Where to buy a lens

[AnimalLover]

The camcorder I bought recently isn't very popular I suppose because I cannot find a lens anywhere.
first of all, I need a lens that will help me get a more compressed background perhaps a 55mm because even at F 1.8, my camera doesn't do a great job at compressing or defocusing the background. I have a JVC GZ-HD7U 3CCD but I haven't found any lenses online. I am attempting to get the most cinematic look as possible but I'm not fully satisfied because I want a smaller looking depth of field.

 

[chris]

I don't usually take much notice of camcorders but I suspect that the reason that you can't find a lens is because it does not take interchangeable lenses.

 

[Overread]

Far as I can tell its a fixed lens video camera so you can't take the lens off the camera and thus there are no lenses out there to interchange it with (unless its a different model to the ones I found on google). So you might get some cheap lens adaptors off ebay, but you won't really get much there in the way of quality (you can get some good macro attachments but most telephoto or wide angle are very cheap and not of high quality).

 

[Dao]

You may want to search for "35mm adapter" for your cam and see if that yield any DIY result.

 

[Braineack]

It's shame you didn't buy any of the cameras/lens/kits/combos suggested in your last thread where you asked for recommendations on a camera. Sounds like going the cheap route to get a camcorder hasn't really worked out for you. I'm very curious: Why did you buy a 2007 model 2MP camcorder when it seems you really wanted a DSLR?

The best you're going to be able to get is some screw on wide angle adapters, if you can even find any, that would give you interesting perspectives when recording video, but will result in poor static images.

 

[ronlane]

Looks like B&H shows a wide angle conversion lens for this but it doesn't appear available.

HERE

 

[goodguy]

A camcorder is a tool designed to take videos, it can take pictures but so can my Samsung Galaxy III but it doesn't mean it does a splendid job at that.
Camcorder will limit you compared to a DSLR, well even compared to a good point and shoot.
Since you got the camcorder best is just try to use it to the best of its limitation, I am sure you can still get nice pictures with it.

 

[AnimalLover]

It's shame you didn't buy any of the cameras/lens/kits/combos suggested in your last thread where you asked for recommendations on a camera. Sounds like going the cheap route to get a camcorder hasn't really worked out for you. I'm very curious: Why did you buy a 2007 model 2MP camcorder when it seems you really wanted a DSLR?

The best you're going to be able to get is some screw on wide angle adapters, if you can even find any, that would give you interesting perspectives when recording video, but will result in poor static images.

the cheap route? That camcorder is $1,500 more than the DSLR's I was looking at (new)
i do plan on getting a DSLR still on the 7th. You guys are the ones who said DSLR's wouldn't be the best option for filming on a skateboard.
I'm going to get a DSLR for my standing/stationary videos and I'll use the camcorder when I'm following the skaters I'll be filming.

 

[AnimalLover]

If I zoom into the subjects nose, focus, back up a whole lot and focus again I can get a satisfying look but it's pretty annoying to do that over and over. I have a found a few lenses for the camera (fisheye and macro) but they were not for sell so I know there is a way to put lenses on there but idk how or where to get lenses. The lens hood is removable and it twists off the same way a lens would come off of any ol' camera so I suspect that's how you'd get a lens on there.

 

[AnimalLover]

A camcorder is a tool designed to take videos, it can take pictures but so can my Samsung Galaxy III but it doesn't mean it does a splendid job at that.
Camcorder will limit you compared to a DSLR, well even compared to a good point and shoot.
Since you got the camcorder best is just try to use it to the best of its limitation, I am sure you can still get nice pictures with it.

the pictures are amazing in my opinion but I really want to improve the videos by putting a 100mm lens or even just a fisheye on the camera. Whether or not it's technically possible to put a lens on that camera - I don't know but I'm going to look around and see if I can figure something out.

 

[Braineack]

If you're going to buy a camera anyways, why worry about getting a "lens" for your camcorder to get better DOF?

