3rd party fisheye for HMC/HPX?

Strobe Media

Strobe Media

Well-known member
I was lurking ebay like the spend-aholic i am, and came across this

http://cgi.ebay.com/0-3x-Ultra-Fish...4|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

anyone know anything about this? I'm currently using the 16x9 inc .45x Super Fisheye, and it's nice, but as you know it's not all that wide, and i film a lot of skateboarding, where as you know, wideness in a fisheye is essential.

So i was calculating my budget and whatnot, and decided to either.

A.) Buy this lens
B.) Modify a Century Optics Mark2 fisheye to fit my hmc
C.) Buy an SD camera with a wide fisheye as a B-cam
 
i'm also reeally on the border of getting that. I know all the fisheye shots in this video were filmed using it. could you tell us if the fish shots in that video are noticeably wider than the ones in your own?

if you go with your option C, you could always get an hv20/babydeath setup
 
i was more along the lines of either a VX1000 and Century fisheye or DVX100 and century fisheye

edit: I just left a comment on the video, unfortunately it looked like all of his fisheye shots were out of focus, not sure if he just didn't focus right, if the fisheye isn't zoomable to z19 or I don't know what else.
 
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Strobe Media said:
I was lurking ebay like the spend-aholic i am, and came across this

http://cgi.ebay.com/0-3x-Ultra-Fisheye-Adapter-4-Panasonic-AG-HPX170-HMC150_W0QQitemZ110363349031QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item110363349031&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50
Click to expand...

I saw this a few months already and I wouldn't buy it. Look at the vignetting and the blurriness in the borders of the example video. I think century knows very well why they don't offer the regular 0.3x death lens for the HMC. It's because of the native wide angle of the HMC the vignetting will be even worse and that's not what you want. If you want to go extreme then you need a lens similar to the HVX extreme fish which is very expensive.

As for skateboarding, I think today's extreme fisheye perspective is heavily overrated. I think if you learn how to deal with 16:9 aspect ratio with a 0.45x fisheye could be way enough for fisheye shots. You just can not expect to shoot like 4:3 aspect ratio. There needs to be a mindshift for HD video because the width is now more important than the height.
 
This post is pretty unnecessary but I love the look of the hv20/baby death setup. I plan on getting that later on instead of a fisheye for the HMC... i'd just much rather skate around with a <$1k setup than with my HMC. And really if I'm filming fisheye its only going to be rolling shots anyway
 
I agree too.. The vignetting and edges look like crap on this and having something so wide is a one trick pony kind of lens.


I really loved the .55 Century that I had for the HVX. Wide but not stupid wide.. and it's a bayonett mount.. I grew to love that lens and also the telephoto one. I would be more inclinded to get a cheap super fisheye and get an expensive wide as the super fish is only for specific things and a nice wide could find it's way onto the cam for lots of things..

I believe the new Century wide has partial zoom throgh.. that's even cooler..
 
sure... This is what Century.. now knows as schneider optics has for the 150/170.

http://www.schneideroptics.com/century/dv/AG-HPX170/AG-HPX170.htm


I really love their stuff and if you decide to ever sell it you'll get prett much what you paid for it. I bought my HVX fish for 500.. used it for almost two years.. then sold it to a friend for 500 as he knew I took care of it and he needed it asap.


One thing though with this fish.. be sure to clean the lens before and sometimes during.. and then maybe even after each shoot. Since you have to focus right up on the lens.. you'll notice every smear, grain of lint or whatever and they don't come with anyway to screw in a filter or whatever... maybe you could put it behind a mattebox or such.. but then you are dealing with other issues. Just be prepared to clean clean clean before rolling.
 
pailes said:
As for skateboarding, I think today's extreme fisheye perspective is heavily overrated. I think if you learn how to deal with 16:9 aspect ratio with a 0.45x fisheye could be way enough for fisheye shots. You just can not expect to shoot like 4:3 aspect ratio. There needs to be a mindshift for HD video because the width is now more important than the height.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. So many people get into HD and try to mimic SD style fisheye filming; it just doesn't work that way. Personally, I love the look of 16:9 aspect and fisheye. I use a 16x9 fisheye and have learned to deal with it (I used it first on my DVX, so it was already a step down from the typical century ultra fisheye). The less-wide/less-distorted look is more pleasing to me and also more useful for things outside skateboarding. And the lack of vignette is a huge plus.
 
I am also planning on buying a HMC151 + a fisheye in the future.
But doesn't the HMC already have a wider lens than normal camera's? So then it wil mean that the 0,45 fisheye. wil also look the same as a 0.3 fisheye on any other camera (Don't know if this is right, just a thought)

Sorry for my english.
 
The HMC150 does have a larger sized lens, that of an HPX170, but it won't make the fisheye that much wider, not nearly that of a century Xtreme fisheye or the mark1
 
adhd said:
I am also planning on buying a HMC151 + a fisheye in the future.
But doesn't the HMC already have a wider lens than normal camera's? So then it wil mean that the 0,45 fisheye. wil also look the same as a 0.3 fisheye on any other camera (Don't know if this is right, just a thought)
Click to expand...

The native wide angle of the HMC plus the 0.45 Century fisheye will result in approximately 107 degrees of viewing angle (horizontally). My GL-1 plus the 0.3x Death Lens had around 123 degrees of viewing angle.

On a sidenote: On a Canon XH-A1 the same fisheye will only result in 93.2 degrees of viewing angle, so the HMC makes quite a difference.
 
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