Anyone use the Zeikos ZE-4082 82mm wide adapter with the HM700?
 

I have occasional need for a wide adapter for the Fujinon 17x5 lens on my HM700. I can rent a nice one (.7x or .8x as I recall) from a local production services company when needed.

But sometimes it would be nice to go really wide... I happened to notice today on Amazon an adapter I hadn't heard of:


Normally $189.99, I picked this up for $34.69. Amazon must employ some kind of dynamic pricing as stock runs down, as I see just moments later they've bumped the price up to $54.36.

Lucky me? Is this thing garbage or will it come in handy sometime when I really need to widen the view? The specs were vague but I'm assuming this isn't a zoom-through converter.

In the long run I'll be saving up for a proper wide converter around .8X, such as the one that 16x9 is manufacturing.

Feedback/suggestions appreciated. ("Return it!" is always an option, too.)

Well I've received and tested the Zeikos lens adapter... Verdict: Meh.

It doesn't seem to really be ".4X", feels more like a ".8X" but with all the distortion as you go out to the edges that you'd expect from a .4X. Loads of chromatic problems at the edges (silver door hinges appear like a prism with distinct red/green/blue halos.)

I haven't used a lot of lens adapters but I can't seem to make any useful changes with the focus ring on the (adapted) Fujinon lens. It appears to affect perceived magnification slightly but not actual focus. Perhaps that's normal.

So will I send it back?

Probably not... there's a "Part 2" to this, and that is that the Zeikos separates into two parts. Take off the outer portion, and the inner lens acts as a "super macro", with the opposite of what would be considered fisheye distortion. Can focus on things seemingly right up to the lens to about 6" away before becoming really warped. I can see using this as a special effect filter someday.

So, for my $35 (plus shipping), I got a nearly useless .4X wide function (but maybe, maybe, useful in exactly the right circumstances, but at the cost of a fuzzy/chroma-distorted image), but a sort-of-cool special effect super macro lens.

So it looks like I'll have to save up $600 or so for a proper wide angle converter with zoom-through. (Anyone use the 16x9 brand?).

That's fine, but I'll also have to carefully consider my applications... that's getting into SLR-with-video territory and maybe I should consider something like a Panasonic GH2 instead for those situations where I need a wider lens (but no XLR audio, limited record times, other limitations, etc.)

I can put up a video of examples from the Zeikos if anyone's interested.