I played with these converters in my 35mm days.
It is ALWAYS best to stick with the camera manufacturer's converters which were DESIGNED for your camera.
IF you have access to a major retailer who stocks aftermarket (3rd party) brands such as Raynox, you can spend some time there trying out various combinations ON YOUR camera. With the number of people buying off the Web these days, that usually isn't done.
All camera lens and conversion lens designs do not "go together" well.
One of the first two issues are how far from the FRONT element of your camera's lens should the REAR element of the converter be: there's only ONE distance that works properly. Usually you get a series of Step-up/step-down rings with the converter to match your filter threads. These place the converter slightly FARTHER from the prime lens, and may affect the resolution of the combination greatly, either in the center or at the edge of the image. You probably won't be able to focus sharply in both areas at once.
Then there is also the possibility of vignetting (black corners, where the prime lens sees the edge of the converter). This might not be apparent if you test in a bright area, and may only show up when the widest aperture is used in dim lighting.
I should tell you of another forum thread where the user bought a "cheaper" wide angle converter than the one from his camera's maker, found it was vignetting, so zoomed in to move the black corners out of view. Of course this effectively negated the whole purpose of the wide angle converter (he added 0.7x to the view, then took it away by zooming in). Of course he saved $50 ;-)
Next is the addition of flare and ghosting in the images, due to the converter possibly being of inferior glass/lens coating quality, and also that you cannot usually add a lens hood to shield it from direct rays from a strong light source (spotlights, sun, etc.) which would assist in this regard.

I Have talked with the Canon tech rep for the Gl2... He said that he would not recomend anyone's telephoto extender for the GL2... he said there would alway be problems with any of them such as vinetting.

He said wide angle attachments are fine. Does anyone here have any opinions?

tia

While I agree with most of what you've said, there are a few things I think should be pointed out. For a start, simply because it's from the manufactor of your camera, doesn't mean it's going to work well with it.

Using still photograhy examples here, my Raynox DCR-6600 (0.66x) pro works much better with my Oly C-740 than my Oly C-180 (1.7x). Perhaps it's realated to the fact that the Raynox lens cost three times as much.

Also, if you do go with a lens from the maker of your camera, buying from them is generally a bad idea. Have a look around on google and ebay and you'll probably find a much cheaper price for the same thing.

Hi,

I'm looking to get a narrow depth of field with a PV-GS120. Right now I have to get farther away and zoom in, to blur the background behind the subject. I'd like to be closer, so I believe I need a wide angle lens.

1. Am I correct that I have 37mm threads to mount the new lens?

2. Does anyone have any lens recommendations?

3. And, are there any pro's and cons to using a step-up ring aka adapter ring to go from 37mm to 43mm? Is a 43mm lens "better"? Is there a bigger assortment of 43mm lenses? Would 43mm somehow help give me the narrow depth of field that I want?

4. I actually *want* to create vignetting. It suits a project I am doing and if I can't do it in the lens I'll have to do it in my video editor. How can I get it to vignette? Intentionally create too long of a focal length?

Thanks to anyone for any help with all my questions! This forum is great for exchange of information.




Bubb Rubb


Edit: Wow! Check this amazing article on depth of field:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/dof2.shtml

Looks like I want to go the other way, with a telephoto??
Notice how the perspective is what changes the most...

If you want narrow depth of field, then you should just use ND filters to bring down the lighting and thus open up the aperture at the same shutter speed.

The things MentorRon said are certainly true for 35 mm cameras and they largely apply to camcorders as well but there are other considerations when it comes to camcorders. First off you will be hard pressed to find a lens designed specifically for a consumer grade camcorder. Many common lenses are designed for still camera use and their capacity as a video lens is different. Being able to zoom through a lens is something not all lenses are equal at. You may find that your lens works well at full zoom but not at 1/2 zoom.

Most of the time you can find people with actual experience with a particular lens on a particular camera these days. That's they greatness of the internet and web sites like these. Vignetting issues can be discovered before plonking down your cash for an eBay lens. If nothing else you can be the first to try that particular lens and camcorder combo and sell the lens on eBay if it doesn't work well with your camcorder. There will likely be other camcorders that lens will work better with.

I have an issue with one of my eBay lenses not being the correct distance from my main lens. It is true that this can cause a problem. It is also true that you can often adjust the distance to your lens and correct those problems. I screw my zoom lens out about a quarter of a turn and it works much better with my GS250. You may need to screw your lens out even further or add adaptor rings as suggested. You can put a piece of paper or a rubber band in the threads to get your lens to stay in the proper place if needed. This trick has been around since the early days of cameras. Of course if your lens adaptor isn't as close to the camcorder lens as it needs to be then you're pretty much out of luck.

You really aren't likely to ever get a perfect lens adaptor for a camcorder. It's just a matter of too many things that can be wrong. But you can get a reasonably good lens for your camera. And checking the internet for actual experience with a combo of lens and camcorder is the best place to start. In fact aside from vignetting you can generally find a good use for almost any lens on a camcorder. You just can't use it for everything you might want. You might be able to zoom out fully and get a good image but at half zoom you could find lots of problems. You still have a useful lens. You just have to use it only at full zoom.