Nah, the reason that’s so popular in skateboarding is because most professional skaters use a very expensive lens called an opteka mk 2 fisheye lens. It’s an extremely good lens with minor vignetting that can be easily removed in post. Skaters are lazy though, so it’s become popular to leave the vignetting in. If you’re looking for a lens that’s shitty but has vignetting, you’re being a poser and don’t know the history of why people leave it in.
@@ryanspivey8969 leave it in? bro how are you gonna remove it, if you zoom in it'll look like shit, there is no "opteka mk2 fisheye lens" you're talking nonsense...
The vignetting is the best part! as long as ISO is off,it helps with even wider shots.Hell,with the step down ring on,it looks even wider.It could actually pass as a fisheye
it's because you bought a smaller lens for a larger thread, if you bought a larger lens and had to use an adapter for a smaller thread, you wouldn't have the issue.
A quick note on the vignetting (the black circular border around the edges), if you can't get the exact size for your camera's thread, get one that's got a bigger thread and use a step-up ring adapter. If you get one that's smaller and step-down, that's when you get the issues shown in this video with the first lens. Of course, getting one designed for larger may have other negative effects on the sharpness/distortion once you use the step-up.
Yeah, never buy really cheap ones. I bought one for my old camera (GZ-HD7) off ebay, it was slightly bigger than my camera thread (got converter too) and could still see slight black lines! A small crop and they were gone, so it was fairly good Recently got one for my new fx1 too, again off ebay.. was about £65 and is perfect :)
i know this video is old but it gave me alot of information about the filter on my camcorder. I need a fisheye for my sony trv 138 and i got confused because i thought the lens size was the filter size but now after watching this i know the size is 37mm, thanks! also i buying a fisheye lens for skateboarding, i wasnt lucky enough to find a sony VX1000 so im stuck with a trv 138.
you probably don't know this but you are never supposed to put a smaller filter/lens on then the cameras native filter tread size, for exactly the same reason (vignetting), but you can put a bigger one on. I also noticed that the bigger(second) lens you got didn't widen as much, so you probably got one with less widening effect, which also helps reduce corner blurring and vignetting
When buying such lens you should always choose the one in which diameter of thread which attaches it to the camera is equal or greater than the diameter of thread on your camcorder lens. You should as well pay attention to the diameter of front element of such adapter - the greater the better. My Vitacon converter has mounting thread of 58mm which is the same as camcorder lens thread size and the front of adapter is 82mm and despite this there's still a bit of vignetting in the corners. It is visible only when filming one colour surface ie white wall but it exists.
Great stuff Rick, Your basically answering all the questions Ive been asking myself recently , lol. Keep making these videos, so so helpful. And as Ive been looking for a wide angle lens but being put off by the hefty price tag, after seeing this i ordered the same one as you :) I don't really expect it to be amazing, but for the price it's worth a look. Great stuff
Hi- Glad you found the video useful. Yes, i think you are right, there is a small amount of curving caised by the lense. I am assuming that this is normal on a cheap adaptor.
Hi what camera did you use here I know it’s 14 years ago you posted this but it would amazing to know what type of video camera you can change else too 🤗
it doesn't have a name - although I can start calling it larry if it makes you feel better! It just says 43mm Professional 0.45X wide angle lense for DC/DV Japan
screwed together they are probably the main wide angle lens. if you unscrew the front half you will probably have the macro lens remaining - for closeups
Ten years later, and still going! Loved the video, down to the music choice (put me in a happy and captivated mood). Lot of camera talk, especially today, is filled with so much jargon. It was nice to get a simple and concise explanation. I miss the camcorder days. Thank you for your video.
The first lens will be great for skateboarding edits, that is a style that is used quite a lot in skateboarding videos. I enjoy all these videos rick, this is why I subscribed to you in the first place, do you still do filmmaking? will you be doing videos like this still?
