20x and the widest 35 mm equivalent
 

i know it says 38.9 mm (equivalent) is the widest the 20x goes.

but i briefly looked through it and it looked a little wider. and someone told me it was, too.

has anyone really put it side to side with a 35mm lens?

i'm shooting a feature with two H1s in february and 38.9mm is way too damn long and i'm freakin out b/c i don't think we can afford something wider.

which begs the question (sorry if there's another post on this): what's the best-cheapest option for getting the H1 a little wider?

Cory,

A few people have put the 3x on the H1 and reported 'satisfactory' results. Until an HD specific wide angle lens is released, this might be your best option. In terms of pricing, they seem to go for about 800 dollars regularly on Ebay... double that new. (Though shopping around will find you some deals).

Cheaper than that, are the 'add on's from Century Optics and Optex, I believe. Do a search of various reports on different issues such as chromatic abberation and zoom through.

thanks richard.

if anyone knows where to look for those kinds of reports let me know. i've been searching and i don't see anything helpful.

seems the add-ons, if quallity, HD specific and made for these cameras, would be preferable AND cheaper, but then again, i don't know what i'm talking about.

Century has apparently recently released and add-on that they advertise as HD compatable.. I very much doubt that anyone here has experience with one on an H1 yet...

Some brave soul is going to have to plunk down some cash, or else visit Century in Burbank and evaluate it. I used to be very trusting of Century's products back in the good-ol' surf movie days, but since they've become more of a "box store" I tend toward caution, or else I would be that soul... Steve Rosen

I shall attempt this mission post haste, as I live in Silver Lake.

If you (or anyone) can give me a few tips or tricks for testing, things to look for and compare, I might be more useful.

You know, there are lots of testing procedures that have been posted in this forum to evaluate things like chromatic abberation.. but I suggest that you put the camera on a tripod, shoot something representative of what you normally shoot, shoot some static and panning footage with and without the adapter... If there are bright blues or reds in the scene, look closely at the edges in the static shots and see if there is noticeable bleeding...

but, basically, just see if it appears sharp, or if there are things about the image that say "cheap crap lens adapter"..

Cool. Appreciate it. I'll try to get over there next week.

Cory - the 16X manual lens actually goes slightly wider than the 20X lens, but hardly noticeable.

I use both the Optex converters and the Red Eye wide angle converter lenses on the 16 X Manual Servo lens. (Optex are no longer operating, but Red Eye is still in production and constantly improving or updating their products).

Rene Collins (of Red Eye productions at Collinscraft, Canada) has also recently designed a new wide-angle lens for the H1 and other HD cameras - "...There is another product that I will introduce this year which is being designed to replace it. The conversion factor will be based of the 16 x 9 HDV format rather than 4x3. The conversion factor, .*X, has yet to be determined. Lower dispersion material, higher resolution and improved coatings will be featured in this new product. We are in the prototype phase and will start testing in a couple weeks..."

This news from Rene sounds extremely interesting, and I hope to try the HD 16X9 version out soon and compare it to the earlier 4X3 version (.5X & .7X lenses).

The .8 Century Optics HD adapter does not work with the H1, according to Century Optics. And Rene (Red Eye) wrote me back and said he's not ready with his yet, so it appears I'm screwed trying to get the H1any wider without rolling the dice on an SD lens. If anyone out there has an answer, please send me a life-line, as I'm shooting it two weeks.

Interesting Cory...
 

...I'm have pretty much the same problem and was just about to order the Red Eye (so what to do?). I rented the 3x zoom this week, and i just can say it didn't like the set up. I can't exactly tell you why, i just didn't feel right! And it was damn hard to focus. Anyway I think it's quite strange that Canon didn't put a HDV wide on market at same time as launch (when Canon claims to be the lens company).

PS. I saw at the site for one of the sponsors (www.16x9inc.com) a wide converter (which maybe is) designed for H1. The problem (and the same goes for Century) is that the H1 turns quite front heavy with a large solid three piece converter. It is front heavy (and heavy) as it is! DS.

I have the Optex 0.7 and 0.5 adapter with a clamp ring that fits my H1 and it appears to work well, although I have not done any in depth testing. Initial results look promising. I also have a cheap 0.5 HD wide adapter that I got for my Sony Z1 and this also fits and works reasonably well on the H1. The cheap adapter does soften the image a little, I would guess that any adapter made for the Sony Z1's 72mm thread would also fit the H1's 72mm thread and work.

Alister
are you putting a 35mm adaptor On top of the Canon Lens?
or attaching it with a relay