EX1 wide angle and Telephoto lens

Graeme Fullick · April 18th, 2008, 06:07 AM

Has anyone tried the 0.6X Century yet? I noticed that it was available on the B&H web site - in stock.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ide_Angle.html

Paul Cronin · April 18th, 2008, 01:49 PM

I was able to get one jpg to upload the tif will still not go. I will keep trying for the 24' and 48' along with the shots with out WA.

Sorry I could only get the one file to go but you see the problem. And this is not random it is in all 6 clips which was on both cameras.

Bill Ravens · April 18th, 2008, 01:50 PM

I see a fair bit of CA.....not too pleasant.

Dave Morrison · April 18th, 2008, 01:54 PM

The upper lefthand corner makes me seasick! ;)

Eric Pascarelli · April 18th, 2008, 01:55 PM

I have to say that the shape and color of the distortion in the corners is pretty horrible.

Is that full wide?

Jason Bodnar · April 18th, 2008, 02:47 PM

I sure hope that is just a defective WA cause that looks very very bad...I have a Century WA on my SD camera right now and it looks great! I wanted one for the EX1 as well but if this was tested at released for shipping??? Bad news.

Paul Cronin · April 18th, 2008, 02:57 PM

I agree I hope this is a defective unit and not normal. My dealer is very slow getting back to me on a RA # which is not good news. I sent them pictures and they said they would talk with Century.
Yes Eric it is full wide. There is 20% of the outer edge of the frame that would not focus at any zoom or settings.

Paul Cronin · April 19th, 2008, 07:40 AM

Not sure how or why but I was able to upload the rest of the stills in jpg.

Hope this helps.

Tom Hardwick · April 19th, 2008, 07:47 AM

Not quite sure what we're seeing here Paul. All shot with the w/a in place and the camera moved? All shot at max w/a? All shot at f/4 or thereabouts?

I think it would be better to shoot something more 'test-chart' such as a brick wall or side of your house - that way barrel distortion would be more easily assessed and the CA inspected. The camera needs to be perfectly perpendicular to the wall of course.

tom.

Paul Cronin · April 19th, 2008, 09:17 AM

Tom this was posted earlier.

Here is my test of the Century WA lens for the EX1.

I did a test this morning and thought the results were flawed then I did a second test this afternoon with the same results. The morning test was two cameras side by side with better background so I will post the results of that test. In the next post I will put the pictures from the afternoon test. All pictures are .tif right from FCP 6 to keep as much information as possible.

There are six pictures three with stock lens and three with wide angle from 12 feet, 24 feet, and 48 feet all perpendicular to the wall with in inches.

Settings:
MF
ND2
1080p 30P
5600K
-3db
1/60
3.4-4.0

I am focused on the left door in the middle of the wood. I did try the WA option in the menu but there was no change in the results.

I am very disappointed with the distortion of the WA. No matter how hard I tried I could not get the outside edges of the frame in focus. And at 12’ the distortion is huge just look at the upper left corner. I don’t know if I have a flawed unit or not. But why have a WA if you can’t use the whole frame. My lens is going back to the dealer.

This surprised me since my last three WA lens from Century were excellent.

The lens is on the way back I do not need to do more test to prove it is not worth having in my bag. I prefer to do test in real world situations and we do some interviews in front of this building with boats set up behind.

Sorry I can't do more detail test but I am on the road for two weeks as of tomorrow.

Craig Hollenback · April 20th, 2008, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Cronin

I agree I hope this is a defective unit and not normal. My dealer is very slow getting back to me on a RA # which is not good news. I sent them pictures and they said they would talk with Century.
Yes Eric it is full wide. There is 20% of the outer edge of the frame that would not focus at any zoom or settings.

Paul. I have the Sony.8x WA and while it does introduce a slight overall curve to the image, it doesn't cause the riple effect of the Century Product. I only wish I could find a way to remove the built in sunshade.
I was really hoping to purchase the Century.6 as I own 3 of their other adapters, but not if the image quality is that bad. It's really unuseable.
Thanks for posting and good luck with your return.
Best, Craig

Paul Cronin · April 20th, 2008, 10:15 AM

Craig I would not base the .6x Century on my finding with my .7x Century. Also mine could just be a defect in the first run. I agree I have always had great success with the Century adapters so this was a real disappointment.

Steve Shovlar · April 20th, 2008, 11:04 AM

Can't belive the Century adaptor is that bad. They are normally excellent. Looks to me that something has gone seriously wrong because a WA released like that would detrimentally affect their business.

I also own the Sony EX1 WA and its great value for the oney, though perhaps not quite wide enough and the fixed on shade is a pain.

But it gives far better results than the Century, for a third of the money.

Get onto Century. I am sure they will sort it for you.

Paul Cronin · April 20th, 2008, 11:10 AM

I agree Century will sort it out and they will keep putting out a great product. I am not worried since I know they will send a RMA # along and as I said the telephoto is great with a fisheye coming.

