Hi,

Haven’t yet tested out what I plan to do but can someone shed some light for me.

I will be shooting with HDR-FX1 for a church service and will have to shoot from a distance in about 60 feet away. With the stock 12x lens will I have to buy a telephoto lens to make this happen for tighter shots? Or will the 12x lens be sufficient. What is the formula I need to know to calculate the range in feet on the Sony HDR-FX1 12x lens.
If I need a telephoto lens what do I need 1.6x or do I go with the 2.0x from century?

Thanks,

Joel

It depends on what you call "tighter". I do this in my church with a Z1U; from 60 feet you can zoom in on a person aproximately head to knees.

What you really need is to go closer! Even without a tele lens, when zoomed out to the max, you will have to keep your camera steady, without touching it, unless you have a tripod as expensive as the camera itself. If you need to follow the speaker etc... you will get a jumpy footage.

yeah i got all the gear, so from 60 feet you can only get knees to head , thanks that is valuable to me, looks like i will need the 2x telephoto lens from century.


joel

Wow, I didn't realize they made a 2x lens... that's a new model. Not cheap though:

http://www.schneideroptics.com/Ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=1075&IID=5908

I have the Century 1.6x for my Z1 which I like:

http://www.schneideroptics.com/Ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=1075&IID=870

I think it would get you close enough from 60 feet away. I use the 1.6x for shooting performances at a distance of a little over 100 feet. At that distance I can get a shot from the waist to the top of the head. It is zoom-through up to about 50 on the Z1 scale. Zoomed out that far I can get a shot a little over 30 feet wide at the 100 foot distance.

This is something else to keep in mind; how wide do you need to go? The 2x may not allow you to zoom out very far - you will get some serious vignetting. Also note that they mention using support rods. I'll bet this lens is very heavy - my 1.6x is also pretty heavy, but the 2x looks bigger and heavier. You might be placing a lot of stress on the front of your camera if you don't use rods, especially if you use that lens shade.

I would be interested in hearing comments if anyone is using this lens.

Oh support rods... wow I wonder what kind I need are they costly?

I will be using a 4 camera setup and editing in Ppro using the mutlicam feature. (Which is sweeeet).

The two main center cameras will be in the center with one shot "tight" about top of chest to head and the other a little wider "medium" about waist to head. The other two on cobra[cranes shooting the subject from various angles and audience.

I'm guessing the 1.6x will give you a shot like that from 60 feet. Like I said, I get about a waist to head shot from a distance of a little over 100 feet.