Century Optic wide angle adapter for stock lense

[Kent Nguyen]

hello


does any one experience using Century Optic x .8 wide angle lense to increase size of views on the 20X stock lense? To me I feel like there is some color aberration which reduce the sharpness of the immages.

also, anybody know how to keep every thing in a frame infocus (very least DOF) for a long shot? What setting should I use? I hardly get all the details I want outside the center of the frame.

many thanks.

Kent

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

At the telephoto end of the 20X lens using the widest to medium iris setting (f/stop) only the subject will be in focus and the edges surrounding the in-focus subject will look unsharp. This is natural and what is intended to make the subject stand out from a cluttered background.

If you have the main subject off-centre then it is better to rely on MF rather than AF to maintain sharp focus, because the AF system is geared for a central-framed subject and will tend to be constantly searching in-and-out if the main subject moves away from the centre of the frame.

It is possible to close the iris on the tele lens more to increase depth of field to bring the corners more into the plain of sharpness, but once you close beyond f/8 it tends to soften the corners dramatically (this happens more so with small sensors in camcorders compared to larger sensors in DSLRs).

With wide angle lenses the perception of DOF is increased, so even with f/5.6 the whole scene can look fairly sharp across the frame as long as the main subjects are not too close to the frame and when you are not in macro mode.

Regarding the Century Optic .8X; it is quite good, and I've also found the Optex .7X wide lens very good, but the latest HDV version of the Red Eye .7X is the best add-on wide angle adapter I've so far used in terms of performance combined with ease of use.

However, the true wide angle lens made for the XL-H1/a/s cameras, namely the Canon XL 6X AF wide angle zoom is by far the best lens to use on the XL series of cameras. Of course the price also reflects this, but well worth the extra cost in my opinion.

[Kent Nguyen]

Thanks a lot Tony,

Obviously, for the wide angle shot, if the iris close down to f5 or greater, we hardly get enough light for the shot, especially for indoor event video. I have seen FX1, a prosumer camera, which can get a very good wide angle sharpness from edge to edge with a very low noise (means good low light w/ gain) in the same lighting condition.

The question is do you know any other way to get wide angle sharpness without increasing lighting intensity?

Kent.

[Nick Hiltgen]

Kent welcome to the boards, I will second the vote for the 6x wide angle lens. I have had nothing but positive experiences with it, the only down side is the forever spinning focus ring. I looked at getting one of the century optics or optex options, but had the same issue with edge sharpness, I think someone on this site may still be selling one, for a lot cheaper then retail.

[Floris van Eck]

I would like to buy the 6X WIDE but I am not sure if I want to invest that amount of money into my XL system anymore. What are my alternatives?

Does the Canon WD-H72 work with the XL-H1? It is only 0.75 but I read good things about it.

[Marty Hudzik]

I had the 6x wide angle for my XLh1 but sold it here back in January. It was an awesome lense that had the best wide angle I have every seen....sharp as a tack and literally no barrel distortion or CA. I personally just didn;t use it that often as it was really heavy (good glass always is) and I found my needs were being met better by longer lenses right now. It just seemed a shame to have that great piece of glass sitting in my bag 90% of the time.

Honestly....I cannot say enogh great things about it....it was the cat's meow. Sometimes I miss it but I invested that money into a Canon 7d DSLR and bought some Canon glass for that. Now I am really confused!

Oh....and to agree with Nick (who I bought my XLh1 from) the infinite spinning focus ring really is the only drawback. It can be a little hard to find accurate focus at the widest setting and the mushiness of the focus ring makes it more painful.

But the images.....oo la la!

[Tomislav Koren]

Originally Posted by Tony Davies-Patrick

Regarding the Century Optic .8X; it is quite good, and I've also found the Optex .7X wide lens very good, but the latest HDV version of the Red Eye .7X is the best add-on wide angle adapter I've so far used in terms of performance combined with ease of use.

However, the true wide angle lens made for the XL-H1/a/s cameras, namely the Canon XL 6X AF wide angle zoom is by far the best lens to use on the XL series of cameras. Of course the price also reflects this, but well worth the extra cost in my opinion.

