Lens Accessories for Your Camcorder (page 2)

Special effects are also a part of the lens accessory toolbox. From special colors, gradient colors, fogs, frosts, stars, multi-image to petroleum jelly, there are many tricks and effects you can perform in-camera without fooling around with capturing and editing your video on a computer. Just remember that the real world doesn't have any levels of Undo.

There is another whole class of lens accessories designed to work with your filters and help you improve your shots in the field.

Matte boxes, special holders that attach to the front of your camcorder, allow you to mount glass or plastic filters such as polarizers and gradient filters to the front of your lens.

These often provide the same capabilities as screw-on lens filters, but by using a matte-box system, you get the benefits of being able to easily use multiple filters for the same shot, and you have the ability to quickly change filters as your shooting environment changes.

So called "French flags" are shades mounted on special flexible arms that can keep the sun from spoiling your shots with unwanted lens flares.

Two other extremely popular lens accessories that come to the camcorder world from the world of broadcast video cameras are remote zoom and focus controllers.

In the pro world, studio kits are extension handles with controls for zoom and focus that let camera operators control their shots via special connectors and gears that manipulate camera settings.

Modern camcorder equivalents use electronic connections (most often the LANC port on your camcorder) to provide some of the same remote-controlled convenience.

If you've ever mounted your camcorder to a jib arm, or tried to use it while your tripod is at it's maximum height, you'll understand how useful having remote control of zoom and focus can be.

Lens accessories have been around almost as long as the camcorders themselves. And the best of them make our lives easier by providing us with creative options and giving us more control over the images that our camcorders produce. For more information on lens filters and accessories, visit the companies listed in the accompanying sidebar.

• Zoom Through - A wide-angle lens type that keeps an image in focus through the range of your camcorder's zoom.
• Lens Speed - The efficiency of a lens to pass light.
• Multi-Coated - Optical coatings put on lens elements to reduce lens flare or other distortions.
• Barrel Distortion - The effect of the physical length of a lens housing on the image passing through it.
• Vignetting - When a lens doesn't pass the full picture and essentially "masks" part of the original image.
• Edge Distortion - The effect of lens curvature on the edges and corners of a frame.
• Fisheye - A type of ultra-wide angle lens providing an extremely wide angle of view at the cost of extreme image distortion.

• Century Precision Optics
  www.centuryoptics.com
  Screw-on filters, square filters, matte boxes, sunshades, wide-angle and telephoto lenses
• Cokin
  www.minoltausa.com/cokin/index.htm/cokin/index.htm
  Square filters, filter holders
• Cool Contraptions
  www.coolcontraptions.com
  Lens controllers
• Hasselblad
  www.hasselbladusa.com
  Screw-on filters
• Hoya, Kenko, Moose's Filter
  www.thkphoto.com
  Screw-on filters, wide-angle and telephoto lenses
• Lee Filters
  www.leefiltersusa.com
  Screw-on filters, square filters
• Op/Tech
  www.optechusa.com
  Lens caps, hood covers
• Raynox
  raynox.co.jp
  Wide-angle and telephoto lenses
• SignVideo, Ltd.
  www.signvideo.com
  Lens Controllers
• Sunpak
  www.tocad.com
  Screw-on filters, stepping rings
• Tiffen
  www.tiffen.com
  Screw-on filters
• Varizoom
  www.varizoom.com
  Lens Controllers

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