On 16 Jan 2003 08:47:43 -0800, nolonemo@yahoo.com (Alan) wrote:

>I was disappointed that the Sony .6x VCL-630S wide angle lens had so

>much barrel distortion that I ordered a Raynox .7x DVM-700 to compare

>with it. It turns out that when the Sony is zoomed to the equivalent

>area of view of the Raynox, the Raynox has noticably more barrel

>distortion. Given that the Sony has the option to go wider than the

>Raynox, and has less distortion when it's head to head with the

>Raynox, I'm keeping the Sony. It is larger, but that doesn't bother

>me.

>

>I've posted comparison shots at

>

>http://www.geocities.com/nolonemo/SonyRaynox/lenscompare.jpg

>

>These are captures from actual TRV-18 video footage. I've rotated the

>shots so they will fit side by side on a computer monitor. I might

>redo this in better light eventually, to include a comparison of

>corner light falloff and corner resolution, but who knows.

The camcorder lens without the converter will also show

"barrel distortion", though less... Generally I'm more

concerned with other image-qualities, like sharpness in

corners, flare, etc. than with linear distortion (and

barrel distortion can be our friend - see these URLs:

www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/perspective-correction.htm

www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/articles.html#perspective).

BTW, I compared several converters for the 58mm-threaded

VX2000, at: www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/WA-converters.htm.

The best for low distortion was the Raynox .66X, which

is rather large (though light), and it can be adapted to

small-front lenses (it often is poor near longest zoom,

and it flares easily - but it is sharp on most lenses

over most of the zoom range...).