Canon 43mm 0.7X Wide Angle: My Review
 

Got a chance to take a look at this lens; here's
what I found.
CONSTRUCTION: Feels solid, isn't overly large. It's not black, though. Wonder why they made it silver.
It will match well the silver color of most non-black
consumer camcorders. : - )
ACCESSORIES: Leatherette, draw-string pouch and
plastic end caps.
SHARPNESS: I just eye-balled it at wide and mid-zoom while looking at some black and white print. Also checked macro. No noticable sharpness reduction. Sharp edge to edge, too. Looked great. (Didn't check it at full zoom in, though.)
BARREL DISTORTION: Compared it to a 0.65X Optex.
Canon had a bit more barrel but nothing out of the
normal range. The 58mm Canon wide is known
for having a bit more barrel than some, but pros
still use it. If you're shooting architecture or are just
anal about distortion, best to maybe check out the
Raynox lens as I've heard there's less distortion there but they may/may not have sharpness and/or flare
issues.
FLARE: When I first saw the Canon front glass I noticed that it wasn't very recessed so I began thinking about getting a lens hood to deal with flare. I did some tests where I induced flare in my DV53's normal lens and then put the Canon through the same
situations. To my surprise, lens flare was not much
worse than without the lens. Canon seems to have done a nice job with lens coating. And the lens surface isn't overly large. I'm gonna put off getting that lens hood for now.
VIGNETTING: There's *no* vignetting, even when the
full frame is viewed in an NLE.
LIGHT TRANSMISSION, CONTRAST, SATURATION: I
checked these on scopes. There was about a 1%
reduction in all these areas. I think this is
quite good considering the added glass and the
coatings. This 1% reduction is probably not even
noticable to the naked eye; only on scopes. I don't
think you can expect any better out of a lens.
Good job, Canon.
HUE/COLOR SHIFT: Checked this on scopes: no
difference lens on or lens off.

My conclusion is that this is a *very* good lens.
Clear. Transparent. Sharp. Handles flare well.
With a touch of barrel distortion. A good value
for the price of ~$139.

For those who haven't been following Dave's posts recently, he's using this WA adapter on his 3-chip Panasonic DV953.

Dave -- thanks for the report!

Would this fit Canon D300 ?
 

Hi Dave! Thanks for sharing info on Canon wide angle lens. I wonder, have you tried it on a still camera? I plan to buy Canon D300 which I think has 52mm mounting thread... and wonder if it will fit it? And of course, about the quality of photo using this lens? Ciao, Boyan

Thanks, Dave. So this wide would be one to consider for the 43mm threaded Pana cams. I wonder if it's better than the Raynox HD5000pro?

Boyan,
The quality for stills wouldn't be a problem
but I don't think it'll fit. You're best off staying
with one designed for your camera. Vivatar
makes some alright camera lenses.