Tony, since I know RedEye isn't zoom through, but some lenses can do some limited zooming, what are your experiences with RedEye and zooming? I believe that we're talking over the same 20X HD lens for H1.
I have often need for wider angle, I was also wanting 6x lens, but somehow I ended with FlyerLE, so now lens isn't in my sight for at least next six months. So far I was doing only SD and I was using some cheap Ebay wide angle adapter. For price payed (150€) I got almost 1kg of glass, zoom-through ability
tackle sharp center of image and blurred corners. It was acceptable for SD, but it's limits are very visible in HD.
I gained trust in what I read here, even got the feeling that much of folks here are biased much to searching hair in egg, so some comments should be taken with reserve thinking of that it isn't that bad as it seems.
However, not so long ago Phil Bambridge tested 0,5x redeye (HD version) here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/open-dv-...ple-video.html
and I must admit that this lack of sharpness is much worse than my cheap glass.

Can you say that 0,7x redeye performs better? Because if you say so, I'll be thoroughly reconsider in buying one. For applications I do, even something lower in quality could do the job....

And oh, just to mention, even if I'm happy with SD picture quality of my WA adapter here are the cons:
- it's heavy, way too heavy for happy use. I'm getting older, and Canon makes XL series heavier than ever before. Put another kg in front of already miserable balanced camcorder...
- I'm unable to use lens hood. It is bigger than stock hood.
- every spot of anything is visible on screen. Unfortunately not in viewfinder, so, if you don't check front of your lens every so often, you could end with dirty recording unintentionally. I believe this is the case with every front element.

Tom

[Floris van Eck]

Does the Canon WD-H72 work with the XL-H1? I can't find answer.

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Tom, the .5X Red Eye is the old SD version and the worst of the bunch, and now not made. The FX HD versions of the Red Eye are far better quality. You have partial zoom through on an XL lens.

Regarding the awesome Canon AF 6X HD lens. I am using mine at the moment on location in France & Italy, but will be selling it later in May when I return from filming. It has been a wonderful lens and I'll be sad to see it go, but I have just bought a mass of new equipment so will probably sell my XL equipment to make room in my bags for all the new gear.

[Ryan Avery]

In response to needs for a better quality wide angle converter for professional users of the Canon XH series cameras, we here at Schneider have made the Century .75x for Canon XH cameras. It features better edge to edge sharpness and less CA than other lenses on the market. Our .8x remains a popular low cost option but the .75x does out perform the .8x.

https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecom...D=208&IID=6832

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics

[Floris van Eck]

Ryan, does it work with the XL-H1 as well? And what can you tell me about the quality of the 0.6 wide angle adapter for the XL-H1 you offer?

[Ryan Avery]

The .75x works on any of the newer Canon HD series cameras (XL-H1, XH-A1, XH-G1). The new XF series shown at NAB 2010 is a whole other ball game and we are working on attachments for those.

The .6x is a single element piece so it will be as sharp if not sharper than the .75x but it does not allow zooming beyond 35% wide to telephoto and does have more distortion because it is so wide.

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics.

[Floris van Eck]

I would like to learn how good/bad the distortion is. Are there any test chart images?

[Tomislav Koren]

Originally Posted by Ryan Avery

The .75x works on any of the newer Canon HD series cameras (XL-H1, XH-A1, XH-G1). The new XF series shown at NAB 2010 is a whole other ball game and we are working on attachments for those.

The .6x is a single element piece so it will be as sharp if not sharper than the .75x but it does not allow zooming beyond 35% wide to telephoto and does have more distortion because it is so wide.

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics.

Ryan, could you please point us to the right link on your web, I believe we're talking about this one:https://www.schneideroptics.com/Ecom...=1385&IID=6219
Just to be sure.

Frankly to speak, I could live with only 35% of my zoom capabilities if we're talking about real 35% and this is it. I didn't done the math, but 25% of 20x lens is pretty similar to what 6x Canon lens can do.
And here I don't talk about superb optics but speed and ease of use on field for ENG style shooting.
When I saw the pricetag for 0.75x frankly I thought it isn't worth that much considering that demo 6x can be purchased from ______ and ___ for merely $1850. But, considering red eye costs something about $400 and century is $500....don't know, I would go for Schneider. After all, it's glass, and somehow I cannot get away from the thought that no matter how quality polymer of red eye is, it won't be as durable as glass....
And to take it on and off, it's matter of seconds.

On the other hand, I'm still scary of spending $500 on piece of gear that won't be able to fulfill my needs.
I can understand Floris...some real life image...

[Ryan Avery]

I will have to work on some sample images everybody. The .6x will get you 40% wider than your existing 20x lens and give you 35%+ of the zoom range and is a great deal sharper than others I have seen but the limited zoom range is a deal killer for some so that is why we offer the .75x full zoom through.

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics