Customer Reviews

Sony VCLHA07A Wide Conversion Lens for Sony MiniDV & Hi8 Camcorders

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wish amazon had a 4.5 rating for this product because that is what i would give it. The lens fits right on my Sony DSR-300 video camera with no problems. The lens is distortion free (with some wide-angle lenses the corners can be distorted). It does give a wider angle for the camera but not as wide as i expected. The lens works great for those tight angles inside houses. I do filming for a church camp similar to habitat for humanity and it was difficult to film construction in tight spaces like closets and small bathrooms. This lens helped out in letting me get better filming of those spaces. I wish it was a little wider but i guess it would have been distorted that way. For the price it is hard to beat compared to third party models. It worked for me and I would totally recommend it to anyone who is interested in a distortion free wide angle lens.

This review may be a bit long, but for anyone who has purchased any Canon Vixia High Definition Camcorder with a 37mm lens thread, I would suggest taking a look.

I purchased a Canon Vixia HF20 High Definition Camcorder on Black Friday and loved the ease of use of the camcorder and the excellent quality video it recorded. However, there was one major drawback to the camera. It did not have a very wide angle spectrum when I was recording in a car and aiming the camera at the driver from the passenger seat or when indoors and I tried to record many of family members in a single room. I had to stand as far back as I could just to fit everyone in the shot, and even then I could not get everyone into the picture. To solve this problem, I began looking online for Wide-Conversion lenses for my Canon Vixia HF20.

I was extremely disappointed to find that Canon's official Wide-Conversion lens, Canon WD-H37 II Wide Conversion Lens for 37mm Filter Diameter Optimized for HD Camcorders , was $198.37 on Amazon (down from Canon's suggested retail price of $240.00.) Although Amazon offered the cheapest price on the lens, there was NO WAY I was going to pay close to $200.00 for a lens just so my camcorder could record indoors and in tight spaces (a capability that should have come with the camera out of the box.) I thought it was absurd that Canon would make customers who already spend enough money on their camcorders, spend that much more just to get this much needed capability.

I went to my local Best Buy and unfortunately, they did not have many Wide-Conversion lenses available. The one lens they did have was the Sony VCLE07A Wide Conversion Lens for Sony MiniDV & Hi8 Camcorders. The lens ended up costing about $58.00, which was much cheaper than the Canon WD-H37II lens (however, I wish I bought it from Amazon since they offer it for about $28.00.)

This lens had a few good features. It was very light and did not add much weight to the camera when attached. It also had the same plastic black thread that fit perfectly. It was not a metal thread, which if put on incorrectly, could have damaged the plastic black thread on the front of the Canon HF20. It also had a quick release feature that allowed for the lens to be removed instantaneously without unscrewing the thread. It could then be popped back onto the front of the camera just as quick and easily.

The drawback to the Sony VCLE07A lens was that it didn't offer the best picture quality. The video quality only looked good when the camera's optical zoom was completely zoomed out. Once I started to zoom and got to about 1/3 of the complete 15X Optical Zoom, the image went completely blurred. The camera could not focus after this point no matter how slow I tried to zoom on a subject. Any type of recording of video after this point was useless unless I removed the lens from the front of the camera and zoomed. I found this to be unacceptable and pointless so I returned the lens to Best Buy and went back online to try and find a solution to my Wide-Conversion woes.

After reading many reviews of a ton of different 37mm Wide-Conversion Lenses, I finally found this lens, the Sony VCLHA07A Wide Conversion lens. I figured that for $29.80, it couldn't hurt to give it a try. Amazon was EXTREMELY Fast with the shipping (Free SuperSaver Shipping).

There is almost nothing bad I can say about this lens. The video/picture quality is amazing! It does not have any barrel distortion around the edges of the video. The video/picture quality is just as clear as when the lens is not attached. Also, it gives me the much-needed Wide-Angle that the Canon Vixia HF20 lacks. Another great thing is that I can zoom completely in with the 15X Optical zoom and even into the 60X digital zoom without the camcorder losing focus or becoming blurry. The lens also has the same plastic black thread as the Canon Vixia HF20 rather than metal. The lens comes with two lens caps to protect both the front and back of the lens as well as a soft bag to store the lens in when not in use.

If there are any drawbacks to the lens it would be that It does add a noticeable amount of front-end weight to the Canon HF20 when attached. Also, it blocks about half of both the the built in flash and video light of the Canon Vixia HF20. This makes its pretty useless to use the video light when recording without getting a shadow in your video cast from the lens. However, after reading reviews and comments about the Canon WD-H37II, it seems to be roughly the same size and weight and do those same things when attached so I don't necessarily think this is a flaw of the lens but rather a flaw of the Camcorder itself and the placement of the video light and flash on the camcorder.

I don't know how this lens fares with the Sony Camcorders it is actually made for, but if it works this well with my Canon VIxia HF20, I am sure that it works just as well with any Sony HandyCam.

