HOT TIP: Canon C-8 Tele 1.4x
 

For those looking to extend the range of the FX/Z series, the Canon C-8 Teleconverter 1.4x is hard to beat.

see pic

http://i18.ebayimg.com/02/i/03/84/be/d4_1_b.JPG

This will extend your range from 54 to 75mm but is only useable above the 30mm marking on the zoom scale (partial zoom capable)

It was originally made for the Canon 1014XLS sound cine super 8, and thus is 'film glass' quality and is a simple 2 element design with an objective of 100mm and looks impressive on the FX/Z

Filter size is 67mm so you will need a 72-67 step down ring

A big advantage in terms of 1.4x magnification it also has the benefit that at the same reach of the stock FX/Z lens you only need to zoom in 70% and at that setting the widest aperture is F2 - which means you gain a whole stop

I've just bought two and each was less than $50 at your favourite world auction site

Now that I've made this public the price may go up - sorry about that but I guess that's life

great tip. how's the image quality? have you used it yet? also have you found any other teleconverters that can work?

heres a frame grab (tiff)

http://s24.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1...Y03VDHDEPYC3LP

John,
Are there any compromises since the filter is a 67 and you're using a step down to make it work.

I'm concerned about the red and green shifting going on in the image. Here is a jpg showing my concerns.

The bird looks pretty good though.

JPG Version

the converter works exactly like on the Canon 1014XLS - over 30mm and youre fine

the fringing - yes - check Matteo Ricchetti's posts on this

high contrast edges tend to bleed on the FX/Z - the cure is out there :)

i just bought one off of ebay and it came in today. good advice, this lens looks real solid. the outter rim is 100mm? is there a hood out there for this? can't wait to use it. i feel like i got a good deal. 1.4x canon C-8 for 60 bucks or century 1.6x @ 1000 bucks. hmm......

i am sure that the century lens is a little better but not $940.00 better.


thanks

joel

What about the 1.6x Teleconverter
 

Just wondering would the same apply to the 1.6x teleconverters ?
I know $60 isn't a huge amount, but if it's wrong it's $60 wasted as these seem to be the only ones available at the moment.

i thiunk the 1.6x converters are 48mm rear threads. so don't even try it.

joel

Hey Joel,

welcome to the 75mm HDV club !

A further tip is that Ive just acquired a Sigma VT5 5x (52mm threads solid construction 9 elements and roof prism and multicoated) and I am waiting for some step rings to test it - first impression is that it looks good at the top 25% of the zoom - and thats a whopping 270mm!! (~2000mm 35mm camera equivalent)

http://i1.ebayimg.com/02/i/03/c3/99/13_1_b.JPG


I will post some pix when the rings arrive

Chris, the 1.6x will work but only at about 20% of the top end of the zoom, but if you can find the step rings (48mm is an old size) go for it - the 1.6x has four spectra coated elements. They are quite a bit cheaper ($10-20) which is amazing vfm for film glass.

yes,

please let me know know how that turns out. people are probably thinking that we are stupid trying out these lenes.


joel

also john,

how much did you pay for that lens? and is that 20 years old like the canon C-8?


thanks

joel

I got the Sigma VT5 in the UK but translates to about $35 plus s/h in mint condition - yes its a golden oldie from the mid 80s

I am waiting on a 67-52 step to try it properly - let you know soon

What effect will all these thread conversions make? With the lens being further away from the camera lens won't there be some serious barrel distortion?

I am still very curious as to how all this pans out!

great! can't wait to see. please don't forget.

if you need ftp to post pictures let me know i got a ton of space and bandwidth.


j

Hey Joel

got a 60x clip for you (33M)

email me privately for that ftp space

just emailed you! :)

I couldnt access your ftp so you can get it here - 33mb

http://s11.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1YYTT40ZH7X9O3HDF8L6C2BYA1

the shimmer that you see is due to shooting through one mile of warm rising air :)

very nice. why is it 16x9 AR of 1.2 instead of 1.33? did you have to crop the video because of Vignetting? if so do you have any stills with the Vignetting? so i can see how bad it is?