Jason Bodnar · April 20th, 2008, 09:19 PM

Paul, I can't wait to see the fish eye...Please post when it arrives as that is on my list too. Did you go for the Extreme? or the cheaper version?

April 18th, 2008, 06:07 AM	#16
Graeme Fullick Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Newcastle, Australia Posts: 337	Has anyone tried the 0.6X Century yet? I noticed that it was available on the B&H web site - in stock. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ide_Angle.html __________________ Graeme

April 18th, 2008, 01:49 PM	#17
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	I was able to get one jpg to upload the tif will still not go. I will keep trying for the 24' and 48' along with the shots with out WA. Sorry I could only get the one file to go but you see the problem. And this is not random it is in all 6 clips which was on both cameras. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com Last edited by Paul Cronin; July 22nd, 2008 at 01:39 PM.

April 18th, 2008, 02:57 PM	#22
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	I agree I hope this is a defective unit and not normal. My dealer is very slow getting back to me on a RA # which is not good news. I sent them pictures and they said they would talk with Century. Yes Eric it is full wide. There is 20% of the outer edge of the frame that would not focus at any zoom or settings. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

April 19th, 2008, 07:40 AM	#23
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Not sure how or why but I was able to upload the rest of the stills in jpg. Hope this helps. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com Last edited by Paul Cronin; July 22nd, 2008 at 01:39 PM.

April 19th, 2008, 09:17 AM	#25
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Tom this was posted earlier. Here is my test of the Century WA lens for the EX1. I did a test this morning and thought the results were flawed then I did a second test this afternoon with the same results. The morning test was two cameras side by side with better background so I will post the results of that test. In the next post I will put the pictures from the afternoon test. All pictures are .tif right from FCP 6 to keep as much information as possible. There are six pictures three with stock lens and three with wide angle from 12 feet, 24 feet, and 48 feet all perpendicular to the wall with in inches. Settings: MF ND2 1080p 30P 5600K -3db 1/60 3.4-4.0 I am focused on the left door in the middle of the wood. I did try the WA option in the menu but there was no change in the results. I am very disappointed with the distortion of the WA. No matter how hard I tried I could not get the outside edges of the frame in focus. And at 12’ the distortion is huge just look at the upper left corner. I don’t know if I have a flawed unit or not. But why have a WA if you can’t use the whole frame. My lens is going back to the dealer. This surprised me since my last three WA lens from Century were excellent. The lens is on the way back I do not need to do more test to prove it is not worth having in my bag. I prefer to do test in real world situations and we do some interviews in front of this building with boats set up behind. Sorry I can't do more detail test but I am on the road for two weeks as of tomorrow. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com Last edited by Paul Cronin; April 19th, 2008 at 09:22 AM. Reason: move old post forward, add a few comments.

April 18th, 2008, 01:50 PM	#18
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	I see a fair bit of CA.....not too pleasant.

April 18th, 2008, 01:54 PM	#19
Dave Morrison Major Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: West Central Florida Posts: 762	The upper lefthand corner makes me seasick! ;)

April 18th, 2008, 01:55 PM	#20
Eric Pascarelli Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 498	I have to say that the shape and color of the distortion in the corners is pretty horrible. Is that full wide?

April 18th, 2008, 02:47 PM	#21
Jason Bodnar Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Seattle WA Posts: 376	I sure hope that is just a defective WA cause that looks very very bad...I have a Century WA on my SD camera right now and it looks great! I wanted one for the EX1 as well but if this was tested at released for shipping??? Bad news.

April 19th, 2008, 07:47 AM	#24
Tom Hardwick Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Billericay, England UK Posts: 4,711	Not quite sure what we're seeing here Paul. All shot with the w/a in place and the camera moved? All shot at max w/a? All shot at f/4 or thereabouts? I think it would be better to shoot something more 'test-chart' such as a brick wall or side of your house - that way barrel distortion would be more easily assessed and the CA inspected. The camera needs to be perfectly perpendicular to the wall of course. tom.

April 20th, 2008, 10:15 AM	#27
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Craig I would not base the .6x Century on my finding with my .7x Century. Also mine could just be a defect in the first run. I agree I have always had great success with the Century adapters so this was a real disappointment. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

April 20th, 2008, 11:04 AM	#28
Steve Shovlar Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Dorset UK Posts: 697	Can't belive the Century adaptor is that bad. They are normally excellent. Looks to me that something has gone seriously wrong because a WA released like that would detrimentally affect their business. I also own the Sony EX1 WA and its great value for the oney, though perhaps not quite wide enough and the fixed on shade is a pain. But it gives far better results than the Century, for a third of the money. Get onto Century. I am sure they will sort it for you.

April 20th, 2008, 11:10 AM	#29
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	I agree Century will sort it out and they will keep putting out a great product. I am not worried since I know they will send a RMA # along and as I said the telephoto is great with a fisheye coming. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

April 20th, 2008, 09:19 PM	#30
Jason Bodnar Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Seattle WA Posts: 376	Paul, I can't wait to see the fish eye...Please post when it arrives as that is on my list too. Did you go for the Extreme? or the cheaper version?