century optics wide lens

HerzogisGod

HerzogisGod

Well-known member
dont know if this the correct area to post this...

I'm looking into the Century Optics .6x wide angle lens. The one with "partial zoom" is around $375. The one with "full zoom" through, runs about $1000.


Is this price difference justified? Will Full Zoom make my world THAT much better?
 
I've got the .6 partial zoom. When buying my theory was - its a wide angle lens, why would I zoom in? And I never zoom in with it. I leave the camera at full wide when its on and love it. If the price difference was say $50 I might've jumped but not for $600...
 
Im thinking it's probably so you can zoom in to a close shot then zoom out to your full wide shot...but yea, I kinda agree. Id even get it of it were $200 more.
 
I have the full zoom lens...it's great. The ability to zoom in and focus and pull back out and still maintain the image, to me, is vital. Plus you never know when something is going to happen where you want to unexpectedly zoom in to capture some unpredictable action. If you have to change lenses...you'll miss it.
Jim
 
so basically, distortion occurs when you zoom in using a WA lens. I can totally see the advantage to this, believe. It's my wallet that cant see it :)

Im gonna go with the standard one for now. Im only using it sparingly, mostly for effect and in tight, but very controlled quarters when I need that extra bit of openess
 
HerzogisGod said:
I'm looking into the Century Optics .6x wide angle lens. The one with "partial zoom" is around $375. The one with "full zoom" through, runs about $1000.
Click to expand...

Does Century make 2 versions of the .6x lens one zoom through and the other not? From what I have seen, the only zoom through is their .75x.

The reason I ask is I am also looking for a wide angle lens. Most of the footage I have seen has used Century's .3x on a Sony VX which looked pretty nice. I need the 35mm equivalent of a 10mm to 15mm lens.
 
Century makes lots of wide lenses, they make a .6 and a .5 and a .3 and probably others. The .7 is probably the lens they make that I think the least of. Yes it's zoom-thru, but it gets really soft in the edges when you're at wide angle. Not a great product.
 
the thing we have to consider in this dicussion is "end product" are we looking for cinematic perfection or just an effect product. there is a TON of latitude here...
 
My shooting situation is rather unusual. My footage will almost entirely be shot inside a 12 foot octagon with clear acrylic walls. Typically, I will be in the door shooting the people who are flying inside. So, I will be anywhere from 2 to 8 feet from the person flying.

We had a subcontractor shooting these videos for us. He was using a Sony VX (I think) with the Century .3x lens. This lens was(is) partial zoom, and was rarely shot full wide. I was looking for a comparable lens. Century's web site only has four lens options for the HVX. (.6x, .75x, Fisheye, and Xtreme fisheye) I know Century manufactures all kinds of lenses, but can any of the others (easily) be used with the HVX? Is there an easy way to test the .6x lens without purchasing it?

Thanks as always!
 
Shooting flying people in acrylic octagon shaped rooms? Happens all the time.
...I'm curious though, how exactly do you light that?

Can anyone say how the Century lenses compare to the ones by 16x9, especially the .75?
 
Look in the articles section, I did a review of the 16x9 .75x. I'd definitely recommend it over the Century .7.

No, no other century lens is going to work on the HVX other than one designed specifically for the HVX. Century makes their lenses to fit with a bayonet mount, so each one is specific to the camera. What more do you need though? An HVX with a .6 is probably going to be about as wide or wider than a Sony VX1000 with a .3x. And the .6 is partially zoom-thru. Sounds like about what you'd want. If it's not wide enough, one of their fish-eyes should be.
 
For me on our post broadcast applications I would definately want the "zoom through" because I want to be able to have a multi-purpose lens if at all possible but to have a lens that I'd have to "watch something else" would remind me of having an FS100 again.

Lessen nightmares . . the worse case scenario is that you have this partial lens, you shoot this absolutely amazing footage that's really tight on the subject and then in post you suddenly realize that you have vignetting . . YUCK . . had it happen - - sold the lens on ebay. Me . . I'll wait till I have the bread then opt for perfection, after all the HVX200 is bearly outside of perfection . . why not maintain that same stability with the perfect lens for the application . . just our 2 cents :o)
 
I've got the .6 and I love it. The .7 just wasn't wide enough, and I don't care about having the ability to zoom thru - might as well take the adapter off then, eh?

The .6 gives you some fisheye, but the footage is sharp. And I'm working on a formula to fix the fisheye effect in After Effects...probably already been done, tho.
 
Jockomo said:
Shooting flying people in acrylic octagon shaped rooms? Happens all the time.
...I'm curious though, how exactly do you light that?
It happens every day here!! Indoor Skydiving!!!

Unfortunately, it is not lighted very well at all. During the daylight hours, the lighting is quite nice, but I do not have enough lighting in the airflow yet.:violin:I'm looking at adding several more light fixtures, but it will take time.


I have decided on the Century FisheyeHD Adapter because it is a little wider than the .6x. What kind of results have people had with it?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I'm not familiar with the ratio of the HVX, is the mm equal to a full frame 35mm, or does the small chip make it like a crop body; and are the mm of the Leica lens altered to reflect a full body equivalent if so?

How would my mm range of the HVX w/ CO 0.6 wide angle adapter compare to my 1.6 crop body SLR with a 10-20 ultra wide angle lens?
 
i have the century 0.6 and i'm happy with it. if i had the money i'd buy a zoom-through because it does lessen the possibilities, but i can totally get by without. I barely even use the thing as it is, but I like having it in my case because you never know when you'll need to go wider. Generally I don't do much run&gun, though, so if I ever needed to zoom in, I'll have enough time to take the lens off.
 
Saddler said:
I'm not familiar with the ratio of the HVX, is the mm equal to a full frame 35mm, or does the small chip make it like a crop body; and are the mm of the Leica lens altered to reflect a full body equivalent if so?

How would my mm range of the HVX w/ CO 0.6 wide angle adapter compare to my 1.6 crop body SLR with a 10-20 ultra wide angle lens?
Click to expand...

According to the Century (Schneider) web site, the .6x has an equivalent angle of view range of 18.7mm to 112mm on a 35mm camera.

Your 35mm camera has a 1.6 magnification factor because of the sensor... So your 10-20 ultra wide angle 35mm lens actually has a 16mm to 32mm angle of view on that camera.

So.... the Century .6x at it's widest will be almost as wide as your 35mm set up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top