For any Canon Vixia High Definition Camcorder owner (many models aside from the HF20 have the 37mm lens attachment thread) looking for a great Wide-Conversion lens, I would highly recommend this lens. It works great with these great Canon camcorders and it is only $30.00 which is MUCH CHEAPER than the $200.00 Canon WD-H37II Wide Conversion lens. The price may be much cheaper, but the quality of the lens and the images that it produces are DEFINITELY NOT SACRIFICED or COMPROMISED as a result. The quality is outstanding and just as good at a fraction of the cost of the official Canon lens.

I also have a Sony DCR-SR300 and the lens fits on perfectly and does not have any distortion. I took some pictures to compare the size difference. I stood about 10 feet away from the wall and wasn't quite able to capture my entire double wide window. With the lens on, I was able to get the window and about 1.5 feet on either side of it. For an indoor space, this was perfect for me. Especially considering the cheaper price of this lens. I don't know camera equipment well enough to know what the 200 dollar version gets you. I compared the picture quality of the video with and without the lens...didn't notice anything difference about it.

To note, it does come with cap covers as well and a bag. When it's not screwed onto your camera you'll have covers for both ends. Also, on some camcorders it may disable the flash (it does on the DCR-SR300) which is a shame since I want to be able to take pictures with it on. Though, when I did take a picture using the SR300 6.1 MP capacity the shot came out grainy (due to wide angle lens interference).

I'm using a Sony DCR-HC96 MiniDV 3.3MP Digital Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom and when I wanted to film a marching band, I was just not getting a wide enough image (I was having to pan back and forth more than I wanted). So I bought a Sony VCLHA07A Wide Conversion Lens for Sony MiniDV & Hi8 Camcorders and have been very pleased with the results. It screws right into the front of the Handycam. It comes with 2 adapters in the event your Handycam is slightly different. You don't need to remove the existing lens, you just find the right adapter (supplied) and screw it together.

I was very pleased with the results. I thought it might distort the image too much, but a number of people have commented how clear the recordings are (I make DVDs for the band members of their shows using this set up).

It comes with a lens cap, and a pouch, so when you do pack it away, it is protected ok.

Good: the clarity, and ease of use, and construction is well made

What could be improved: I would have liked a lens hood on this. When I'm filming under stadium lights, or in a gym, using the wide angle the stadium lights can create some challenges. You sometimes get these light or glare streaks (I'm sure there is a term for this) radiating out from the lights, in my case, straight down. To stop this from happing, I made a make shift lens hood for the set up. This is probably a rare situation, but glare from lights might be an issue for you too.

There are a few different models of wide angle lens attachments for Sony Handycams (and other brands) so be sure to select the right one for your camera model. There are also some wide angle lens that are wider than this one, and those might begin to distort your pictures, so wider is not necessarily better, unless you are ok with the distortion. This product, the Sony VCLHA07A Wide Conversion Lens for Sony MiniDV & Hi8 Camcorders was really good for me!

Amazon Prime took it to me today. It is a great wide angle lens. Thank you all for leaving reviews on this lens. This might be the best original wide angle lens there that is not SO expensive.
I am using it on my Canon Vixia HF M300Canon VIXIA HF M300 Full HD Flash Memory Camcorder, and it works perfect! Though it really added some inches to my little Canon (Please see the photos I uploaded). Luckily I already know this ahead and I purchased a good-sized camcorder bag.

The youtube reviews on this lens comparing to some other brand 0.45 lens give us obvious result, showing that this one is superior indeed. Like other reviewers already said, this is no distortion! While some other 0.45 showed a lot of distortion, etc, when zooming in. However, if one plans to only use those 0.45 when fully zoomed out, it should be fine. However, if we'd like to keep the wide angle lens on camcorder almost all the time, those 0.45s won't work, unless the very expensive ones. At $30, this Sony might be the best value!

I would recommend this to people who are also using Canon Vixia HF.(37mm). It also has 25mm and 30mm adapters, so it may also work great for others.

For more detailed reviews, see Chris's review. Thank you, Chris!

I am not a camera aficianado or lens expert, but I bought this lens for my Sony Handycam TRV-27 in addition to the Zeikos ZE-37K .45 Wide Angle lens. Comparing the two, they seem to be exactly the same viewing angle. I have compared them side-by-side and at different focal points. It seems to be a good quality lens and adapters work well with my camera. I see little to no distortion. The lens itself is physically much larger than the Zeikos .45 lens. But the similar viewing angles perplex me. I don't know if the .45x is not as wide a viewing angle as advertised or if the .70x is a larger viewing angle than advertised. But they should not be the same. But I would, however, recommend either as made with good quality and resulting in good picture quality.

Best original lens out there for those on the budget. Why pay more when you can have this as an alternative!!! Using it now with my Sony HDR series.

I have only used this a couple of times so I do not know how valuable my opinion is. I am usig it with an HD-SR12. It has worked great for my needs. I record my son's sporting events, etc. It seemd to do a great job. I do not think you could ask for much more considering the price.

I did glue it to my FS10 Cannon camcorder and it works perfect! No vintage at all. I love it!

Product arrived exactly as described. Lens fit perfectly the first time and performed exactly as listed. Prompt service! 5 Stars!