Wide Angle Lenses for Camcorders

Canon and Sony hawk some expensive wide angle lenses for their camcorders. But, it is actually possible to buy some cheaper and better lenses easily.

First, the Canon HV series cameras have a 43mm mount. Almost all lenses have a larger diameter. So you will need to buy a step up converter. Adorama and B&H have plenty of these for $6+. These have no optics, so the only difference is color and their length, which might affect how your camera focuses.

Raynox makes some good wide angle lenses in the $130 range. The model numbers are based on the zoom. The 5000 series is 0.50x, the 6600 series is 0.66x, and the 7000 series is 0.70x. The various Raynox 6600 models are all the same optics but with different threads on the lenses. They come in 43mm, 52mm, and 58mm thread on the camera end and have a 67mm thread on the front.

If you want a cheap wide angle lens, Merkury Optics makes a decent 0.45x lens that can be had on eBay for $15 and Amazon for $30. It is actually two pieces of glass-- a very wide angle and a macro lens. It comes with either a 52mm or 58mm thread on the camera end and 62mm or 67mm on the front.