wide angle lens for the xl

[Spike Spiegel]

any testimonials for the 16x9 .7x wide angle as shown: http://www.16x9inc.com/cgibin/eDatCa...o=169-EX75WIDE

Is there a better wide angle lens than this? Any input appreciated!

[John Benton]

Not great,
I have one and besides the CA (Red and Blue around B&W edges toward the sides of the screen) it looses sharpness outside the center of the lens.
It works in certain situations, I like the curvature sometimes too, but...
I almost prefer a 35mm adapter and a 20mm Nikon Prime

[Spike Spiegel]

thanks for the response. I believe the .75 is a bit too extreme when compared to a .7....We're shooting a very "on the go" type production, so we don't have the luxury of carrying around primes, rods, and the 35mm adapters.

Is it just the 16x9 brand that produces CA or is this expected with every wide angle?

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

I have the .5X and .7X Red Eye wide angle adapters (both SD 72mm thread versions). Rene was working on the new updated .7X HD version last time that I contacted him, so it should be available by now. Here is a link to the website and details:

http://www.collinscraft.com


The new Canon HD 6X autofocus lens will be available very soon for the XL-H1, although the price will undoubtedly be high compared to the adapter route.

[John Richard]

Tried the 16X9 Wide Converter and returned it - lot's of barrel distortion.

Bought the Century .8 WA Converter (with adapter ring for H1) and it works pretty good.

Do a search of this forum as there was a lengthy detailed thread on this very topic.

[Jonas Nystrom]

I don't know what you think Tony, but I don't think the the Red Eye .7 wide converter is good enough (for our lovely cameras ;-). Quite heavy barrel distortion, CA and not zoom through.

Wait for the updated Red Eye or the new X6 Zoom, which should be here in a month!

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Jonas, the .5X I only occasionally use underwater for it has just too much colour fringing and distortion above water. However, I do use the Red Eye .7X on the XL2 quite a lot for normal wide angle shooting and don't mind that it is not zoom through as I rarely need a zoom for my wide angle footage.

You are correct and I don't think the SD version is a good enough match for the XL-H1 and that is why I mention the updated HD Red Eye conversion.

The 35mm adapter that John mentions (for example with the 15mm, 18mm, 20mm and 24mm full frame wide angle SLR lenses) can only be the more expensive P+S T and Mini 35 models as the normal adapters of course multiply the master lens focal length.

I did mention the new Canon 6X lens and this should be an improvement over the 3X lens when bayoneted to the H1.

[Jonas Nystrom]

The .7 adapter I bought should be good for HD according to Collinscraft.

[Tony Davies-Patrick]

Originally Posted by Jonas Nystrom

The .7 adapter I bought should be good for HD according to Collinscraft.

The normal Red Eye SD .7X is designed mainly for SD DV cameras although it will will work on most HDV cameras, but only the newly designed 72mm Red Eye FX HDV adapter is meant for the XL-H1...do you have the FX HDV Jonas?

[Jonas Nystrom]

Actually I don't know if it's FX, but it is newly designed - and I had som mail conversation with Rene about the use with XL H1 (which should be fine). so..?

Anyway I think that the barrel distortion and the CA is the main problem!