Wide angle lens
 

Can anyone give me a brief report on the Fujinon TH13x3.5BRMU? I am using the stock lens at the moment, with a ten year old Optex x0.7 + x0.5 wide angle adaptor. Of course this is not a zoom through adaptor, so it's constantly on and off the lens, and is well past it's retirement date. I bought a redEye adaptor a few months ago, but am not happy with it - it shows up every bit of dust, and since I work in news, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, it gets a lot of dust....

My questions would be:

1: where in the UK can I buy a Fujinon TH13x3.5BRMU? - extensive Googling has not turned one up.

2: is this lens as wide at its wide end as my current Fujinon 16x5.5 + optex 0.7/0.5 combo?

3: How much heavier is it? Does it stress the mount on the camera?

Any thoughts much appreciated.

BTW, I'm in Pakistan working for the BBC at the moment. If any other DVInfo members are around, and want to meet up in Islamabad in the next few days for a beer, drop me a line.

Hi Robert,
If you search on this forum, you will pump into multiple posts of this subject with even footage and pictures with comparisons with the standard lens.
Myself, I'm using a Century Wide angle on the standard lens which works-out pretty good. And it costs much less then the 13x lens and goes wider.

I think dust and drops on the front element will be a challenge to control on any ultra wide-angle situation with this camera. The 1/3" format and the detail of HD exacerbate the situation and more care will be needed.

I've heard nothing but good things about the 13x, including a UK international doc project where they used only that lens. The price was reduced significantly in the last year. Was over $10K, now under $7K. I've played with it at demos, and it's compact (no mount stress) and nicely constructed.

Regarding the field of view, you'll find Tim Dashwood posted some very clear comparison frame grabs somewhere in this section, but optical physics works as well.
The 16x is 5.5 - with .7x= 3.85 (less wide) but with .5x =2.75 (wider).
It will be a LOT straighter and cleaner though, not mention zoomable and ready to use in other situations immediately... In fact, you could probably put an adapter on this lens too if you want to go wild with perspective.

I want to know, if it will be possible to use the 1/3 Zeiss lenses from the new SONY HDV cams. Could you use for example the wide optional lens for JVC?

Fujinon W/angle
 

Thanks for this guys - Marc, I agree the Century combo (badged as Optex in the UK) makes for great pictures. My problem is that I can't run a clean environment for it, so it gets a beating. A camera assistant to hold bits of glass, sticks, spare batteries, cigarettes etc would be nice, but that's not in any news organisations' budgets any more. Sadly.

Sean, thanks for the technical stuff; I hadn't worked out the numbers, and the business of the 1/3" chip making a difference had completely passed me by. I didn't have this problem when I used the adaptor on my old JVC J15 on the (2/3") Betacam I used to use. Your explanation makes good sense, and your info on the price drop on the Fujinon, and its usability, is very encouraging. I'll get back onto Google and see what I can find.

I guess that putting a new Century 0.7 on the 13x would make for some really interesting frames...

Canon J15, not JVC, of course....
 

... it's been a long fortnight.