1/2" Lens Options

[Joe Walker]

Being that many of us are curious how the HD100 performs with 1/2" lenses does anyone have an opinion on which ones would be good? I noticed that B&H has both a Canon and a Fujinon that are like 6.6-112 and 7-112. Would those be good? They both mention semi-servo, never heard of semi-servo. Both of these models are going for $999. Is that too cheap? Should I be looking at glass with higher price tags? Any thoughts?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=241576&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

[Bill__Turner]

I have to admit being curious about what the perceived advantage would be of buying an inexpensive 1/2" lense versus the inexpensive 1/3" lens made by Fuji for the camera.

I could understand it if one had the lens already, potential money saving opportunity, or if one was going to use a more expensive broadcast quality 1/2" lens (perhaps once again you already owned it).

I am seriously trying to understand the rationale.

As for Semi Servo, I suspect it means auto iris and servo zoom but manual focus.

Bill Turner
Schneider Optics
Century Division

[Joe Walker]

To make things even more interesting, Canon has a 1/2" 4.8-58mm lens with an extender that makes it a 9.6-116mm. It's selling for $7,295. To me that's a much better deal than paying $13,000 for a wide angle zoom with no extender. Will JVC ever sell just a body-only kit?

[Barry_Green]

Yes they'll sell a body-only kit, at $5495 retail.

That Canon 1/2" 4.8-58 will be wider than the stock Fujinon, but nowhere near as wide as the wide-angle Fujinon 3.5x13 lens. And, it remains to be seen how well the Canon would perform when shooting HD. Well, for that matter, it remains to be seen how well the 13x3.5 Fujinon works too!

For SD I'm sure it'd be fine. The question is about whether it'll work adequately for HD. I used to be really skeptical, now I'm more open to the idea that it may work better than we'd expected.

[brianluce]

at evs the $5495 includes the lens.

[Nate Weaver]

Street price for body without lens will be around $4700. EVS's $5495 is street price for the HD100's $6295 retail price.