If you spent $280 on a camcorder (I dont care what it cost in 2007) to use as a camera, you went to cheap route. If you actually bought camcorder to take videos, and still plan on getting a camera to take pictures, then okay. But there was NO mention of taking video of skateboarders, only later in the thread when you suggested both pictures and video after you were asking about the D3100 and Rebel T3 with a $500 budget. No one here suggested you buy a camcorder and there's no reason you couldn't film using any DSLR suggested.

Honestly, I don't care either way what you do, but you're going to have a hard time using the camcorder in the manner you're asking for here today in this thread (before 1:07 when there was never suggestion that you'd just buy a camera anyways, and pre 1:16 when you say the pictures from your 2MP camcorder are amazing and suggest you will continue taking pictures from it). If you want to do what you're asking, you want a real camera with glass that is know for blur/bokeh.

 

[KmH]

The camcorder I bought recently isn't very popular I suppose because I cannot find a lens anywhere.
first of all, I need a lens that will help me get a more compressed background perhaps a 55mm because even at F 1.8, my camera doesn't do a great job at compressing or defocusing the background. I have a JVC GZ-HD7U 3CCD but I haven't found any lenses online. I am attempting to get the most cinematic look as possible but I'm not fully satisfied because I want a smaller looking depth of field.

Background compression is an effect provided by the magnification telephoto lenses deliver.

It seems you are referring to a shallow depth of field (DoF), which blurs a background. Understanding Depth of Field in Photography
Most cinematic scenes in movies are shot using a deep DoF to more closely mimic what the human eye sees.
DoF is controlled by choosing several factors - imaging system image sensor size, lens focal length, point of focus distance, lens aperture, and how far from background elements a subject is.
Digital Camera Sensor Sizes: How it Influences Your Photography

Telephoto lenses seem to make blurred backgrounds blurrier by dint of background magnification, but they don't actually make anything blurrier, they just make blurred image elements larger in the frame and show less of the background because they have a narrower field of view (FoV).
Since subject scale in the image frame would be kept the same by using a larger point of focus distance when using a telephoto lens, the Dof is actually the same as using a shorter focal length and being closer so subject scale in the image frame is maintained at the shorter focal length.

Note in the following DoF calculator illustrations that while total DoF is the same, there is a slight difference in the in front of subject to behind the subject distribution of the DoF. At the longer focal length the DoF distribution is closer to 50/50.

 

[AnimalLover]

If you're going to buy a camera anyways, why worry about getting a "lens" for your camcorder to get better DOF?

If you spent $280 on a camcorder (I dont care what it cost in 2007) to use as a camera, you went to cheap route. If you actually bought camcorder to take videos, and still plan on getting a camera to take pictures, then okay. But there was NO mention of taking video of skateboarders, only later in the thread when you suggested both pictures and video after you were asking about the D3100 and Rebel T3 with a $500 budget. No one here suggested you buy a camcorder and there's no reason you couldn't film using any DSLR suggested.

Honestly, I don't care either way what you do, but you're going to have a hard time using the camcorder in the manner you're asking for here today in this thread (before 1:07 when there was never suggestion that you'd just buy a camera anyways, and pre 1:16 when you say the pictures from your 2MP camcorder are amazing and suggest you will continue taking pictures from it). If you want to do what you're asking, you want a real camera with glass that is know for blur/bokeh.

I never said how much the 3CCD went for in '07. To buy one new today you'd be dropping $1,000-$2,000. No biggie, though.
If I can improve the camcorder I have, there's no reason to waste money on a DSLR but if I can't find an alternative, I will buy one. And not to be rude but I think you missed a few posts. I am trying to improve the video with a shallow depth of field. I am fine with the image quality and I'll mainly be taking videos -- that's why I went with a camcorder

 

[AnimalLover]

I decided against the DSLR because someone here had mentioned that it'd be difficult to use on a board due to weight and it'd destroy the mirror if I dropped it so I went for a lighter, mirrorless camcorder.

 

[AnimalLover]

I found an awesome adapter but I have to figure out how to do it & what to buy to make this work

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt-3jK104Og&desktop_uri=/watch?v=Wt-3jK104Og

(pics in the description box)