Are all wide angle lenses created equally?

Short answer: no. Cheap glass is, well... cheap. And it doesn't cost much, either. There are some lower-budget accessory lenses out there that do a decent job, but glass is the first stop that light must pass on the way into the camera and should be the best it can be. Cheaper glass usually means artifacting, chromatic aberration, vignetting, and other issues that you won't be able to fix later.
 
That lens is crap. Any time you put a chunk of glass in front of your camera lens you want to shell out for the best that you can afford. I don't know if there's any respectable brand that makes WA lens for smaller handheld cameras, but for the prosumer world you're looking at names like Century Optics and 16x9.
 
Huy Vu said:
That lens is crap. Any time you put a chunk of glass in front of your camera lens you want to shell out for the best that you can afford. I don't know if there's any respectable brand that makes WA lens for smaller handheld cameras, but for the prosumer world you're looking at names like Century Optics and 16x9.
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I'm curious what makes one lens "crap" and another one quality. It certainly can't be based on brand or cost. What are the actual schematics I should look for/avoid?

Thanks!
 
Chamber005 said:
I'm curious what makes one lens "crap" and another one quality. It certainly can't be based on brand or cost. What are the actual schematics I should look for/avoid?
Click to expand...

Honestly, price is a good indicator. There are lots of Asian-made knock-offs on ebay (of everything, not just lenses). But as Huy Vu pointed out, there are some respectable names out there that you can trust.

Century Precision Optics makes a x0.55 wide for your camera for about $115. They also make an ultra-fisheye (x0.3) for about $300.

Click here and scroll down to the "Lenses and Lens Adapters."

What matters is the optical quality of the glass. You can take cheap-grade glass, as would be put in an office window, and make a lens out of it and sell it for low cost, or you can invest in your product and use high-quality optical glass intended for lenses and sell for a little more. Optical-grade glass will have few-to-no flaws (depending on grade) and will thus have little adverse effect on the light as it passes through.

Just to give you a point of reference, in film the camera body is the cheapest part of the camera rig. One can find a great camera body for only a few grand. But a lens is going to cost two or three times that (or more). Never cheap out on the lens.
 
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here is a link for a bundle of adaptors...
http://forums.skateperception.com/lofiversion/index.php/f45.html

this is really geared around skateboarding but you will still get great detailed info here.

century does make nice glass but you do pay for it. i think you could still find pretty good stuff without breaking the bank if you dont have it to spend but i wouldnt go the cheapest route unless you have no money.
david
www.davidprobst.com

p.s. "baby death" is what skateboarders call fisheye.
 
What makes something crap, and how can you tell? The opinions of others.

Glass is much like food or wine....you can get a truck stop hotdog, or a bottle of mad dog 20/20.....but every time you roll the dice you'll end up sickened by the results.

follow the advice and links of those in this thread, this forum, the other forum mentioned, seek out glass and use it's model number as a search term.........I know it sucks, but at the end of the day, you'll have to research.
 
Chamber005 said:
I'm curious what makes one lens "crap" and another one quality. It certainly can't be based on brand or cost. What are the actual schematics I should look for/avoid?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Edge distortion, vignetting, image softness, chromatic aberration etc.
 
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