raynox.co.jp) and search for the FX7/V1 page to see samples.

I had considered the Raynox lenses (based on theses samples, and posts on this and other forums). In the end, I've decided to save my pennies for a Century or 16x9 telephoto adapter rather than waste £200 on what I feel would be a mistake.

I had considered the Raynox lenses (based on theses samples, and posts on this and other forums). In the end, I've decided to save my pennies for a Century or 16x9 telephoto adapter rather than waste £200 on what I feel would be a mistake.

If money is no object are you saying that the Century is the best wide-angle (non-fisheye) for the V1?

Thanks

Ryan, do i need a new hood with the 0.65x lens? (because the one that comes with the Sony V1 wont fit once the century lens is fitted?) Thanks

Ahmad,

Please look at the following products for the V1U. I recommend our .8x for the V1U if you are looking for zoom through performance. Otherwise, check out the .55x partial zooming piece as it is very wide, small size, and excellent image quality. Nobody has a telephoto that matches or exceeds the performance of our 1.6x or 2.0x converters so those are worth a look as well.

Most of our lenses accept a shade (except Fisheyes of course which the shade is built in to the design). Most of our lenses can accept a filter as well making this an important advantage over other lenses.

Sony HVR-V1U & HDR-FX7 Attachments - Schneider Optics (http://www.schneideroptics.com/century/dv/hvr-v1u/hvr-v1u.htm)

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics

If money is no object are you saying that the Century is the best wide-angle (non-fisheye) for the V1?Thanks

Depends what you mean by 'best'. The lenses with the least distortion and aberration tend to be pretty mild (like Sony's 0.8x). If you want zoom-through you'll generally have to accept barrel distortion, and the more powerful the wide-angle converter, the more the distortion.

If you're happy with a partial zoom through that won't give you barrel distortion then the Bolex Aspheron (0,52x) is the best in my view.

tom.

Hey Shadi,
I just checked the mic and the 0.3x--- with an AT4073 & black foamy, if it's pulled back it's OK, but if it slides forward it will show up. I mount the mic on a cheap hot shoe holder and that keeps it up high with no worries. I also tried that with the Rycote Softie and it was dangerously close to the edge, but it worked with care.

If anyone has questions re these Raynox lenses (0.7x, .55x, .3x, 1.54x) and the V1, pose them here, soon.

I'm selling the V1 (8x10h Drum) and all these lenses in a couple days.

Depends what you mean by 'best'. The lenses with the least distortion and aberration tend to be pretty mild (like Sony's 0.8x). If you want zoom-through you'll generally have to accept barrel distortion, and the more powerful the wide-angle converter, the more the distortion.

If you're happy with a partial zoom through that won't give you barrel distortion then the Bolex Aspheron (0,52x) is the best in my view.

tom.

Tom, thats what i meant - I hate the barrel distortion you see on the cheaper adapters. I dont need full zoom through - I want as close to 24mm for wide landscape shots with highest possible resolution. Does the bolex aspheron fit the Sony V1 and I guess I have to budget for a lens shade to attach to the bolex?

What did you pay for the Aspheron?
Thanks

The Bolex lens has an 85 mm attachment thread so won't fit the V1 without a special adapter. I made mine a bayonet fit so that it quickly mounts and demounts from my Z1. In run 'n' gun, speed is of the essence.

It's very difficult to find a 16:9 hood to fit the Aspheron, but as it's Zeiss T* multi-coated (the best in the biz) that's not the end of the world. The lens sees so wide (17 mm equiv) at it's widest angle that any hood you use will be minuscule.

I bought the Bolex lens direct from the Swiss factory for about £150, delivered to my door. That's a lot of money for a single, aspherically ground element, but I cannot stand seeing doors bow outwards as I track through them and I hate seeing brides' waists barrelled outwards.

Tom, thanks, you knew i was going to ask this: where do i get this bayonet adapter? I hope i can buy one as i am useless at DIY!! If you have that URL for bolex that would be great.

The Bolex lens has an 85 mm attachment thread so won't fit the V1 without a special adapter. I made mine a bayonet fit so that it quickly mounts and demounts from my Z1. In run 'n' gun, speed is of the essence.

It's very difficult to find a 16:9 hood to fit the Aspheron, but as it's Zeiss T* multi-coated (the best in the biz) that's not the end of the world. The lens sees so wide (17 mm equiv) at it's widest angle that any hood you use will be minuscule.

I bought the Bolex lens direct from the Swiss factory for about £150, delivered to my door. That's a lot of money for a single, aspherically ground element, but I cannot stand seeing doors bow outwards as I track through them and I hate seeing brides' waists barrelled outwards.

I made the bayonet by copying the Z1's lens hood bayonet. You do need to be a bit of a DIYer though.

You need to start here: Bolex international SA (http://www.bolex.ch/NEW/?p=1)
I emailed Bolex (in English) which led me to the Aspheron.

I love the Stock lens hood that came with my V1 (i.e the inbuilt lens protector)

I'm running a 0.65 Schnieder WA lens and would love it if I could use the SONY lens hood that ships with their WA lens. Does nayone know if it fits?

I've ordered a hood from Schneider ($300 Australian Dollars) which is stupidly expensive, especially given that it doesn't have the same inbuilt lens cover that I'm accustomed too.

I know that it's only a matter of time before I loose the lans cap!

T

Serif - did you get any further in your quest for a wide-angle without barrel distortion?

Serif - did you get any further in your quest for a wide-angle without barrel distortion?

Hi Tom, I concluded that I would purchase the 16x9 wide angle set because I am rubbish at DIY, its pricey from B&H but the reviews/readers comments seem to indicate the 16x9s whilst not perfect have lower barrel distortion that raynox or century.

I'd like to know what you think of the 16x9 lens when you've had a chance to test it. And a correction to my post - the Aspheron cost £450, not £150 (a typo).