UPDATED - just recieved my century fisheye 0.55
 

just got home from vacation and saw a b&h box at my door. i was happy to see the fisheye i ordered last april has finaly made it here. opened the box and put it on my ex1 to try it out. my excitement was soon over as the image was way out of focus. i took the lense off and re install a few times and it was blurry. played around with the focus ring to try to get it to focus...no luck. verified the the zoom was all the way back...no luck. took out the instruction that came with the lens and followed it step by step...no luck.

WTF!!!! now i am piss. waited all this time and i get this?!? does anyone have the fisheye? am i doing something wrong? the image is way out of focus...not just a little.

UPDATE: got the fisheye to work!!! called century and found out i needed to do two things

1) turn macro ON
2) turn auto focus ON

This is the second case of this I have heard about... I so wanted to get the Fisheye because I have one for my old VX2000 and I love it! This does not sound good at all. So far it sounds as though the EX1 is hit and miss with Century Optics's accessories which I have always used...Can you post some pics of what the results look like.

Have you switched the "macro" on,on the cam ?
There's also a "wide angle" setting somewhere in the menu.

Paul

Don I have had the same problem. Paul good points I tried Macro on and the wide angle setting with the same problem of no focus..

I am also very upset that this does not work. Options for a fisheye that works with the EX1?

I tried this one at NAB works great but when I put it on my cam had the same problem the rep from schneideroptics changed a setting on the cam and it focused. Also make sure your zoom is full out these are not zoom through lens.



http://www.schneideroptics.com/Ecomm...=1474&IID=6373

I was going to order one of these but that's on hold now. Seems hard to believe that they would ship a product that just plain didn't work but when the first 2 people trying it say the exact same thing . . . .

What other settings would affect this thing working?? Their ad says partial zoom through as well. For a company known for great products seems like they would give you detailed instructions if these are that finicky!

I have the same problem like you guy. The best way to do it is return to the place you order. I bought from B&H and easy for return.

Just because it focuses still doesn't mean you have a good copy. Anyone who can get the lens focused properly, could you please check to make sure the image is acceptable, not something like what Paul got when he tried the defunct Century 0.75x zoom-through adapter a while back!

I myself have had some bad experience with Century adapters before. My first 37mm 0.65x Century adapter was totally unacceptable on my Sony HC1. It sure seemed to be a defective unit. The store saw the image and allowed me to exchange for another one. The second unit was noticeably better with symmetrical softness at the edges, a fair amount of vignetting and moderate CAs. I was then not quite sure if that was as good as it got for an adapter that wide and for the "consumer" thread of 37mm so I bought a cheaper 37mm Sony wide adapter which was a little less wide at 0.7x. Guess what, it was miles ahead in quality and that was only on the first try!

Too bad, the choice of fisheye lens is much more limited. What will Century's response be this time?

Wacharapong

You would think, since this is a Sony EX1 specific lens adapter, they would make it very clear that you need to turn the macro on and auto focus on... like in huge RED letters or something. To have to call the company on something as basic as this makes it seem Century isn't on the ball. I'm only going by what I see here, no personal experience, but geez, why would a company risk their reputation, in this world of internet and forums, on something that would be so easy to eliminate with simple instructions?

I have the Sony .8x and I hope Sony makes something even wider. Somehow this EX1 glass is throwing off the third party companies.

Pull the focus ring forward towards the lens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! switch to macro and you WILL be able to focus as long as the zoom is set to wide. BUT the focus ring must be pulled forward.

This is how I use mine without any issues. All the inside shots of the helicopter, were shot with this lens. @ http://exposureroom.com/members/stev...63f772ec0226e/

Don, (or anyone)

Can we see some footage taken with this adaptor on?

Exactly - the reason being that this is the only position where the MACRO is effective.

MACRO has no meaning whatsoever with the focus ring set to FULL MANUAL!

C´mon guys! Getting upset about not having instructions printed in red telling you to try something as basic as turning macro on to make an add-on adapter work sounds a bit ignorant to me. Give the guys making this thing a break!

So what is the word on this it works great as long as Macro is on and Focus is in Auto or full Auto?

Call me ignorant then, because in all honesty I would not have known to do this unless instructed to do so. I come from a photography background and am new to videography, and I'd be asking myself what in the heck does "macro mode" have to do with a wide angle adapter? And I'm sure there's plenty of people out there like me. What's so tough about printing two simple sentences of instruction to make sure this is known by users of all experience levels?

Yes - MACRO must be ON.
No - Focus doesn't need to be auto; it must NOT be full manual though for the MACRO to work.

I'm still not clear on exactly how one has to shoot with this lens onboard. Obviously the cam has to have the ring forward in AF/MF mode, macro enabled and zoom at full wide but does Auto focus have to be switched on as well and if it does have to be in full auto AF does it hunt at all?

Just read Piotr's post, thanks for clearing that up!

I agree with you, Buck. I'm coming from that world as well and it wouldn't be obvious to me either to turn on the Macro mode. Also, nobody has said anything about the menu setting for the Lens Adapter (or was it Wide Adapter?) and how it should be turned on or not. For this kind of money, it isn't going to kill them to spell out all the steps. Also, I'm not crazy about handing over the focus duties to an AF system that I don't trust to pick the correct point of focus. I'm not big on putting all my subjects in the center of the frame all the time.

This is how I use mine without any issues. All the inside shots of the helicopter, were shot with this lens. @

http://exposureroom.com/members/stev...63f772ec0226e/

Pull the focus ring forward towards the lens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! switch to macro and you WILL be able to focus as long as the zoom is set to wide. BUT the focus ring must be pulled forward.

Their is no focus issues with this lens as previously reported.

Thanks for the help and Steve thanks for the message. I am shooting every day through Monday but will try all the options in detail on Tuesday and post some still of my results.

Sorry if I was a bit harsh! Did not mean to... To be honest I had just finished a poker game (lost) and had had a few glasses of wine. Thats maybe why I was a bit short tempered. :-) Of course they should print that you need to turn on macro in their manual.
All I am saying is that when it comes to things being out of focus there are not that many factors to consider...

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.

Paul,

Did you need to turn on the WA setting in the menus?

Rick i did not use the WA setting in the menu for the fisheye but I do use that setting when I use the Sony .8x WA.

Just to clarify, are we speaking of the Century .6x in this thread? The title of the thread is .55x and I went to Century's website and only saw a .6x and an extreme fisheye for wideangle, nothing saying .55x.

Steve, your interior helicopter footage was great, it looks sharp corner to corner.

Ola, no worries, bro!

Ck this out Buck:

http://www.schneideroptics.com/ecomm...=1474&IID=6373