Hi, i think this is my first post, but anyway...

Has anybody Used the Raynox MX3000 super wide angle/semi fisheye with their camera filming in widescreen? Especially with the Pana GS400? Just curious to know what the effects are if any etc etc. basic observations...

Hope someone can help.....

West

OH and also, how far can you zoom with this lens untill everything becomes out of focus?

I don't understand why you want to zoom through a semi fisheye lense? Why not simply remove the semi fisheye lense to zoom?

Regards
Leigh

Hi, i think this is my first post, but anyway...

Has anybody Used the Raynox MX3000 super wide angle/semi fisheye with their camera filming in widescreen? Especially with the Pana GS400? Just curious to know what the effects are if any etc etc. basic observations...

Hope someone can help.....

West

OH and also, how far can you zoom with this lens untill everything becomes out of focus?

well....
just because say i use it in underwater housing for filming bodyboarding. i may want to start at say 6x zoom to be a little closer than as they come to me pull it right back to complete wide angle. then i know if i can do this or not.......its a bit hard to take a fisheye on and off when your out in the water hahahaha. anyway thanks for reply

West

Well,

Seen as though know one could help me out, ill asnwer the question myself. I went and bought one....i think its a great lens, gives you a very wide field of view without the spherical distortion, which im thinking will go great in my underwater housing. There was NO vignetting at full wide angle, i shoot in widescreen and was expecting maybe a little in the overscan. You can zoom to 3x before you get a complete blur that cannot be manually focused.

Well thats it!

West

Hi West,

Can you post some pictures to compare with/without fisheye for same object?

TIA

Regards
Leigh

i dont know how to put pictures onto this....so here is some links.
-this one is the camera with the lens on (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/13001374025.jpg&s=f5)
-This is the one without the lens on (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/13001363066.jpg&s=f5)
-and this is the lens on my camera (http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=5/13001350045.jpg&s=f5)

there ya go! :)

Hi West,

That is cool.

Regards
Leigh

West,

Sorry I didn't see your post earlier. I have the snap-on version of this lens.

No problems with vignettings. Slight chromatic abberation and softening at the corners, nothing terrible. Definitely some barrell distortion, but not like a fish-eye. As long as you compose correctly and don't move the camera, the barrell distortion isn't terribly apparant.

It's a good lens. I've used it for effect, and I've used it to get shots that would have been impossible otherwise.

Josh

.....
OH and also, how far can you zoom with this lens untill everything becomes out of focus?

My XL-3000, the snap on version of the MX-3000 supposedly using the same optics, gets out of focus after zooming to just over x3.