Century 1.6 & vignetting - pics pleeeease.

R

robbo

Active member
Guys - I got down to page 33 in Hardware then pulled the pin.

Trying in vain to find out at what point the barrel comes into play.
The only post I was able to find that made sense was from Barry. Suggesting that vignetting starts to occur at around 17 mm.

Well, being the optical guy that I am, heh, I can only assume that Barry is talking about the range of the zoom 4.2 - 55, so that would mean that vignetting occurs approx in the last 1/3 of the zoom range coming back.
Is this dangerous assumption correct ?

Further can I be a total PITA and ask someone with the teleconverter to post a pic or two.
1) With converter on and at full wide then
2) at the point right before vignetting occurs.

cheers, r
 
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I too am very interested in the quality of the Century 1.6x and would love to see any before and after photos (full zoom without 1.6x & full zoom with 1.6x).

At 850 USD I want to make sure it's worth the price tag.
 
I would post pics with the Cenury 1.6x, but they are with a different camera, and may noy help you. However I have tested the 1.6x for the HVX and it is very accurate. You get 60% more focal length boost, which is just enough to get those tight ECU's of just a person's eye, for instance, and still be in focus. They are also great for events, so you can get a CU on the speaker from the back of the room. :)
 
Hey Rush - what about pulling back ?
Is my dangerous assumption round about right ?

The barrel is in play in the last third or more like 1/2 way pulling back to wide ?

tia, r
 
I never actually took the measurement, so I don't know exactly at what focal length it comes in; however, the HVX's LCD is overscanned, so WYSIWYG. Meaning push in until you don't see it, then a hair more for safety, then use colored gaffer tape to mark the barrel at that position when you start the shoot, so you don't pull back too far while zooming :)
 
Thanks, yeah I KNOW the problem well, heh.
My old PD150 with the Sony teleconverter drove me insane - and I know the Century glass will be a helluva lot better than teh pos sony ...

For this application, sports - I'll need to use pretty much the full range of the zoom so I'm trying to get a handle on where it happens. So I can set the camera platforms back far enough to allow the action to come close but not sooo close that the boys will run into vignetting while still retaining enough benefit of the extended throw from the teleconverter.
Tricky, huh ?
Might be mission impossible ...
 
Do you have the gear with you? The HVX and the lens? Also can you get down on the field ahead of the show and test it?
 
aww Rush - hell, I wish it was that easy.
This show is something I do every year - and this year may have an add on series - still under negotiation.

A couple of my guys have gone and bought hvx's so I'm investigating the possibility adding a couple more with a Panny 600 or better for the extreme wide and running the show based around them, maybe with Century's or even maybe without, which I'm a bit leery of, quite frankly.
As you know the hvx is not really "there" beyond 150'/50 meters - but I may be able to get away with it live switching between 5 cams. But then again - maybe not. This I have to test better.

At the mom - I'm doing my homework, with the help of you guys !

cheers
 
Cheers robbo, which I could be of more service. One thing I can do is this: I just PM'd Bill Turner from Century optics and gave him a link to this thread. Maybe he can answer that question :) He will either contact you or me, or post here.
 
At 20+mm, I think you're safe. I got the adaptor yesterday, did some minor tests. Any wider than 20, you see major vignetting.
 
Yes, in general the "dangerous assumption" is correct. You have full flexibility to zoom anywhere from 20mm to 55mm without worrying about vignetting. I thought I remembered being able to zoom out to 17mm without vignetting; but without the ability to test it for the next week or so I'd rely on what doccutter said, and besides 20 is an easier number to remember than 17 or 18 or whatever it was. :thumbsup:
 
Thanks soar - that'd be great !
The local dealer here has to order them in so i can't whip down and test drive for myself.

Thanks - I'd really appreciate it.
cheers, r
 
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