The black shadowing is called vignetting and it is generally a desired effect with a fisheye lens.... it is not due to cheapness or buildquality also it is unsharp near the edges because it is a circular lens making square images it happens with every circular lens.....
hey thanks allot, i was specificaly looking for a lens that wouldnt give me the black edgle so now i obviously know what to look out for, so again thanks a bunch :D
glad the vid was useful. I have how exhausted my current knowledge on this subject and know nothing more. Or in other words - after watching this video, you now know as much as I do :o)
Hi, Thanks for this video, it's been useful helping me know what to look for in a wide angle adapter for my Canon EOS. I can see avoiding the need to a filter ring size adapter is important, as is the size of the lens, however from the video it appears the 1st lens is giving a wider view, I see things each side I can't see in the 2nd. If you were taking stills and cropped the image from the 1st lens to cover the same area as the 2nd you would lose much of the problem, although with less quality
Thanks for the tip. I'm just now crossing over from strictly amateur video (pocket cams) into pro-sumer/entry pro dv, and very nearly got the wrong lense, but thanks to this vid, I'll be more careful. I'll be using Canon Vixia HG-20s in my future vids, so hopefuly, I'll be able to get the right lenses for them. Happy holidays, by the way! :)
Should note too the adapter is not rectilinear. It causes barrel distortion; sides at top and bottom of frame curve inward as does the top and bottom of the frame. A true wide angle rectilinear (also called zero-D) lens corrects this issue. Thanks for the video!
dear rickvanman...thanxxxx...thanxx & thanks a lot for educating us laymen...we were jst going to buy one (a cheap wide ngl lens ) for our sony sx45 camcorder...now decided to purchanse only branded & company1s genuine accesories.. I Luv U :)
As well as the barrel distortion ( that curvature you see on your vid ) I also notice a lot of chromatic aberation, its not a disease but you will notice red edges to your arms as the cheap lens cannot focus the red, green and blue at the same image plain - hence if you shot light coloured objects they would all have this "glow" around the edges. Like your cheap radio mikes the only place for these adaptors is the bin - unless your desparate for a wide angle barrel shaped image. Great Vid though
Rick another tip that might help is: I have a UV filter on my camera at all times to protect the lens. It adds about 1/3 inch to the end of the lens. The vignetting on the edges using a cheapo lens is GREATLY reduced but not completely taken out by removing the UV filter. Gave me about another 10% of real picture. Thanks for all your good work compadre!
I'm affraid its a case of, like the mikes, you get what you pay for! To get a good apochromatic lens, one which doesn't give you the colour fringes, and one which doesn't give barrel distortion doesn't fit with low budget. It would have to be optically engineered to match the existing lens characteristics of the camcorder, therefore a better option would be to use a convertor from the camera manufacturer if you wanted distortion free images. If the lens is only for infrequent use - go for cheap.
Just thought i'd post my thoughts on this as I bought one too. The macro function works great, so for close up shots (with/ without the wide angle lens) it looks great. However, it loses focus and clarity when doing landscape shots, probably due to the cheaper glass used.
Excellent video. You just saved me some time and money. I would have discovered this after purchase and then would have spent time returning/reselling the wrong size converters. Please mention the music you play in your videos. Always a complimentary choice.
Many years have passed since this video. I'm Italian and unfortunately I didn't understand much, I apologize. I am directing a short film and using a vhs as a means of shooting, I would like a winde angle lens, could you please recommend one? I am using a Sony Digital Handycam Mini DV
rickvanman the rim you're seeing is called vignetting. It is not caused by the adapter ring or the price of the lens. the problem cannot be solved because of the wide-angle feature. Also this lens was not made to zoom with which is why it is commonly used in skateboard filming
That "fatness" is called "focal length" aka the length from the lens to the sensor, or in this case the length of the lens to the built in camcorder lens to the sensor lol. Great vid!!!!
When you fit the 'Made to Measure' wide angle lens to your camera there is obviously no vignetting but there is a lot of barrel distorition, this tends to be more prominent in the cheaper wide angle lens something that is worthy of mention.
