Wide angle

[Cedric Pottier]

Hello,
Does anybody use the Canon Wide angle WD-H82 for the XF300/305 ?
I was wondering how the quality was for this lens especially for distorsion on edges.
I can't find any clips that was shooted with the wide angle.
On XF300 there is a menu option exclusivelly for the WD-h82 that you set to on/off. i think this feature is designed to compensate the distortions that the lens could bring.
any comments?

thanks!
Cedric.

[Doug Jensen]

Canon loaned me a wide angle adapter when I was producing my XF305/300 training DVD.
Mastering the Canon XF305/300 Camcorders training DVD

I show several examples in the DVD of what the footage looks like and how much difference it can make, but I don't have anything posted online that I can link you to.

I thought the picture quality of the adpater looked very good and I didn't notice any distortion problems to warn you about. However, a 20% improvement in wide angle isn't very much difference. If you're going to be shooting in very tight quarters then it might be worth it, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's going to make a huge difference. The stock lens is already pretty wide. Ultimately, I saw no reason to buy one of my own and I haven't missed it. Your needs may be different.

The purpose of the wide angle menu setting is to allow the camera to focus properly. As I show in my DVD, if you don't turn the menu on, then you won't be able to focus the lens when it is zoomed in.

[Tania Ratu]

Hi Doug, When the XF100/105 comes out will u guys be producing a DVD for Mastering the XF100/105? (sorry off topic here).
Cheers
Ratu

[Doug Jensen]

Hi Tania,

I don't know. It depends on what our schedule is when the camera comes out. The XF305/300 DVD took about 350 man-hours to research, write, shoot, edit, etc. so it is not something that can be whipped out in a weekend. :-) If we've got the time, then we'll probably do one. If we don't do one, then the XF305/300 DVD would be the next best thing for XF100/105 owner. I'm sure there will be more similarities than differences.

Thanks for asking.

[Steev Dinkins]

At 1:20, I briefly test out the wide angle adapter in this video:

Canon XF305 Demo Testing Part 1 on Vimeo

In addition here's are screengrabs of a shot without and with the adapter. On the edges the image gets a little soft and some chromatic aberration appears.

I'll be expecting a good wide angle on the Panasonic AF100 to blow this away.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Steev Dinkins

I'll be expecting a good wide angle on the Panasonic AF100 to blow this away.

Are there any? The best Micro 4/3 lens I can find is the Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm but that has a maximum aperture of F4. Using an adaptor the 2X crop factor means that even a 14mm rectilinear mega-wide 35mm lens becomes a 28mm on the AF100.

[Steev Dinkins]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

Are there any? The best Micro 4/3 lens I can find is the Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm but that has a maximum aperture of F4. Using an adaptor the 2X crop factor means that even a 14mm rectilinear mega-wide 35mm lens becomes a 28mm on the AF100.

The 7-14mm f4 at 7mm is about 14mm equivalent. The XF305 with wide angle adapter is about 24mm equivalent. I have the 7-14mm and it performs better than the XF305 with the wide angle adapter. As for it being a slower lens, yes, it is slower, but in this case I'm comparing image quality at a wide angle focal length.

It remains to be seen how the light sensitivity compares between the AF100 at different ISOs and the XF305. That'll have to wait till next year. :)