what cameras have optional wide angle lens?

[xclark]

i'm looking for a camera on which i can put a wide angle or super wide angle lens. i'm doing a project for film school (hopefully on Super 8 if i can find the right camera).

i'm seeing Nizo's on ebay that will work, but they're pretty expensive. i'm sure that there are other options. can you guys help?

thanks, and long live Super 8.

clark

[Cranium]

Well, with a step-up or step-down ring or two, pretty much any camera can use a wide angle adapter. Keep in mind, the larger the filter thread, the more $$ that wide angle adapter is gonna cost.


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Mikel Z

[xclark]

can i put adapters on my Canon 814E? if so, what kind, where do i get them, etc...

thanks
clark

[Cranium]

Don't have my 814 by me, but it's a pretty good size lens. Look for a lens made for a Canon GL-1 and the likes, and you'll be in the ballpark. Look on the front of the lens for the filter diameter

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Mikel Z

[Matt Pacini]

The Canon wide angle adapter made for the 1014/814 is what you want.
You're in luck, it's probably the best one out there, and all you need is a step up ring to use it.
(The manual tells you this.)

Just make sure it's the right one, there are other Canon wide angle adapters that will NOT work.
Look in your manual, there's a picture of it.
I used to have one, and they're not cheap, but it's a nice one.

Matt Pacini



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[tom hardwick]

Any camera that has wide angle macro (where the zoom lever turns beyond the widest angle position and makes the camera focus real close) will accept a single element wide angle converter. Very nearly all cameras made from 1972 onwards had this feature and single element converters are so much cheaper to buy and fit.

You can go into an opticians and buy a -10 dioptre blank and hold it up to your camera. Focus the image by turning the zoom lever in the macro range - and lo, you have a very powerful wideangle.

Spherical lenses will give you barrel distortion, so if you hunt out a Schneider Kreutznach Ultra wide II it'll screw right to ther front of your 814E and give you non distorted, good wideangle coverage.

I'm a wideangle freak. Go on, test me!

tom.

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[xclark]

tom,

hmm, so i can go to a place that makes eyeglasses and they can sell me this '-10 dioptre blank?' do i just adhese it somehow to the front of my lens? this sounds like a pretty good, inexpensive solution. is this thing going to get some distortion? i don't mind distortion at all, kinda like it even.

now the Schneider Ultra wide II is another story. i did a quick search on ebay (nothing) and the web and seemed to find only photographic camera lenses and they were very expensive. am i missing something?

by the way, thanks tom and everyone.

clark

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[Matt Pacini]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tom hardwick:
Any camera that has wide angle macro ... will accept a single element wide angle converter. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, but that doesn't mean that every camera will accept ANY wide angle converter!

For example, I had the awesome Canon Wide Angle converter that was made for the Canon 1014 (67mm lens) and I tried it on my Nizo 6080 (also 67mm lens) and it did not work at all, much to my dismay.
Vinyetting, big time!
So I had to sell it and get the Nizo one, which is plastic!
Nice optics, but very fragile.
So just be careful and don't bid too much on ebay for one, because it may or may not work.

Matt Pacini

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[tom hardwick]

Just so Clark. Go in and buy a -10 diopter blank. You don't need a high refractive index glass or plastic (more expensive and only serves to make the lens thinner at the edges), but it would be nice to get it coated, though this will add to the cost.

And yes indeed - simply use gaffer tape to fix it in front of your zoom. This will work fine, though not look too pretty, so I cemented mine to a 58mm diameter "step up" ring, so that it screws straight on.

But the Schneider Ultrawide is the biz as it's an aspheric element, and straight lines remain straight. As you say, they're hard to find, and my two are staying with me.

tom.


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[xclark]

tom,

wow, thanks. i'll try that ASAP. and if i'm wanting to get an array of wide angles, what other diopters might you suggest?

thanks a lot.

clark

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