Has anyone had good results putting a wide angle adapter on their 2/3" HD lens? I know a second lens is the way to go but not in the budget right now.

Take this with a grain of salt, but:

When I first bought my HDCam, and had a rather expensive Century Optics wide eye that I used on my 22x Fuji switchable SD lens, I called the lads at Century and inquired whether they would be producing an HD version of the wide angle adapter.

The guy there just laughed and said the optics on my adapter already exceeded what I would be getting from an HD lens.

YMMV.

Thanks Bill,

Did you ever try it on an HD lens?
Do you still own it?

I know Fujinon makes one but none in the country.

Hope you moved the camera.

Hey Paul,
I use a Wide Angle Adapter from Century internal Focus .8x adapter on my Fujinon XA17x7.6 lens. It just starts to vignette so I have to keep an eye on it. Picture quality wise I don't see a difference on the HPX-500 but maybe i would with a higher rez chip. Makes a big difference in angle of view so it is worth it. A newer design may not vignette.

Thanks Daniel,

I wrote to Century to see what they have for my lens. Appreciate the input.

Century wrote back and they have a .8x multi element zoom through and a .5 one element no zoom. Now I am waiting on 16x9 to see what they recommend. I know they have WA on their site but I like to know what they recommend for my 2/3" ZA17x HD lens.

Any others that people can recommend that are up to the HD quality with no vinetting and high distortion?

Paul:

It only fit on my Fuji 22x SD lens (which is still a great lens), but I used it for years on the HDCam, with excellent results. It only gets a tad soft at the full zoom range...but then, so do most lenses.

No vignetting at all, and almost no curvilinear distortion, unless literally right on top of a door jamb.

It is heavy, if you're doing a ton of handheld, but you get used to it.

Thanks Bill,

The Century sounds nice and the weight is not a problem. One of the many, many nice reasons to own a shoulder camera for handheld work.

Do you keep your UV filter on or take it off with the WA?

There .8x is on the top of my list. Now to see what 16x9 has to say.

I did try an older .8x Century but it was too soft. Model FA-8XIF-85.

16x9 wrote back and said their product is for 1/3" and 1/2" cameras and will not work properly on 2/3" chip.

Paul:

mine is the FA-8x20-00 model.

I usually just slipped it right over the clear filter.

Thank you Bill appreciate the model number and filter info.

The number I put up was the adapter ring. The one I tested was model .8x IF WA Converter so it is an older one.