Also the lens is super long, what type of lens support did you use or did you use any at all?

thanks so much,


joel


(i sent you over the corrected info for the ftp site)

All I can say after buying one of these on Ebay and chasing down a stepdown ring, is that I'm glad I only paid $15.00 for the lens, plus $18.00 for the step down ring. Figured for the price it was worth the education. It looks terrible on my Z1. I can't see anything wrong with the lens itself, just the way the image looks. Lots of barrel abberation and distortion.
If anyone wants this lens, it's theirs for the price of shipping.

i am not quite sure what "barrel disortion" looks like, but at full 1080i res i do see a "unclean look". but i think thats from the war air rising. i am thinking about using this lens for SD projects. now when i downconvert that File John jay posted it looks pretty good.

i would like to see something thats not super far away maybe something that is 50 yards. is that possible, john?


j

<<<-- Originally posted by Joel Corral : very nice. why is it 16x9 AR of 1.2 instead of 1.33? did you have to crop the video because of Vignetting? if so do you have any stills with the Vignetting? so i can see how bad it is?

Also the lens is super long, what type of lens support did you use or did you use any at all?

-->>>

Joel,

All I did was extract a 12 second clip using Procoder2 its pretty much as the original @ 25 mbs but with the extra encode of course - it is 1440x1080 16:9 no ?

I am currently looking for a lens brace - on my Manfrotto 117 it is a little sensitive to touch

The dirty look is normal - like binoculars - you are looking through billions of gallons of air - super telephotos suffer from low contrast, softer focus and chromatic aberation although the latter can be fixed in post. To fix the low contrast get the clip in After Effects and apply auto contrast - to fix the thermals shoot in the morning.

The VT5 is only useful at near max zoom giving approx 50-60x magnification and larger aperture than F4.0 and is really for those hard to access shots - at 50 yards well maybe all you get is a flower petal?

thanks for the info,

the correct pixel aspect ratio for HDV is 1440x1080 1.333. (correct me if i am wrong)

the file you posted is 1440x1080 1.2.


i am sold on the lens, i feel at 50 - 75 bucks its worth it. at the least i will be able to play with the lens and see for myself how it works.


any other "old school" telephoto lenes out there that may work? i would love to know.

joel

Yeah,

good value for certain shots (Baywatch? ha ha;)


just be careful - when mounted on the camera it looks like some kind of weapon / machine gun so dont shoot from tops of buildings without a bullet proof vest - peeps will think you're with the SWAT team :)

Spot, I'll take you up on that offer if no one else has yet.

well i finally got a SIGMA vt-5 but on the lens it says 43mm i thought it was 52mm? am i looking at the wrong side?


thanks,


joel

on the other side of the spectrum... any suggestions for a good MACRO lens for FX1?

Alex,
I bought a set of 72mm KOOD close-up adaptors: +1, +2, +3 diopter.
They work very well and can get me extreme close-ups.
You can add the lenses together to get even closer.
The good thing is that you get to use the zoom over the whole range as well...

Robin

Robin, search for KOOD only brings UK sites - do you think they are available in US?

Sorry Alex, I had no idea that they were only available here - especially since they are produced in Korea!
You could also try Hoya - I've used some smaller adaptors from them, but they should make them in 72mm.
Of course, you could always have the Kood filters shipped ;-)

Robin

Barrel distorton is not the worry - if anything it's pincushion distortion that might appear. I too have one of these fine C8 telephoto converters and use it with my VX2000, where I need a 58 mm > 62 mm step-up ring.

But whatever were Canon thinking when they made this big and heavy optic? OK, the build quality is fine and the image is excellent, but what were they thinking when they decided to apply no lens coatings at all? The 1014E and XLS had beautifully coated f/1.4 10x zoom lenses, yet this lens effectively destroys all that.

All I can say is use a good, deep, black, cylindrical lens hood with this baby. As you can't zoom back far the hood can be deep and efficient. Keep non image forming light off that huge front element.

tom.