Panasonic 953 fisheye and ?'s
 

After extensive research of 3ccd camcorders and those that are close, I have pretty much decided on the 953 over the GL2, similarily priced canon xi and a few sony's. I don't think you can beat the value for this price. I have one big problem I need to film with a fisheye. Mostly snowboarding shots. Great for follow cams less shake and makes everything look bigger. I have not been able to find a .3 lens or anything close. How do you think this camera will perform in flat light (overcast cloudy days) and super bright sunny days with lots of light and even more after all the reflection off the snow. Does panasonic have a huge problem with grey market versions like canon does? Are the lens packages for this camcorder on ebay good deals? I was thinking about buying from buydig.com I believe they are NY based, but have good feedback and a great price. $987 + 25 ship. How do these camcorders hold up. Snowboarding = rough temps, rough rides and possible exposure to water. Should I buy an extended warranty

I answered my own question on the fisheye. Raynox has a HD 3030 pro .3x semi fisheye. This was exactly what I was looking for. It's available at bugeyedigital.com. Anyone have expierence with this lens or no anything about it. It's a 37 mm but comes with a 43mm adapter.

I saw a .38 on Ebay for that camera, it was a wierd brand tho for $50, it had a Ti body which is good but I dont know about the optics.

BTW I have decided on that exact camera for snowboarding this year.

Check out my thread here

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=15735

A couple of things to remember when shooting snowboarding:

1. Remember to over expose about 1 stop to avoid 'grey snow syndrome'.

2. Cold kills batteries.

3. If shooting while riding have someone ride beside you to keep an eye out for stray punters. One of the things that makes shooting from skis better than from abouar is you can still see what's going on around you. On a board you have a big blind spot on your healside.

4. Try to shoot across the fall line as shooting from the bottom of a face will make it look flat. Shoot from high on oposite faces, this is where the 20x zoom of the GL1/2 comes in handy. Try to use a tripod as much as possible when not riding, especially for long shots. For pipe shots, the oposite wall is a good place, or from behind the rider down the center of the pipe, skis are best for this to as you have a good 180 degree arc.

And remember to always be aware of where you are shooting, from both a punter point of view when in bounds, and an avalanche point of view when shooting in the back country. I've heard too many "man it was a great booter but an avalanche wiped it out" stories.

Have fun guys and good luck but remember to get some lines for yourselves.

With an adaptor down from 43mm to 37mm, you are bound to get vignetting, unless you zoom a little, which reduces the fish-eye effect.

I will say that it may be better to go for a 43mm 0.4x or 0.5x than to use a step-down adaptor.

I am using a 'brandless' 0.42x meant for 37mm and I have to zoom to 2x to avoid cataching any 'black ring' on my shots. But then again, the MX350 has a wider angle than an MX500 (probably similar to DV953), so the vignetting will not be as bad.

fisheye lenses for panas
 

hi. i had a panasonic pvdv601k that had the 43mm thread. it was a pain, but with the 43-37mm step down ring, i was able to get pretty good results with the kenko .43x fisheye, as well as the raynox .3x clip on. vignetting was minor with both of these setups.

I ordered a Raynox Hd3030pro yesterday for my dv953, so i will post my results next week, also the camera lens itself is not 43mm, its only 28mm so you are actually stepping up not down! just the filter threads are oversized to 43mm. Unscrew the hood of your camera and you will see that there is plenty of room for the adapter ring- so I dont expect any vignetting. I will post my results next week.

FYi Raynox makes the HD5000 in a 43mm version, but is not really a fisheye, just very wide angle.

heres my results!

And I must say I LOVE the 16:9 in frame mode with this lens,

The lens was more than I expected in quality absolutely no vignetting

Bugeyedigital.com kicks ass! It arrived in 3 days, total price was about $115

click here for pics

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