Wide and Tele Lens Converters? Panasonic HMC81e (VW-W4307H & WT-W431H) ?

[canavp]

Over the last few weeks I have been trying out various non Panasonic wide and and telephoto lens on my HMC81e with quite frankly unusable results! I have written to almost every Panasonic HMC supplier in the UK asking about the quality of results if I was to purchase the Panasonic VW-W4307H & WT-W431H lenses. Those few dealers that have bothered to reply all have the same story. "No we don't carry them in stock, No we don't hold any demo ones. No we don't know the quality of results with them. If you want them you would have to place a firm order for them". Very helpful to say the least. Considering to order a pair in the UK will cost over £400.00, I am of course reluctant to spend this amount of money without having some idea of if the results using them is going to be acceptable.

I'm wondering if there is someone out their using these Panasonic lenses and can give me some feedback on how good they are please?

Vince

 

[Greg Smith]

I'm pleased with the Panasonic VWW4307HPPK wide angle adapter. There is minimal distortion, loss of sharpness or other degradation of the image. I can see a little bit of color fringing near the corners of the screen if I pixel peep my images, but in practical shooting it is nothing bothersome. Felipe, here, prefers to use the 46mm version with a step-up ring, but I worry about that moving the adapter farther from the front element than it was designed to operate, and unlike him, my 43mm has worked just fine. My only complaint is that I wish this capability were native to the lens and that the thing wasn't quite so large and heavy.

I consider this an essential accessory for my style of shooting, and it lives in my camera case all the time.

I have no experience with the tele adapter, sorry.

- Greg

 

[ggrantly]

A while back, there was extensive discussion about the WA adapters in particular. The consensus seemed to center on the Century, Raynox, and Panasonic. It seemed that the folks with models wider than .7 had some issues. I ended up with the Panasonic and am pleased with the IQ. One of the buggers with all the adapters is the lack of filter threads and or lens hoods. I had received a Cinetactics matte box as a gimme on another purchase, and it ended up being pretty good for the WA adapter. There are filter holders for it also, though I haven't done that yet.

Grant

 

[Felipe Henao]

Over the last few weeks I have been trying out various non Panasonic wide and and telephoto lens on my HMC81e with quite frankly unusable results! I have written to almost every Panasonic HMC supplier in the UK asking about the quality of results if I was to purchase the Panasonic VW-W4307H & WT-W431H lenses. Those few dealers that have bothered to reply all have the same story. "No we don't carry them in stock, No we don't hold any demo ones. No we don't know the quality of results with them. If you want them you would have to place a firm order for them". Very helpful to say the least. Considering to order a pair in the UK will cost over £400.00, I am of course reluctant to spend this amount of money without having some idea of if the results using them is going to be acceptable.

I'm wondering if there is someone out their using these Panasonic lenses and can give me some feedback on how good they are please?

Vince

This lens is as sharp as the original lens from wide to tele, you have to buy the step down ring.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/681989-REG/Panasonic_VW_W4607H.html
Another tip, future generations of Panasonic compact 1/4 cameras will be 46 mm ring as you can tell for this low end camera
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...PJ_AG_AC7_Shoulder_Mount_AVCHD_Camcorder.html

 

[ggrantly]

"Another tip, future generations of Panasonic compact 1/4 cameras will be 46 mm ring as you can tell for this low end camera"

Felipe, How did you decide this was the direction that Panny would go in the future? Based on one cam that is of much less quality than the HMC40 or 80? That isn't a trend, it is just a difference between two cams.

Grant

 

[Felipe Henao]

"Another tip, future generations of Panasonic compact 1/4 cameras will be 46 mm ring as you can tell for this low end camera"

Felipe, How did you decide this was the direction that Panny would go in the future? Based on one cam that is of much less quality than the HMC40 or 80? That isn't a trend, it is just a difference between two cams.

Grant

I noticed that short after I bought the HMC40 filter diameter and focal range changed, it first happened with the tm 300 that was 43 and tm 700 went
to 46 mm, and the reason is because the wide angle end went from 40 mm to 35 mm which is very good, but for sure they needed to make a larger lens in order to fit a wider angle, Then my self a person who has own many many cameras during my career, decided not to buy 43 mm again, because cameras come and go all the time but lenses remain, Now that camera that I showed you is the first Pro line camera from Panasonic that adopted the evolution of the lens.
It is an evolution and the cameras and the world are in evolution. You can say how about if the HMC5O ( example ) comes with a 28 wide angle probably the filter diameter would be larger than 46, that is possible, but I can not go that far, what I can say is that the latest Pro line camera with 1/4 chip adopted the mentioned lens evolution, so I was right. BESIDES sad for you that own the 43 mm version, but I'll tell you this, I had the 43 mm version and despite that sharpness was fine
the 46 mm version is sharper, Why? I can not tell you why, I don't sell Panasonic gear I just use it .
In this side of the world this items are imported from USA, and I visit your country frequently so can do something that is hard to imagine when you live there that is I use for example a lens that I bought 1 month ago for $ 200 don't like it and sell it for $ 500.