Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthru ?

Carrington Benz

Carrington Benz

Well-known member
Hi There,

I am now ready for buying a wide angle from century op - I have been trying to figure out whether to opt for the .6x or .7x with some pro's & con's.


Now the .6x is 10% wider / much lighter & half the price but the con - partial zoomthru upto Z66 at least

the .7x is full zoomthru but the con's are much heavier / twice the price & 10% less wider

Its seems that the .6x would be the popular choice but the feedback here & in other places is more in favor of the .7x ???

Another thing - the .7x retails here in london for £535 pounds which converts to $960 usd - so can anyone please point me to a cheaper place ? ??? :-/

The .6x comes out at £350 pounds which is $628 usd's :-/

this is a typical uk site for the these lens's
http://www.camerafilters.co.uk/clients/slf/smoothsite.nsf/PageIndex/ID299/

Now why the hell do you folks over the pond get them both for less than a third off the the price here in europe ?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...EVS06WADVX&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=274286


The ultra fisheye looks great for that beastie boys look also - tried that out also but I really only have the budget for a Wide angle at those ridiculous prices.

Anybody have any feedback ?

cheers
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthru ?

My vote is for the .7x. It's handy to have the zoomthru and if you are using a mattebox at all, you can forget the .6x, you'll have major vignetting where I think you can get away with it using the .7

I have used this lens with another camera and I absolutely love it. The quality is up to the usual standards of Century Optics.

There are going to be pros and cons to both lenses, as you pointed out, but having used the .7 myself, I would not hesitate to recommend it to you.

Does B&H not ship to Europe? I thought they did.
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthru ?

I've got the .6, and while it's quite wide and light, many times I wish that I would have gone for the .7. My thinking in getting the .6 was "if I want wide, I want WIDE, right?" Well, yeah, but you can't use it much for event shooting because if you HAVE to zoom in, you can't.

The .7 is twice as expensive, much heavier, almost as wide, and gives you full zoom-thru.

Another option is the Panasonic .8, which is full zoom through, much less than the .7, but not as wide.

The .6 is the cheapest way to get really wide, at the expense of not being able to zoom in past about Z60.
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthru ?

Hey Barry,

I get you but isn't wide meant for " wide shots " where you would stay zoomed out ?
It just seems odd that if you would want a very wide shot then you would stay wide & just clip the lens off if you need to zoom - right ?
or does that sound easier than it is when on a shoot ?

Also any places you could recomend for a cheaper price for us europeans  ?
It kills me seeing those b&h photo prices - does anyone know what the deal is ordering from London ?

Also - the prices at b&h leave me with the option to go for the ultra fish eye also - but I would def have to go with a .6x as a compromise.

So what would you do - ultra fisheye & .6x wide or a .7x & wait for extra £££ to come in for the fisheye later - Im not sure how much I would use the ultrafish but it looks cool - I love that distortion.


cheers  ;)
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthru ?

My thinking was "if I want wide, I'll go wide"... but in practice there are times when I really would rather zoom in. And the removability of the lens is pretty simple (bayonet mount) but if you're on the move, doing convention coverage or something like that, um... what do you do with the lens? Hold it? It's a lot of glass, just prime for getting scratched...

I don't know. I mean, I'm happy with the .6, but in some ways I feel like I cheaped out and I think overall I'd probably have been happier with a full zoom-thru lens... but I don't know that that would be worth the $300 price increase either...
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthru ?

what do you think about the ultra fisheye Barry ?

Worth getting or something that is better hired than brought ?

Im into music vid's & short films mostly so Im just after a cool look.

Also what about the wider angle the .6x offers - is it really noticeable ?

cheers
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthru ?

The fisheyes are "effect" lenses, so get 'em if you like that effect.

I find the .6 to be very wide, with significant barrel distortion at full wide. I don't like to run it at maximum wide very often, the perspective distortion starts to become noticeable and the barrel distortion is a bit much. But hey, that may be exactly what you're after!
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthru ?

carrington, if you're after the fisheye effect, i'd suggest the century fisheye over the "ultra" fisheye. the ultra is wayyyyy over priced for a product that vignettes so badly. don't think i've seen an mtv music video w/ a fisheye effect that had any sort of vignetting unless you're after the skateboard fisheye effect. ;)

below are 2 samples of the century fisheye and ultra fisheye:

regular fisheye
Century_fisheye.JPG


ultrafisheye
phone2.jpg
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthr

Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthr

First if you want really wide angle fish-eyes are great. There is software you can get which will "un-distort" (is that a word?) the image for you giving a nice ultra wide angle look.

That said though, why not go for the anamorphic - especially if the prices are that high? You get 30% wider view and get the benefit of better 16:9.
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthru ?

Cool - I have decided on the .7x - I guess I have to go with uk pricing & just bare the brunt :-[ since the warrenty will be void etc etc.

The Ultrafisheye looks great but at £750 pounds ( $1351 usd ) I'll just hire when in need for now at least.
 
Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthr

Re: Century OP wide  .6x wider or .7x zoomthr

carrington: you can buyit in the states, but consider that you will have to pay about 30% for shipping, import and VAT. so you end up with the same price.

if you have a bigger shopping list: i would fly there for € 120 (NYC) go shopping with my credit card and put the new lenses etc into a heavy used camerabag when flying home, so it looks used at customs. if you bring your camera-invoice and say the lenses are just add-ons and you didn´t even consider the invoice for that....etc. you catch my drift.....they will be after the cam and not the lens or filter. customs have no clue that a 1.6 lens for a DVX costs 900 in europe....

but mind you: you cannot take it off tax if you are a company until you paid the import. but it might be cheaper NOT to write it off anyway..... 30% is a lot.

i might go that route for a wideangle, 1.6 adapter and 4x4 filters (.7 + 1.6 + 4 filters + a few other small goodies....easy getting your weekend paid with the pricedifference....i´d say 500 bucks.

all that stuff is so expensive over here compared to US. plus you get to see NYC and please your missus with a cool weekend ;D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top