Questions on wide-angle adapters

Arash Ayrom

Arash Ayrom

Cataclysmo
Hi,

I had a couple of questions that I was hoping you guys could shed some light on:

1. Do wide-angle adapters have a direct relationship between price and quality?

For example, Century has a .5x adapter at $200 and a .65x adapter at $400. Both are 43mm adapters. Will the .5x one be garbage, especially in this brave new world of HD and increased detail?

The .5x is a thinner adapter, whereas the .65x is much bulkier, implying more materials, better build, etc. But I thought the wider you went, the more difficult to build the lens.

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2. One of the adapters is listed as "partial zoom" and the other as "full zoom." Can anyone explain what they mean by this? Does the adapter actually physically get in the way of the zoom mechanism of the camera lens or something?

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3. Both adapters indicate no light loss in their specs, but what other degradation can I expect in using these types of adapters? Softness? Some sort of light diffraction?

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Many thanks,

- hoju
 
1. yes. its more proportional to quality. .75x are much expensive because of full zoomthrough and no distortion (sharp edges, etc)

2. full zoom means you can zoom to maximum zoom on your camera without any loss in quality or focus

3. I dont think theres any visble light loss. maybe distortion on the cheaper end of adapters or aberrations or soft edges.
 
Don't waste your money on Century Optics. Although a good quality lens, you can achieve just as good of results with a zoom-through converter from 16x9 Inc. Cavision has also begun offering wide angle lenses as well.

We have a EX 0.75x zoom-through converter from 16x9 Inc for our JVC GY-HD100 and have really enjoyed the additional field of view, although it does limit your zoom to about 80%.
 
Thanks to both of you for your answers. I'll check out the other brands mentioned as well.

Just out of curiosity, why/ how do these adapters limit your zoom range? Is it a physical obstruction to the camera's lens? I can't wrap my puny brain around this.
 
Just out of curiosity, why/ how do these adapters limit your zoom range? Is it a physical obstruction to the camera's lens? I can't wrap my puny brain around this.
Click to expand...

An adapter is usually 1 or 2 elements, while a converter is usually 3.

If you zoom with an adapter, you'll get to a point where your image will lose focus or quality. With a converter the extra element can hold the image in focus.and good quality. That being said, it really depends on which lens your mounting the wide angle onto. A camera with a long zoom range may only get you partial zoom with a converter.
 
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