DV Info Net - Anyone use this lens?

DV Info Net (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/)

- Sony HVR-Z1 / HDR-FX1 (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-hvr-z1-hdr-fx1/)

- - Anyone use this lens? (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-hvr-z1-hdr-fx1/67014-anyone-use-lens.html)

If the corner-to-corner measurement of the Z1 hood is bigger than the outside diameter of the Aspheron then maybe it could be made as a tight push fit if the hood is cut carefully. I'll send you a PM in a minute Tom.

I have a Century .7X zoom through available for sale. It is listed in the clasified section. It's brand new in the box.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

The Cavision hood is pretty useless on the Aspheron, and that's simply because the Aspheron sees so wide that the very corners of the frame are actually *just* picking up the Aspheron's front ring. I use mine unhooded now, thanking the lord for T* Zeiss multi-coating. Another point: The Cavision hood is 4:3 and you really need a 16:9 hood. Anyone know of one?

tom.

Have you tried just making a homemade disposable matte box? I use a method similar to this link:
http://www.sticktowhatyouknow.com/bt...box/index.html
I find it works well, and it's cheap. As long as you aren't trying to impress a client (or are shooting in the rain), it is a great alternative.

'Your administrator has disabled private messaging' I'm told, Nick.

Chris - I did in fact make myself a hood, but it's too fragile for professional run'n' gun, which is what I do.

tom.

Moderator note:

Several posts have been moved from this thread into a new thread in the XL2 Forum since they were specific to that camera: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=73328

I've sent you a message via email instead Tom. If it doesn't arrive pls send the drawings to the email address you'll find on the contact page of my signature. Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen Claus

Yeah, Joe, I'm looking at that one, too. The problem I have with the Sony is whether or not .8x is going to be wide enough for me. This lens (whichever one I buy) will be specifically for shooting home interiors for a real estate agency. Their sample video--which they'd want me to duplicate--is simply a series of one slow pan across each room, so I would have to fit the entire room top to bottom in one sweep. This is New England, where we have a lot of old Victorian homes with many small rooms and I will probably need as wide a lens as I can get. I also noticed some obvious barrel distortion on their sample, so maybe the .6x would be acceptable to them. I guess the next step for me would be to contact this potential employer and see what they say about it. I think you have a pretty good deal on the Sony. Don't worry, just because I bought an FX1 instead of a Z1U doesn't mean I'm a "cheap-a**". (I might be a "dumb-a**" but definitely not a "cheap-a**".) Hey, are we even allowed to say "a**" on this forum?

Hey Stephen,

Back to the shooting interiors of houses with the wide-angle lens, I do that for a living here in southern California and use wide-angle lens all the time for my Z1-U. Just beware of the the up-down pans for they really show the barrel distortion using any wide-angle lens. The horizontal pans work somewhat though and I have been succesful at doing this more with the Century 0.6x wide angle than with the Century 0.8x lens. There was more barrel distortion with the 0.8x lens. You can check out one of my recent movies I did for an agent that appears when you open his website: http://keithmuirhead.com
I used the .6x lens on just about every shot, except for a couple of sunset shots. The latter part of the movie shows the interiors. Tell me what you think.

Hey, enjoyed the tour around the palace. The barrel distortion was there if you cared to look for it (the three car garage shot at the end seemed to be one of the more obvious ones) but I liked your slow zooms and pans Ramon, also your lighting and positioning.

Is the Century 0.6x wideangle a partial zoom through? Do you have a 16:9 hood for it?

tom.

Hey Tom - see my thread about this lens and hood here: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=58525

You can zoom part of the way - never really did a serious test, but I'd guess it's somewhere around halfway. I was just playing with this lens yesterday. I love the expanded field of view, but at full HD resolution it is definitely soft. This wouldn't be as much of an issue if downconverting to SD or for a website. Ramon is correct, as you tilt upwards the barrel distortion becomes extreme. You can really see this outside in the open when you have a view to the horizon. Shooting with the horizon at the center of the frame gives you a flat line. But as you tilt up or down you get either a "smile" or a "frown" :-)

Yeah, very true Boyd. You definitely want to avoid the "smile" or "frown" look. I had that in a couple of my shots in the interior. As far as horizontal panning though, the worst and noticable time when the barrel distortion is apparent is if you have an ocean horizon or a pair of straight pillars that end up curving outward. I shouldn't have used the wide-angle lens for that one particular shot in the video, but oh well, still learning and the client didn't complain about it.

But the .6x is a partial zoom-through. You only have a little bit less that halfway to play with though. But it's a big difference still in the amount of expanded view that is captured. I would definitely recommend it especially for filmming interiors, for it makes the house and rooms look bigger.

''I would definitely recommend it especially for filmming interiors''

Can't agree with you there Ramon. What architect wants his walls and ceilings and doors and windows shown curved?

If you're seriously into filming bulidings then it's time you investigated in one of the single element aspherics, for they - and only they - will keep the barrel distortion at bay.

I'd seen your thread Boyd. Trouble is my Aspheron needs a 16:9 hood that can clamp to a 112 mm outside diameter.

tom.