Can anybody comment on experiences with wide angle video conversion lenses with the gs 100K. Specifically which are the highest quality on the market at this point.
Thanks.

The Pana adaptors are supposed to be pretty good but they don't come with filter threads on the front.

According to tests done by Tom Hardwick and other members, a couple of the Raynox adaptors seem to be the sharpest and with the least amount of barrel distortion, but they are not completely zoom-through.

I have a Raynox .3 HD Semi-Fisheye. I can zoom all the way thru and the fisheye effect is only at close distances, and no vignetting. I do wish it had threads on the front tho. Its really hard to beat for $120

Isn't the Raynox HD5000 the one that's recommended as far as wides go for the 43mm threaded Panas? I believe there's another good Raynox model as well.

Yea Frank,

the HD5000 is available with 43mm threads- but I have the HD3000 and it is threaded to 37mm. I just use the 37-43 adapter that came with it. Works fine.

I'm using the raynox 5000 with a pal mx 500 & it is a beauty - just two problems....

can't be used at full wide with the enclosed step up adater - black ring at the corners - probably a thin adapter ring would solve this -

and any night filming where floodlights are involved i can count on inadvertent hunting in the autofocus during some pans, i believe this is caused when the prisms of light refract within the lens itself.

other than that, i shoot more with it on than off! it's a marvelous tool for capturing humans.

Emmet,
Are you attaching the wide angle to the front of your hood? If so, take the hood off and see if it vignettes with the WA attached directly to the lens mount.

thanks guy but yes, it's mounted right on the body, first out from the camera, factory sun hood removed .... i wish the truth were otherwise ....

Hi Emmet,

I have the same setup, the HD5000 and the DV953. I use the Raynox a lot of the time at full wide and never notice any vignetting. It could be because of the 43mm-37mm Step Down Ring I use.

This is the one :

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=221465&is=REG

I have found out from personal expierence that I have to be careful not to tighten the ring very much to the camera lens threads because it becomes very difficult to detach it.

Adam

Looks like that ring is much flatter than mine. I bet that's the trick. You got an assortment of adapters included with the raynox, rght? I bet you'd get my viginetting if you tried the 37-43 provided by raynox.... maybe you'll want that train emerging from the tunnel effect sometime ... :-)

Isn't there a Raynox that comes with the 43mm threads, or larger? Then you wouldn't have to "step-up" the adaptor. Am I thinking about the Raynox 6600? Is that correct? I wish I had that Raynox link handy. I keep forgetting the model numbers, and their thread sizes. I know! I'll use the search function here. :-))

Ahh, yes. Here's one of the threads I was thinking about:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10724

I have been using the Kenko Digital SGW-05 PRO Wide Angle 0.5X adapter. It's 37 mm and I use a step up ring which has presented no problems. I have not seen distortion and it's very functional for under 100 bucks.

Emmet,

I got the included adaptor rings with the HD5000 but never used them. I will try them out and see if I get the vignetting.

Frank,

The HD6600 has a 43mm thread but it is not fully zoom thru like the HD5000 is. With the HD5000 and the Tiffen ring, I don't have the vignetting problem.

Here is the link to RAYNOX:

http://www.raynox.co.jp/english/video/egvideoindex.htm

Thanks for making the Raynox link handy.

Paralleling the HD5000/HD6600 story is Tiffen's 37mm/43mm wides. The 37mm is a fantastic wide but it's bigger brother, the 43mm, dropped out of technical school too young.

I have both the Panasonic WA for the gs100 and the Raynox 5000 and like both, as I've mentioned elsewhere. But FYI, I just bought the March copy of DV mag, and there's an article by the production manager of "Frontline." Apparently they have a "loaner" kit for crews that includes the Century Optics 16:9 widescreen adaptor and the Kenko KRW 065WA. (Oh, yeah, mustn't forget to mention that their loaner cam is the Sony PD150.) I don't know if you pros would take that as an endorsement or not, but it sounds like one to this amateur (though I plan to stick with what I have).

So from reading the various threads on wide angle lens to use for gs100, the HD5000 w/the use of thin Tiffen ring mentioned in this thread is a winning combo?

Robert

Only if you can stand some barreling and are prepared to accept that with a hood, vignetting will also occur. The only way I don't get vignetting is by not using the hood and, if using a filter, using the thins.

Robert, perhaps just get the Pana wide and make a hood fit on it---slip it around or something.

I use the Canon 43mm wides on my Pannys with
fine results.

Please post a link with a pic and specs for this Canon wide, if you know it. Thanks.

Here it is, Frank.
Mild barrel distortion, no vignetting, great coating
(low flare), sharp.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=233579&is=REG

No front filter thread, though, like the Panasonic. (Of course, by the time you pay for a really good thin filter for a WA - one with enough coating to cut down on more flare - you're practically paying for a second lens. There comes a point when it just makes more sense to go without the front thread?)

What type of filters do you use? For what purpose?

I've used the Tiffen gold diffusion for shooting oldsters indoors. Very nice effect on one video I did, but you have to be very careful if there's a lot of light. For outdoors I've gone through a Hoya UV thin, a Tiffen low contrast (does help a lot in flattening flare, but best for shooting landscapes, not scenes with people, imo) and was finally convinced by our only really worthwhile camera shop on Oahu to try a B&W polarizer (the Kaeseman -sp?- glass one). The polarizer (without a hood) worked very well for shooting my cousin's daughter's outdoor at-the-beach almost mid-day, i.e, killer sun, wedding. Still got some flare, but it was off to the side, and these days people think it's some special effect added by your software - if they notice it at all. (Indoors, I just shot without any filter at all and used the gs100's "smoothing" mode.)

Are there filters that can reduce contrast?
This would be good for shooting outdoors
in a bright sun.
You could get a larger, non-slimline filter
and tape it over the lens with gaffers tape.