VCL-308BWH Wide-Angle Lens Hood & Filter
 

Are any of you other guys experiencing this? After you screw a lens filter on the VCL-308BWH Wide-Angle Lens, the lens hood won’t go back on. There’s simply not enough room between the filter and the hood. So if you plan to use any kind of filter, like a clear protective filter or a polarizer, you won’t be able to use the lens-hood.

I recently took the VCL-308BWH to a large electronics – camera store here in Tokyo. The store was nice enough to let me take the filters out of the boxes and try them on the lens but to my surprise, not a single one was thin enough to allow the lens-hood to be reattached. Not even the “thin” or “wide” type of filters fit.

I’ll keep looking for a solution. In the mean time if anybody else is experiencing this or has a solution, please let me know.

I don't have the wide angle lens, but it seems that since a clear filter fits on the stock lens, one should fit on the wide angle too.

should is the key word

a lot of things should be

Have you tried contacting Sony? It would seem pretty mean of them not to make room for a thin filter.

Zach, the wide-angle lens is 82mm while the stock lens is 72mm. I thought I'd ask around first before contacting Sony, but that's on my list of things to do in '09.

That's not good.

I was planning on getting the Z7 and the wide angle.
hmmm.....


As far as I'm concerned, a uv filter for protection is a must.


-Bill

Sony are telling you not to fit a filter to the front of their wide-angle converter, and it's very good advice indeed. When you're talking focal lengths in the 3 mm region then even keeping the front element of the wide-converter spotless is nigh on impossible, and adding a filter brings two more imperfectly cleaned surfaces into the picture. And with a filter placed ahead of the front element the dust and imperfections are even more included by the deep dof than the native front element alone.

tom.

I never put any filter in front of my camera. If not in use, just a flip of a switch and the lens is covered and protected. I do event and never have a problem.

Jun

Tom, thanks for the advice. the VCL-308BWH is the actual lens, it's not an attachment. My two-cents is always keep a protective filter on your investment. It's just a matter of time before it will come into contact with water, mud, gravel, a zipper, spit, what have you.

I guess the solution is to be extra careful w/ the lens & always close the barn doors (the lens hood has these just like the stock lens, right?)

overall, how do you like the lens?

The lens has only been used on one job so far so I can't really give a good evaluation right now. But I'm satisfied with it. It's a good lens.

Any noticeable difference in image quality from the stock lens?

I've found that I get problems with internal reflections from screw on filters on the Z7 stock lens. Has anyone else found this? It seems to be a particular issue with this lens.

I certainly hope you're using super multi-coated filters with any lens you attach to your camcorder. Whatever you attach up there becomes your zoom's front element remember, and as such needs to have the very best coating available.

You're dealing with focal lengths in the 1"/8 inch region - so space your fingertips that far apart and marvel at the tiny dimension from optical centre to chip surface. And remember this - if Sony thought adding another element to the front of their zoom was going to improve it in any way then it would be there. It isn't, so take note.

tom.

Thanks for that advice, Tom. I'll reconsider using a filter.

Review?
 

Hi Anthony, you have been using the lens for a while now and I would like to know what you think about it.
I'm really interested in buying a Sony Z7 with this lens, but would like to know more about it.

Could you perhaps share some footage shot with it? How does it compare to the stock lens, etc.?

Same here, I would like to know how it performs. In the specs I see that is has a (35 mm equivalent) of 24mm in it's widest angle. That is not really wide (I'm used to 14 mm on my photo cams). Is it wide enough for you?

I can show you two newsitems I shot with Sony's wide angle lens and standard lens on the S270:

Wide angle lens:

Zwaargewonde bij botsing met wals op snelweg Zideo, de grootste Nederlandse videosite waar je geld verdient met jouw video.

Standard lens:

Grote uitslaande brand in leegstaande boerderij Zideo, de grootste Nederlandse videosite waar je geld verdient met jouw video.

For foreign users, please skip the Dutch language voice-overs....

Tomorrow I can shoot two footages with both lenses from the same position if you want.