Fisheye lens for HD1 at DVinfo.net

Paul Deras · November 28th, 2003, 12:31 PM

Does anyone know of a decent affordable fisheye lens that is compatible with the HD1/HD10? I am interested in the Century Optics "Death lens" but $700 is a bit steep.

Cheers,
Paul

Chaim Bianco · November 29th, 2003, 04:24 PM

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=179390&is=REG

B&H Catalog # CEDS55WA58K

$270.

Paul Mogg · November 29th, 2003, 09:12 PM

I've got the lens mentioned above, though I only used it for the first time the other day and only on the wide angle side,
It seemed fine with little barrel distortion, which is great, but I was having trouble focusing when zoomed in bit, but perhaps it's not meant to be used that way. I haven't checked it out thoroughly enough to give a good run-down I'm afraid.

Craig Jones · November 30th, 2003, 06:07 PM

Raynox DCR-FE180PRO

Chaim Bianco · December 2nd, 2003, 07:36 PM

paul m,

re: the century precision reversable fisheye

its a one-element attachment and i'm pretty sure its only meant to be good at the wide end of the jvc's lens. in my experience the only reason youd wanna leave it on while zooming in is the convenience of not taking it off, cuz once you start zooming in, youre effectively cropping out what you bought it for. imo, youd be better off removing it for the marginal (yet always noticable) sharpness increase.

one more somewhat obvious but very crucial thing to consider is that in a 16:9 frame, the fish eye effect works left-to-right but not so much top-to-bottom. for instance, if you want to see your feet walking on the sidewalk while keeping the horizon in-frame, youll have to tip the camera on its side to do so.

Les Dit · December 6th, 2003, 02:20 AM

I am using a $3 ( yes , three bucks !! ) little adapter I got from Ebay. It's 0.52x, but it does show just a bit of the corners at full wide.
The key with any adapter is to get the lens elements as close as possible to the JVC's lens. I got this adapter almost as a joke, but it looks like it will work out fine.
I guess I got lucky.
-Les

November 28th, 2003, 12:31 PM	#1
Paul Deras Tourist Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 3	Fisheye lens for HD1 Does anyone know of a decent affordable fisheye lens that is compatible with the HD1/HD10? I am interested in the Century Optics "Death lens" but $700 is a bit steep. Cheers, Paul

November 29th, 2003, 09:12 PM	#3
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	I've got the lens mentioned above, though I only used it for the first time the other day and only on the wide angle side, It seemed fine with little barrel distortion, which is great, but I was having trouble focusing when zoomed in bit, but perhaps it's not meant to be used that way. I haven't checked it out thoroughly enough to give a good run-down I'm afraid. __________________ Paul

November 29th, 2003, 04:24 PM	#2
Chaim Bianco Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Philadelphia , PA Posts: 39	http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=179390&is=REG B&H Catalog # CEDS55WA58K $270.

November 30th, 2003, 06:07 PM	#4
Craig Jones Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 105	Raynox DCR-FE180PRO

December 2nd, 2003, 07:36 PM	#5
Chaim Bianco Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Philadelphia , PA Posts: 39	paul m, re: the century precision reversable fisheye its a one-element attachment and i'm pretty sure its only meant to be good at the wide end of the jvc's lens. in my experience the only reason youd wanna leave it on while zooming in is the convenience of not taking it off, cuz once you start zooming in, youre effectively cropping out what you bought it for. imo, youd be better off removing it for the marginal (yet always noticable) sharpness increase. one more somewhat obvious but very crucial thing to consider is that in a 16:9 frame, the fish eye effect works left-to-right but not so much top-to-bottom. for instance, if you want to see your feet walking on the sidewalk while keeping the horizon in-frame, youll have to tip the camera on its side to do so.

December 6th, 2003, 02:20 AM	#6
Les Dit Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Southern Cal-ee-for-Ni-ya Posts: 608	I am using a $3 ( yes , three bucks !! ) little adapter I got from Ebay. It's 0.52x, but it does show just a bit of the corners at full wide. The key with any adapter is to get the lens elements as close as possible to the JVC's lens. I got this adapter almost as a joke, but it looks like it will work out fine. I guess I got lucky. -Les