Good Advice Rick. I've found that it is difficult to get all of my piano on the video's i make, so this may be a solution. I still need to experiment with different filming angles. Thanks Rick
Thanks for the info again - useful. Might be worth considering a manufacturer-made lense, as the actual camera lense is a Leica, so it would be nice to keep up the quality levels where possible. I'll make some enquiries. Cheers Rick
The second lens shows a bit like fish eye so It is advisable to buy better wide angle lenses. And I didn't know that the ring adapter would show in the lens. Thanks for spending you time and for making this nice looking video tutorial.
Thank you for that very useful video. I was going to purchase one for my Canon DSLR with a 58 mm lens tread that came supplied with an adapter. However I am now going to look for this lens converter that actually fits my lens. So thanks again.
I actually bought a cheap $17 wide lens and then it happenned exactly like his. So then I ordered a Sony wide lens costs $30 but the result is very satisfaying !!!
I still notice a bit of chromatic aberration and bluring on the edges of your 2nd lens. I have decided to actually get a lens that is about 10mm wider then my filter thread so the blurring and fallout on the edges can be avoided.
I have the HFS20, get the Canon WD58 (not the W or H model). This one is designed for the Vixia HFS line. It's not cheap, but if you want top quality Japanese optics, it's worth it. It doesn't come with a lens hood, but you can track down the appropriate sized snap on pretty easily. Call Canon, they can sell you the snap on lens hood designed for GL2 kit.
the first one you can see more because you have an adapter ring then you will be able to see more but you will have vig as what you refer to as the black fussy thing
okay I got it cleared up to use a lens adapter you have to use a step-up ring and step down rings only work in the number difference isn't too high (that being the case here)
The first lens you showed was acually a fisheye lens. It did what it was suppose to. The second one you showed was a true wide angle lens. You can tell a wide angle apart from a fish eye becasue in a wide angle only the far edges have a SLIGHT curve on straight objects. And a fish eye will have more dramatic curves across 30% of the lens area with vingetting and slight bluring on the edges of the vig. The more expensive fish eye you buy the less blurring on the edges. Thankyou and yoor welcome.
@petenicezz just make sure the lens thread size on the camera is equal to or smaller than the thread on the wide angle converter. Also, I recommend paying more than $30 at least to keep away from bad quality lenses.
totally agree on buying quality lenses and the edge blur is awful on that first one, but doesnt seem like you are comparing apples to apples. first looks like more of a fisheye lense, maybe a .42x, where as the second is much less wide, maybe a .5x and doesnt distort as much.
Thanks for this video, it was very helpful in many ways. The only thing is, when you talk about thicker or thinner: it looks as though the bottom bit should be detached when using the unit as a wide angle converter. It should only be used for macro; which is a totally different kettle of Cod! You could create a lot of useful videos, but may I suggest using a tripod for the camera. Well done anyway.
Good video Rick. But I think you are wrong because you can't use a wide angle lens with a step-down ring. Though the first one will only work with cameras lower than 37 mm.
1:10 The previous owner probably re-stacked the lenses to get the notorious fisheye effect (if it has 3 lenses - flipping the center & outer lenses will amplify the legendary fisheye effect of the golden era of skateboarding). Also getting a better adapter could resolve that
thank you so much, rick, for clearing this up, you couldn't be clearer. we have to be careful when buying a lens. now i definetely will buy the one that fits to my cam, which is a 43 diameter canon camera.
A wide angle lens, and a fisheye lens are two completely different lenses. The first one you have is a fisheye, do you see how it curves lines, and blows proportion out of the water, a wide angle lens keeps them into proportion. A wide angle lens is used mostly for landscape photography. I use a fisheye, and a super wide .45x angle lens for landscape, I only use a fisheye for filming.
@200415670 fisheye lenses are supposed to be wider without caring about distortion while wide angle lenses try to keep away from distortion and vignette (black corners/edges). the first lens wasn't a fisheye but it did have a fisheye effect because the kind of camera he uses is different than the kind of camera the lens was made for.
@Eliana31205 if you meant putting 72mm macro close up filter/wide angle lens with adapter/ring(step down), there's always risk of having vignetting(black sides). 72mm to 67mm, I suppopsed you won't see it. Google or go to photography forum to get your answer.
