On Fri, 09 Aug 2002 08:53:05 GMT, "Winston Wolf" wrote:

>Hey there fruitcakes... I was looking for a wide angle lens for my Digital8
>camcorder, as fitting stuff into the picture was always a problem and wide
>angle shots always look more "cool" anyways. So I tried the Sony VCL-0637H
>at a store and was pleased to see the autofocus worked and I could zoom
>through the entire 25x optical zoom range. So I bought the lens and went
>home. After hooking up my camcorder to the television, I saw what the
>picture really looked like. Softer and blurry, and every source of light
>caused huge flare. Goddamn this just sucks, I can't shoot anything with this
>piece of crap... So I took the lens back the next day and the bastards
>agreed to refund my dosh.
>
>I went to another store and they had a Sony VCL-ES06A, which was more
>compact in size, light, and had a cool "snap-on" attachment and came with
>three adaptor rings to suit various diameters. I got it 10 bucks cheaper
>than the 0637H, and went to a boat trip to try it out. When I checked the
>footage in the evening, it was great! Picture was sharp and clear, I could
>even point it straight at the sun and not get disturbing flares! It just
>looked beautiful. And whenever I wanted to shoot without it, I could remove
>it in 1 second, then re-attach just as quick. It isn't a full "zoom-through"
>lens, but with my cam I can zoom.. here let me show you. In the
>viewfinder/LCD the level of zoom is displayed by this little dial that looks
>like this:
>
>W |o | T
>
>With the ES06A, I can zoom to:
>
>W | o | T
>
> ...before it goes out of focus. That's more than enough. And if it's not,
>the lens is just too easy to take off.
>
>Recommending this WA lens to anyone. Forget the blurry crappy zoom-through
>stuff, that's for amateurs.

Been recommending this WA for years...
BTW, you can increase its width of coverage
and corner sharpness some with most small cameras
by adding up to three empty filter rings between
the lens and converter (preferably 52mm filters,
to avoid vignetting). For comparison of this WA
converter with others that also fit the VX2000,
see: www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/WA-converters.htm.