wide angle vignette showing, but not during recording at DVinfo.net

Gerald Labrador · September 4th, 2009, 11:01 AM

I'm using an FX7 that came with a Merkury Optics wide angle lens.
During filming, it shows fine on the camera's LCD (no vignette). But when I captured the footage, there is a large vignette. Also, the zoomed shots do not show the vignette on the captured footage.

How can I get around the vignette problem?
Is it because this is a "cheap" lens?

Boyd Ostroff · September 4th, 2009, 11:31 AM

You don't see it on the camera screen because the full frame isn't shown (the HVR series cameras have an option called "allscan" which shows the full frame, the HDR series do not). Yes, this is pretty typical for cheap lenses, or lenses which are not properly matched to your camera.

Sounds like you already found the solution... zoom in a little. Otherwise, you can englarge the image a bit in your editing software. But before doing any of this, I would take a critical look at footage with and without the wide adaptor. You may find that this lens creates other problems like chromatic abberation (rainbow colors on the edge of objects), barrel distortion (warping of the image such that the horizon looks like a "smile") or soft focus.

Gerald Labrador · September 4th, 2009, 11:39 AM

I thought about re-sizing the image in post also. But yes, I do get a lot of soft focus, or extra glow on my subjects.

Thanks for the information.

Dave Blackhurst · September 4th, 2009, 01:22 PM

Cheap glass... 'nuf said. Sony makes a WA for this cam, and it's not cheap, nor terribly wide (.8x), but it doesn't degrade image quality or vignette.

You definitely get what you pay for when you buy inexpensive import "aftermarket" lenses - HD shows all the flaws, and while it's cheap for the manufacturers to add the letters "HD" on the box, it does not a "HD" lens make...

September 4th, 2009, 11:01 AM	#1
Gerald Labrador Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 55	wide angle vignette showing, but not during recording I'm using an FX7 that came with a Merkury Optics wide angle lens. During filming, it shows fine on the camera's LCD (no vignette). But when I captured the footage, there is a large vignette. Also, the zoomed shots do not show the vignette on the captured footage. How can I get around the vignette problem? Is it because this is a "cheap" lens?

September 4th, 2009, 11:31 AM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,797	You don't see it on the camera screen because the full frame isn't shown (the HVR series cameras have an option called "allscan" which shows the full frame, the HDR series do not). Yes, this is pretty typical for cheap lenses, or lenses which are not properly matched to your camera. Sounds like you already found the solution... zoom in a little. Otherwise, you can englarge the image a bit in your editing software. But before doing any of this, I would take a critical look at footage with and without the wide adaptor. You may find that this lens creates other problems like chromatic abberation (rainbow colors on the edge of objects), barrel distortion (warping of the image such that the horizon looks like a "smile") or soft focus.

September 4th, 2009, 11:39 AM	#3
Gerald Labrador Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 55	I thought about re-sizing the image in post also. But yes, I do get a lot of soft focus, or extra glow on my subjects. Thanks for the information.

September 4th, 2009, 01:22 PM	#4
Dave Blackhurst Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Apple Valley CA Posts: 4,874	Cheap glass... 'nuf said. Sony makes a WA for this cam, and it's not cheap, nor terribly wide (.8x), but it doesn't degrade image quality or vignette. You definitely get what you pay for when you buy inexpensive import "aftermarket" lenses - HD shows all the flaws, and while it's cheap for the manufacturers to add the letters "HD" on the box, it does not a "HD" lens make...