Sony wide angle arrived and first test look great. Also the Century fisheye arrived and I can not get focus in any mood. Getting two jobs out the door so I will try in more detail next week and post findings.

[QUOTE=Alister Chapman;901394]Come on Guys, the EX1 is budget HD camera. A couple of years ago an HD lens with the performance of the one on the EX1 would have cost three or four times as much as the whole EX1 camera/lens assembly. In it's price range the EX1 has the best lens there is by a long way. Sony could have produced the EX1 with a longer focal length and no barrel distortion, but most people want a wide lens. You can't expect a Ferrari when you are only paying Fiat 500 money.QUOTE]

Someone promote this man.

I'm glad you like the Sony w.a., Paul. I had a look at one myself the other day... I also like what I saw. It does add some weight to the front of the camera though (might need to start working out). I'm still sitting on the fence; still considering the .7 Cavision - - I raised the issue of Quality Control with someone at Cavision, and was told they now have three quality control checks before a customer gets one. They're out of stock at the moment.
If I do take the plunge, I'll report back on this thread.
Cheers,
Malcolm

Sony WA
 

Malcolm, I also have the Sony .8 and use it regularly. All shots here were done with it as are most on our site.
http://www.keystv.com/dynamic/?locat...=528&pageNum=1

Good price...a bit heavy, bad sun shade.
Best, Craig

Paul or Craig can you post a pic or two showing screen shot with and without Sony WA... I am thinking of getting one but want to see just how much wider it really gets.... I have a century optics on my old VX2000 which is awsome and am still hoping their next release will work without issue with the EX1.

Jason and Malcolm I would suggest you just go for the Sony .8x it works well. Yes a little weight but nothing I noticed. Very crisp picture.

As for the fisheye I have to spend some time with it next week when I am done with the shoot through Monday. But first look was not good. It would not focus in AF or MF.

I will not be able to post stills till next week due to only 15 min in the office each day this week.

Did you have the EX1 set to Macro Paul? The fisheye is a lens adapter so it requires macro to focus?

M

...Never mind. Just seen your post on the fisheye thread.

Thanks Martin I will try that again when free on Tuesday thanks.

My mistake the Century Fisheye is working well. Focus ring forward, on Macro, and bottom switch either AF or MF both work.

Thanks for the help.

a quick update re wide-angle zoom-throughs... I've certainly received some good advice on this thread, and it's making me lean towards the Sony, but I thought I'd email Cavision, to give someone who's handled the lends a chance to talk up its good points.

I put it to this Cavision contact that:

- the Sony .8 wide-angle lens costs $500 and weighs 300 grams (I've tried it in a store, and even that feels heavy)

- and their Cavision .7 wide-angle converter costs $1345 (almost three times the cost of the Sony, then you need to buy a lens hood), and weighs 865 grams (almost three times as heavy as the Sony!).

Someone from Cavision wrote back to say that their lens if very high quality, multi-coated with three elements... and it is wider than the Sony, but in terms of the weight, yes, it is heavy, and he'd "probably recommend using a lens support, which means you'd
also need a rods support system"

I appreciated his reply, but it's kind of settled things for me. As much as I'd like a lens (that doesn't distort or vignette) that's wider than the Sony .8, the extra cost, and even more than that, the extra WEIGHT of the Cavision lens is too much for me.

Cheers, Malcolm

I'm guessing Mr Cavision didn't say his lens didn't barrel distort, did he?

Hi Tom,
No, he called it "the best quality lens we produce, multi-coated with three elements". He admitted to quality control issues a few years ago, with their wide-angle made for VX200, but said their lenses now get checked three times before being shipped. No specific mention of barrel-distortion.
Malcolm

Footage taken with the Schneider Fish eye, posted on my blog @
http://web.mac.com/stevecahill/Steve...r_the_EX1.html

Thanks for putting that up Steve, that's exactly the kind of example footage I wanted to check out.

Anyone know who has the Schneider .55X FE in stock? Adorama had one but it appears they are on back order now there too.

B&H should have it if you haven't already tracked one down. Abel Cine Tech had them last time I checked as well.

Ryan Avery
Schneider Optics

Here are two short clips one is the Century Fisheye excellent results on my last job the other is the Sony WA also excellent results on the last job.

Both clips are when I first tested the lens and are full size Quicktime files. The client does not want me posted clips till the footage is released so this is all I have for now. The clips will be up through mid day tomorrow. Once you click on the clips wait and they will play in Quicktime.

www.whitecapvideo.com/preview.htm

I would really love to see these, but it's not working for me. In IE, I get a white page with a 1920x30(?) black stripe along the bottom. In Quicktime (yeah, tried that too), I get a 1920x1080 black window and can see the indicator move along the timeline, but no video or audio.

Am I doing something wrong?

I think IE will not view the clips. No problem with a few who have viewed with Safari and Quicktime.

Paul, just to confirm....that was the .8 Sony WA attachment, right? Very nice timelapse.

I even download the .mov files and quicktime won't play them. Guess I need to run to Best Buy and pick up a Mac real quick...

Dave yes Sony .8x WA.

I downloaded the files and also was not able to view them in Quicktime. Hmmm.

I tried two different computers - one running XP and one running Vista, using the latest Quicktime. Also tried iTunes, VLC, Windows Media Player, and Sony Vegas.

I'd really love to see this footage for comparisons.

I just figured out why it's not working. Paul wasnt kidding when you said...

All we get for now is... nothing!

:-)

Ted you need to check all your settings since a lot of others are having no problem with PC computers.

The clients clips are on a different secure page!

I've just installed QT on a brand new XP Professional OS. When I try to open the clips after downloading, I get this message:

QuickTime:
Additional software is required for QuickTime to playback this media. It may be available from the QuickTime Components page.

On that page are DIVX and XVID components among others. I've tried those two and they haven't helped. I've also been all over the web trying to troubleshoot not being able to play QT files - can't find anything pertinent.

Could these files require that I have QT Pro installed?

It must be some codec I don't have, but don't know which...

Ted I think you do need Quicktime Pro but wait a few minutes and I will post the same clips in a different format to see if that works.

Ted try it now. Both WA and Fisheye are one clip that is 350MB H.264 full size .mov. This should work in Quicktime.

Paul,

Took a while to download (350 MB!) but it played back beautifully. You have helped me immensely!

I had never seen that fisheye lens in motion before, and I didn't realize how it would look as it moved. Because of your footage, I've determined that the Sony zoom-through WA adapter is what I prefer.

I called my supplier and cancelled my order in the fisheye (just in time - it was about to ship!) and ordered the WA instead - it's shipping today.

Again, thank you so much for this!!

BTW, I didn't even have to save and play that with QT - it played directly out of IE just fine. I'm not saying QT wasn't handling it from within IE, just pointing out the IE didn't get in the way of it.

Cool... I was able to finally view it... thanks Paul... looks good!

Glad that version worked for both of you.

Ted it is not normal to pan a fisheye it was a test. By the way that stone wall is straight.

I think the Century Fisheye is a very nice lens and complements the Sony WA. Both in the bag makes for a nice set of tools I use both for most of my shoots.

Well, I can certainly see that now. I've never owned one, and had intended to be able to do just that. However, watching the sample full screen on my 30" LCD - it honestly made me nauseated. Well, that combined with the realization that I may not be able to return the lens without a restocking fee if it had already shipped!

I really wanted a very wide view, but one that I could move around with. I think that the Sony WA is more what I was looking for.

Thanks, again.

Thanks Paul, I will now be getting a Sony W/A for the time being.