WA Converter / Schneider Optics - DVX vs HVX

Segarza

Segarza

Well-known member
Hi guys!

About a year ago I decided to by my DVX100 a WA converter from Century Optics. I was very dissatisfied with its performance. The center of the image would be sharp, but all around was extremely soft. I tried stopping down, with little or no improvement. The only way to get rid of the soft effects on the edges was zooming in.

I now own a HVX. There are two options for WA converters, Schneider and 16x9inc. Has anyone experienced "soft edges" effect with these lenses?

How does the Angle of View change from one cam to another?, considering 16:9 CCDs on the HVX. Lenses on the cams are: DVX100 4.5mm vs HVX 4.2mm

Best regards,
 
16x9 definitely has soft edges at full telephoto. At wide-angle it's crystal-clear and edge-to-edge sharp, but if you zoom in it gets very blurry on the edges at max tele.

As for FOV, in 16:9 mode the HVX is noticeably wider than the DVX; in 4:3 mode the DVX may be a tad wider than the HVX.
 
Thanks Barry! Interesting findings. With the Century Optics converter and the DVX I had just the opposite effect. Telephoto + lens stop down = crystal clear. Wide angle even stopping down, very soft edges.
 
Interesting -- you're saying that with the Century wide-angle adapter, if you zoomed all the way out, it showed soft edges?

I'm saying that with the 16x9, if you want to use it for wide shots, it's crystal clear edge to edge when zoomed all the way out. But if you have the converter attached and you zoom in, the edges get supersoft.
 
I'm expecting a Century Optics 0.6x WA adapter tomorrow afternoon. It's not zoom-through, only useable until you get to about 5x. I'll check the sharpness sometime on Thursday (probably won't have any light left by the time I get home Wednesday).
 
Great! As long is I can be able to do a slow and short creeping zoom 5x is enough. Thanks!
 
The good news is that the WA adapter arrived and UPS even honored my hand-written note to leave it at my door instead of leaving a failed delivery notice.

The bad news is that it is dark and foggy outside, and my home doesn't have anything interesting I can shoot, so sample video will have to wait until tomorrow.
 
I owned the Century Optics .75x zoom through wide angle lens for a few months, however ended up selling it because i wasnt pleased with its results. Barry im not sure how you received your results, i too had the exact oposite of what you describe.

With the adapter on the HVX, at full tele-photo (full zoom) the edges were sharp and crystal clear. On full wide with the adapter, there was noticable vignetting and the edges were soft. The reason i sold it was due to the fact that when i tried to zoom-in ,to eliminate the vignetting, i had to go in tighter than the same field of view without the adapter to get a clean frame- when discovering this, i couldnt justify the price of the 'zoomable' function to the adapter.
 
Well, that's rather silly -- I mean, the point of a wide-angle converter is to deliver quality shots at wider than normal wide angles!

I haven't used the Schneider .75x, but I have used the 16x9 and I can tell you that it definitely delivers clean wide shots at full wide.
 
Rhydon,

That's exactly what I experienced with the .7 WA Converter for the DVX. Total waste of money IMHO. Had to zoom in and really stop down the lens to work around the soft edges.


So Barry, just to double check... you're getting soft edges at telephoto end, not at wideangle?
 
Oops sorry didn't read the complete thread. Yup completely opposite effects. I'll post a still in a couple of mins.
 
Soft edges example:

gcc009.jpg

Century Optics .7 WA Converter for DVX
 
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I'm not talking about the Century/Schneider, I'm talking about the 16x9 Inc .75 wide-angle converter. Different product. I haven't used the Century/Schneider .75x, but I have used the 16x9, and the 16x9 is sharp edge-to-edge at full wide, but when you zoom in it loses edge sharpness. Which, I think, is far better than having a wide-angle lens that is soft at wide angle!
 
Then 16x9 is definitely the way to go. Around what Z number do you start to notice the loss of sharpness around the edges? Like I mentioned earlier, I'd be more than satisfied as long as I'm able to zoom just a bit.
 
segarza... yes man, that's some bad looking edge softness... would bug me too. Glad I checked this thread as I'm hoping to get a wide angle for some skate videos I'm doing. I'll have to check into the 16x9... anyone have a website and price on that one?

The century doesn't look too appealing anymore.... and its an expensive bummer too!


Anyone have an experience with the Schneider 2x tele-converter? thats' another one I really want to get. I believe that you've used it right Barrry? or or something like this?
 
The still I posted is for the Century Optics 0.7 WA Converter for DVX. However Rhydon is reporting similar results with the HD 0.75 WA Converter version.
 
I've no idea, all I can say is that after buying a very very poorly built mattebox from CAVision.. I'm kind of skeptical about their products' quality.
 
It's still overcast here and the light is poor, but I wanted to post one picture and a short video I took while futzing with the new Century Optics / Schneider 0.6x WA Adapter. The picture below shows the lens (which uses the bayonet mount and is not screwed onto the threads), along with one half of the case which also serves as a lens cap. The lens itself is threaded for 102mm filters.

CenturyWA.jpg


The movie was recorded in autofocus mode (the recommended setting), and the camera switches to MACRO to maintain focus. Focus is lost as you zoom in at around 30mm.

Because of the lack of light, the lens was wide open, and because of the obligue angle, the edge of the picture is naturally out of focus. I did not observe a significant softness at the edge, nor was there significant CA (this is why I was shooting the white wall).

1280x720P 2Mbps QuickTime Movie
 
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