Panasonic wide-angle VW-LW4307ME with HV20

[Anthogore]

Hi !!

I've just bought this wide-angle lens, for nearly 200€ (220$ I think) and it's excellent !!

http://isk.mall.cz/3014126/140/200/1

The picture still OK at the corners (I hope you understand what I mean ^^).
The look (black, with grip) is (in my opinion) better than the WD-H43.

I will post some photos of it put on my HV20, and some still pictures with and without it, to show you it's a good wide-angle (this evening maybe).

[Anthogore]

Here's some pics.

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/9721/dscf2159oa2.jpg

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/1159/dscf2163vp7.jpg

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/5328/dscf2164fc1.jpg

http://img467.imageshack.us/img467/4480/dscf2165gz7.jpg


And the result:

http://img467.imageshack.us/img467/7028/vlcsnap1838233qp8.png

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/4472/vlcsnap1838033nt1.png

[um3k]

It doesn't look so great to me. It looks soft and heavily distorted, with way too much chromatic aberration.

[Anthogore]

Here's another result (sorry I didn't have a tripod this day^^).

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/1227/vlcsnap2712689qm2.png

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/2509/vlcsnap2712891ij2.png

I don't see chromatic aberration, but I am a neebie.

[Koala]

The chromatic aberration is more viewable on the photo of the building: if you look at the windows on the left and right borders, you can see on the left windows that the vertical transition between the white and black vertical areas contain a blue line, and, on the right windows, contain a red line.

The corners are too much soft on my opinion (viewable on all the photos).

The barrel distorsion is less than with all the 'cheap' wide-angles.

At only 172g, this WA is not so bad, but, in the same range of weight/price, I would maybe prefer the Raynox HD-6600pro. The main drawback of the Raynox is that the picture become soft at the end of the zoom range.

So, Anthogore, how is this Panasonic WA at the end of the zoom?

Koala

[propellerhead]

I find the CA especially apparent in the shot with the garden. I'd expect to see some CA with a WA adapter, especially near the edges. Heck, you even see CA with the 'naked' HV-20 lens. But in this case it appears that the CA creeps in to the frame as much as 15-20%. The relative high contrast of the palm fronds against the bright sky are losing a lot of detail, to the point of them looking like palm "feathers". The CA is also especially visible on the subject sitting below and to the right of the closest palm tree.

[Anthogore]

Ok, I understand !! Now I see what is CA.
I don't have experience in shooting, so thanks for your opinions !

So, do you think that this wide-angle is better than the WD-H43 ? Or did I make a mistake in buy it ^^?

[Koala]

FYI, Panasonic proposes now a new 43mm wide-angle especially designed for their AVCHD camcorders: the VW-LW4307HE-K. The quality is suitable for HD, and it's announced as having less barrel distortion and less chromatic aberration than the SD 'old' version.

The VW-LW4307HE-K is bigger and heavier than the VW-LW4307ME but still smaller and lighter than the Canon WD-H43.
No front thread like on the 2 other mentioned WA (the Raynox HD-6600Pro has a front thread of 72mm but is not fullly zoom-through on the HV20).
All the WA are proposed at the same price range.

The 'old' VW-LW4307ME (SD quality) caracteristics:
Power: x0.7
Deep: 51mm
External front diameter: 68mm
Weigth: 172g

The 'new' VW-LW4307HE-K caracteristics:
Power: x0.7
Deep: 50mm
External front diameter: 70mm
Weigth: 270g

The Canon WD-H43 caracteristics:
Power: x0.7
Deep: 54mm
External front diameter: 75mm
Weigth: 330g

The Rayonx HD-6600Pro caracteristics:
Power: x0.66
Deep: 39mm (+adaptor ring depending on the HD-6600 model)
External front diameter: 75mm (thread for 72mm filters)
Weigth: 178g
(Note: not fully zoom-through, lost of focus after x5, x6 zoom)


Hope that the info will help,

Koala

PS: On some Internet sites, the new WA is code VW-W4307HE-K (without a 'L' in the center) instead of VW-LW4307HE-K

[lwm99]

The 'old' VW-LW4307ME (SD quality) caracteristics:
Power: x0.7
Deep: 51mm
External front diameter: 68mm
Weigth: 172g

The 'new' VW-LW4307HE-K caracteristics:
Power: x0.7
Deep: 50mm
External front diameter: 70mm
Weigth: 270g

The Canon WD-H43 caracteristics:
Power: x0.7
Deep: 54mm
External front diameter: 75mm
Weigth: 330g

The Rayonx HD-6600Pro caracteristics:
Power: x0.66
Deep: 39mm (+adaptor ring depending on the HD-6600 model)
External front diameter: 75mm (thread for 72mm filters)
Weigth: 178g
(Note: not fully zoom-through, lost of focus after x5, x6 zoom)

Thanks for the information on these WA. Among the four above, is Canon WD-H43 the best?

I read somewhere that Raynox HD-7000Pro will be fully zoom-through, without losing focus after x6 zoom. Anyone has comment on this WA?

[Cumulus]

Thanks for the information on these WA. Among the four above, is Canon WD-H43 the best?

I read somewhere that Raynox HD-7000Pro will be fully zoom-through, without losing focus after x6 zoom. Anyone has comment on this WA?

On the comparision pictures on the Raynox website the HD7000 looks worse than the HD6600! Dont ask me why... but take a look at those heavy CAs in the sample-pictures.

CU
Markus

[Koala]

Thanks for the information on these WA. Among the four above, is Canon WD-H43 the best?It's not easy to answer this question: you need to buy or borrow the 4 to make the same test.

On the paper, the new caracteristics of Panasonic are very close to the ones of the Canon WD-H43: the resulting quality must be quite the same.
The advantage of the Panasonic is that it is a little smaller and ligther (can be not negligeable for some of us).


I read somewhere that Raynox HD-7000Pro will be fully zoom-through, without losing focus after x6 zoom. Anyone has comment on this WA?As Cumulus, I think than its picture quality is lower than the one of the WD-H43 (but maybe not lower than the HD-6600...).

The HD-7000PRO has a good reputation, but it's a WA build for a thread of 52mm and has an external diameter of 86mm: with an adaptator ring it looks big on an HV20, and even bigger with a hood, for the same weigth than the WD-H43.

It's only advantage is that it's cheaper than the WD-H43. So, if you don't already own one, and have the budget, it's better to invest in the Canon WA or in the new Panasonic one.
If you already own one, I think that it can do a decent job on the HV20 and you don't realy need to buy something else (except if you're a perfectionist and have the finance to assume that...).

Koala

[xcgeek]

Among the four above, is Canon WD-H43 the best?


Mal was planning on doing a shootout of a few of these WA lenses: http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=441 but we haven't heard any results from it yet.:(