On Thu, 21 Sep 2000 10:01:52 GMT, "Aaron Taylor" wrote:

>Can anyone help me find an inexpensive fisheye lens? I have looked all over
>the net in vain.
>I need a 46mm or a 30.5mm lens.

I have acquired a collection of cheap Series VII threaded
fisheyes over the last few years - these were common for
still cameras a good while back (horrible performance,
though, for that purpose...) and were sold under many
brands (and were mfgrd. in many different forms, instead
of being the usual common type, just rebranded...). They
can be adapted to video cameras using adapter and step-up
rings. Currently, I think Adorama sells a version, as do
some other large discounters. Oddly, some work well with
particular camcorders and with particular lens-to-converter
spacings, but none works well with all my camcorders.
These can be quite sharp when matched with some camcorders,
but some are uncoated and give problems with backlighting.
For less width, the Sony VCL-ES06 is reasonably sharp on
all camcorders I've tried it on, and it is cheap, compact,
and light (some of the fisheyes are quite heavy and large).
With the Sony, experiment with spacing between the camera
lens and the WA converter to optimize width of view and
field flatness. It gives some curvature like a fisheye
and it is quite wide (rated .6X, but that changes with
spacing...), so it may serve your purposes.