Is this Canon YH16x7 KRS IX12 suited for Sony?

[Luc De Wandel]

I've been sent a picture of this 1/2 inch Canon YH16x7 KRS IX12 lens. Does anyone here know, just by the look of it, if this will fit a Sony 1/2 inch XDCAM-camera? Any experience with this lens?

[Chuck Fishbein]

Sadly, I believe it will. Shame that.

As it is a hot mount lens, it was probably designed for one of the earlier SD XDCAMs, a DSR-300 or the UVW-100 betacam.

My dealer offered me one, nearly brand new for tenth of it's original cost and unfortunately, after some testing, the images proved quite unsatisfactory.

As the lens was designed for SD, there were immediate issues with sharpness, chromatic aberration, (orange and blue fringing) and an inability to properly cover the 16x9 format, causing even more softness on the sides of the image. Even stopped down to 5.6 or 8.0, the results were poor.

I say "sadly", because it looked so pretty on my EX3. Funny how the cameras have gotten cheaper, but good glass is costing so much more.

[Luc De Wandel]

OK, Chuck, thanks for this sound advice! Strangely enough, on some Canon site I found this lens denominated as 'HD': "The YH16x7 KRS utilized advanced technologies and powerful computer-aided design techniques to produce a very wide-angle HDTV lens in an impressively lightweight 2.0 lb package".

HDTV? Very WIDE angle ? (for 3:4 perhaps, yes)

Anyway, I just wanted to check, because I have one older Canon broadcasting SD-lens, a H20a x6IRS, and that one even outperformed a Fujinon HD-lens that I tested, at least in sharpness. So some of the oldies prove to be quite good, but apparently this one isn't. Thanks for the warning.

[Alister Chapman]

Sounds like you had a duff lens Chuck. The image area on a 16:9 sensor is smaller than on a 4:3 sensor, so to get vignetting would be very unusual. Both sensors are the same width it's only the height that's reduced for 16:9.

The YH17x7 is an SD lens, not an HD lens. I did get good results with a YH19x6.7 SD lens on my F350.

[Chuck Fishbein]

At first I thought the same, Alister, and I did have the opportunity to try more than one of the same lens, but, I only tried it on my EX3.

I didn't get vignetting, but I did get extremely soft results on the left and right, where stopping down to 5.6 or 8.0 should have cleaned things up a bit. And although I could get a sharper, let's say, "a usable image" at some settings, it performed poorly at others. Interesting that it worked well on your F350 in HD.

Believe me, at the low offering price, I wanted this lens to work.

[Luc De Wandel]

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

The YH17x7 is an SD lens, not an HD lens. I did get good results with a YH19x6.7 SD lens on my F350.

I suppose you meant YH16X7, Alister, or are you referring to still another lens?

Someone's offering me the YH16x7 for a very reasonable price, but I cannot test it. I wonder if I should take the risk. Especially because there's another possibilty: I can have the standard Fujinon that comes with the PMW320K. The price is about the same. Which one would you prefer?

[Alister Chapman]

Sorry my typo, yes I meant the 16x7.

I would get the PMW-320 lens. It's a good lens. From what others in this thread have said the YH16x7 is not a good lens.

[Luc De Wandel]

OK, Alister, thanks for the advice. By the way, your site has been a big help in learning to adjust my camera.