Raynox HD-6600PRO(58) 0.66x Wide Angle Lens 58mm Mounting Thread

I've been searching everywhere for this, thankyou AMAZON ! Wide angles are common on still cameras but hard to find on camcorders. I got this for my Panasonic HDC SC900 and have been stunned by the image quality and freedom from distortion. I had to get some adaptor rings to get it to fit the thread on the camera but no problems. OK it does add a tiny bit of weight and 'presence' to the camera, but the results are so pleasing you just have to say YES ! If you are seriously into video you have to get one. Highly recommended

Does the job well

Don't confuse the Raynox DCR-FE 180 Pro with 'Semi-Fisheye' lens' which are just uncorrected wide angle afocal adaptors, that come complete with barrel distortion. They can be purchased for around 50ps or less, and their images are crap.The DCR-FE 180 Pro consists of 5 elements in 4 groups, of high index glass, not plastic, and is very heavy. The front element is 82mm diameter, 100mm overall diameter. The lens barrel is plastic however. It may well be an ABS type, strong and tough. If dropped, any lens of this weight will not bounce, no matter what the barrel is made of. ( It won't take pictures any more either!).Optically the lens appears to be well corrected and gives full coverage with no vignetting when close coupled on my Canon G7. It should be noted that afocal adaptor lenses are designed to give optimum performance when 'close coupled' to the prime lens. I.E. when the back element of the adaptor is a gnats whisker away from the front element of the prime lens, without actually touching. When the prime lens is a zoom lens the zoom setting should be maximum wide for a wide angle adaptor, and maximum telephoto for a telephoto adaptor. At any other zoom settings image quality suffers, usually badly. In the 1970's large element Carl Zeiss lenses came with a note explaining that when the glass was cast, it was inevitable that a few small bubbles would be present - but they had no noticeable effect on image quality. There appear to be no bubbles at all in this Raynox lens. Production techniques may have changed.The exit pupil measures 49mm, and the adaptor has a 62mm thread. Two plastic step-up rings are included, 58mm-62mm and 52mm-62mm. Hoya and others make a range of step up rings that will enable it to attach to most prime lenses.So what's the image quality like? - Simply superb. A proper 9mm fully corrected prime lens may be better, but not by much, and will set you back twice as much, maybe a lot more. A good purchase.

I enjoyed for nearly 2 years the very long zoom of a 'bridge' (prosumer) camera, Lumix FZ7. It had near-telescopic long end of the zoom range (shot the moon surface, indeed) - but left me slightly dissatisfied at the back (wide) end of only 35mm. I always needed a more encompassing view of a city scene or landscape, and the special perspective that wideangle lenses provide.Tried a cheaper WA adapter (manufactured for camcorders and fitting the 52mm thread) - but results weren't great: resolution was acceptable, but there was too obvious black vignetting in all corners. I realised I need to go for quality - and some research pointed to the Raynox range.I noted that products with the HD (high definition) and 'Pro' suffixes are rated higher by both users and expert analysts - and found this x 0.66 model with both 'HD' and 'Pro'. The results were highly pleasing!While one can find the inevitable barrel distortion typical for most wider lenses, occasional flare from a bright light source in the frame (but which lens doesn't?), and (on close inspection) some slight decrease of sharpness near the edges/corners, there is absolutely no clipping/vignetting, and image quality is practically unchanged from the main lens - and comparable to very expensive dedicated lenses. You may check some of my results on Flickr searching for member 'maistora' and browsing to the wideangle shots - they are all with this attachment.With any long zoom (6x or bigger range) this is the only accessory you need to carry. Compact and lightweight, it fits in smaller camera bags and even in most pockets. Even easier - you don't need to remove it at all: for most subjects and situations (other than moon shots :) you can zoom in with the Raynox on - and still get pretty close to the subject.I only need to replace it because my new main lens has a different thread - and the new WA adapter I will buy is likely to be another Raynox. Highly recommended!

This is a fantastic product that gives a nice wide angle view without adding much distortion. I use it with my Canon HV20. From other online reviews it seems that Canon's wide angle adapter distorts the image somewhat more, so this is better and cheaper.Note that you'll need a step-up ring to use this with the HV-20 because the thread size does not match.One down-side is that it's quite susceptible to lens-flare. I fixed this by attaching a lens hood from a Canon XH-A1, which you can get by calling your nearest Canon service centre, and which will fit on quite easily.