On Mon, 30 Oct 2000 08:08:41 -0500, Jack
>I would like to purchase a wide angle conversion lens for my Sony TRV -
>103 camcorder. I had the opportunity to use a camcorder this past
>weekend that had a Kenko 0.5 Pro on it and loved it! However that Sony
>camcorder had a 52 mm mount, mine has a 37mm mount.
You can use a 37->52 (or maybe 49mm - some Kenkos fit
both) step up ring to fit it - but it is not just the inherent
quality of a converter that matters, but how well it works
with a particular camcorder's optics (matching of converters
is necessary for best results, which means trying a few
converters to find the best on your camcorder model).
>Kenko does make a
>couple of "Hi" (a step down from the "Pro" I presume) conversion lens
>with the 37 mm mount. They have a 0.5x wide with 2 elements in 2 groups
>and a 0.42x w/ 3 elements in 3 groups with macro.
The .5X are not fisheyes (though the line curvature is very
noticeable [a not-undesireable characteristic, BTW, for
better-looking people and smoother-looking pans/tilts with
extreme wide-angles...]), but the .42X are.
>Does anyone have experience using any of these lenses and if so what to
>you think?
See above...
>Another brand?
Raynox is often good, as are some others. BTW, the most
"universal" converter I've found (it is good on most everything)
is the inexpensive Sony one-element VCL-ES06,
which can be adapted to many camcorders up to 58mm front
thread size. (Best when you experiment with lens-WA
spacing with this for best field flatness with
infinity-focus subjects.)
>Is there a big difference between the 0.5x and the 0.42x?
Yes and no... The .42X is obviously wider, and has the very
strong fisheye curvature, but the .5X is very wide, and
also has very noticeable line curvature. The .5X are often
"zoom-through" (allowing zooming the whole range with
reasonable sharpness); the .42X rarely are (they are for
WA only).
>I assume the number of elements affects the quality is this correct?
Not necessarily... The maximum number found in these
converters is three elements; aspheric surfaces can reduce
the number of elements without loss in performance; some of
the best converters are single-element aspherics (though
these do not allow for much zooming before loss of
focus ability [for WA use only...]).
>Can the Kenko 0.5 be used on the 37 mm mount with an adapter without
>problems with distortion?
The ring size is not really the issue with distortion (though
if you are using only the center of the converter,
distortion may appear less...[?]).