Century Precision Optics (CPO) wide-angle adapter lenses

glasslover · Expire: 2013-10-19

Hi!

I have seen a bunch of Century Precision Optics (CPO) wide-angle adapter lenses recently. They seem to sell for quite a bit new:
(click here)

But they are much cheaper on the used market. Some of them are obvious to mount--like the above, with a 58mm filter thread--and some are not so obvious: (click here)

I have a Panasonic GH2 I'm thinking of using with some of these. Are these good lenses? Do any of you use them? For what? Do they have any known issues?

Thanks!

Ymmot · Joined: 24 Sep 2011 Posts: 168

Just to be clear, how were you going to mount these? Attach them to your kit lens?
Else they wont work... (not meant offensively, just checking Wink

)
Unless I am missing something, I honestly dont see the point Confused

.
If you want a new fisheye for MFT buy a Samyang 7.5mm or something, they go for less than the used adapters you posted.
Even though i havent used this specific fisheye, it is undoubtedly better than one of these adapters.
If you want to keep AF, look for oly or panny glass (possibly even 4/3 glass, some of this is really good, however autofocus might not be the best on m4/3).
I can think of a lot of legacy glass that can be used on your panasonic that will give much better results for the price of just one of those adapters new.
They seem way way way overpriced to me....

edit
Well it seems I missed something, since they are made by Schneider. Embarassed

Considering the way they are labeled, they immediately rang a my random-much-to-expensive-lens-attachment-and-possible rip-off radar, which was perhaps a bit premature... Embarassed

They will undoubtedly be better than most of the third party chinese crap (although several people seem to have nice results with some macro attachments)
However I still would like to know what lens you were going to use them on?
They seem to be meant for very high end digital video cameras which cannot change their lenses or professional TV lenses which are very expensive (so the attachment will likely be cheaper than a new lens or camera I guess).
I still think they are overpriced for what you will likely be using them, as you will likely need to experiment a bit to find one that will work well with your lens(whichever you aim to use?) as they might be meant specifically for certain lenses.
Hence some of the weird mounts probably, that may make them attach to the bayonet for the lenshood probably.
The high price does not really make them suitable for experimentation.
I think you will be better off with some of the suggestions I made before (samyang, other m4/3, older 4/3 or some nice legacy).
Most older legacy wideangle will not work very nicely as the GH2 has a 2x cropfactor, making a nice 24mm to a 48mm normal and a 17mm superwide in a 34mm not so very wide lens. So i would suggest to look more into the non legacy area for wideangles if you want one.
These lenses will likely be much better value for money.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Never tried a Century one but I do have a very nice Schneider-Kreuznach Ultrawide Aspheric adapter and it is not bad, it doesn't degrade sharpness at all but it does introduce some unwanted CA:

I only tried it on a Canon EF-S 18-55 kit lens as at the time it was the only lens with 58mm thread I had, I will have to try it again on a better lens like my Panagor 2/35, that has a 58mm thread.

This was best I managed with it on the Canon kit lens:

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

I did never try any of them I always thought they are crap, certainly I can wrong.

glasslover · Expire: 2013-10-19

Hi!

(FWIW, I had the same thought as you when I first saw these, but then I saw the name and remembered that CPO lenses have quite a following)

I don't care about AF. I have one AF lens, the 14-42 kit lens. It's mediocre, though it certainly focuses quickly!

I will mount any adapters on one of my many legacy MF lenses. I regularly mount my Spiratone 0.15x auxiliary lens from the 70s onto a Canon FD 50mm f1.4 lens. The Canon is a good lens, and the Spiratone aux is fun, but the amount of CA it introduces makes it unusable for anything serious. I'm not sure exactly how I would mount them--I would prefer not to use screws or duct tape--so I was asking here. I figure someone here might have already tried these.

The new price of the CPO adapters definitely discourages experimentation. But their used prices can get pretty attractive. Plus, they're not the same as everyone else uses, so they might have some special not-so-common something going on with them. I have a Hanimar lens that really isn't very good, but the particular kind of bad it is, I really appreciate.

Regarding the ~2x crop factor of the GH2--yes, it does not help at all with respect to wide-angle. But it helps a lot with telephoto, and those were always bigger and heavier. For me, the trade-off is worth it. I've also tried several C-mount lenses, but everything smaller than 25mm focal length seems to vignette a bit, or a lot. So that doesn't appear to be a viable solution.

Thanks for your very thoughtful response!

Ymmot · Joined: 24 Sep 2011 Posts: 168

Well, I havent tried any (in fact I try to stay away from them like Attila Laughing

), however i do know that some other people like iangreen as you see above tried adapters similar to that. The fact that their used price is so much lower than new also rings bells for me. The decent stuff usually does not depreciate too much, at least not much less than half probably. This might however mean that indeed some weird effects are induced that you might be looking for so it is a bit of a double edged sword here Rolling Eyes

.

Problem is that 'desired' weird optical behavior often is accompanied by other effects like lack of sharpness, just being plain soft, large amounts of CA, anoying flare, vignetting or all of the above Wink

. I do not know which kind of effects you are looking for, however i am certain that a lot of people here can advise you if you are searching for a specific effect. Also check the treads here for specific lenses, some may have weird effects going on. I remember a tread not too long ago which had several lenses in it that had strange kinds of effects going on, or the helios back element experimentation that is probably still on the first page here.

My suggestion, although pretty obvious, is to limit yourself to the ones with a filter tread if you really want to try them. You can use step-up rings to mount them on other lenses with a smaller filter ring. I would not buy one with a smaller tread than your lens (so that would need a step down ring) since especially wide adapters will probably induce vignetting if they are too small, which you are probably trying to avoid. Also do not stack step up rings, you probably want the adapter as close to your lens as possible to avoid any vignetting.

NewStuff · Joined: 31 Mar 2011 Posts: 847 Location: Wales, UK

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004QKWI0A/?tag=ppctrip002-20

I use something identical to this, although Mine is badged neewer, and touted as being a .42x adaptor.

The vast majority of my Underground shots use it mounted on the end of my Pentacon 30/3.5, and will continue to do so until I can get a Samyang 14mm. I don't see that much distortion, and only with straight parallel lines does the fairly small fisheye effect become pronounced. It also works well on my Sigma 24mm Superwide II. I'll dig out a few 100% crops when I finish work.

The other side of the coin however, is that if I put this on the end of the Canon 18-55 (non IS), then it becomes a thing of evil, making a not great lens into a truly horrible combination.

I think a lot depends on what it's sitting on the end of, and I suspect most people that try one don't try much beyond a Kit Lens.

danfromm · Joined: 04 Sep 2011 Posts: 585

Century Precision Optics, now owned by Schneider, made and sold expensive lenses to "Hollywood." A priori none of their products is crap. The market they sold to doesn't buy crap.