Widening the Raynox MX3000Pro fisheye lens
By Bud Dickman; Dec. 16, 2005

This one is for the video nerds like myself. I just recently upgraded my video camera to a Sony VX2100, and have been really excited about it. The only thing I haven't been excited about is the cost of the Century Optics "Death Lens" for it. If you have a 3 chip camcorder, but don't have $700-$800 for the Century, you can buy the Raynox MX3000 for right around $110. There's a reason why it costs so much less than the Century, though. The glass isn't quite as nice, and it doesn't give you as wide a field of view. But thanks to some people on the forums over at skateperception.com there's a modification you can do to make your Raynox wider. I personally don't have the extra money for a Century right now, so I thought I'd modify the Raynox and post some photos of my own experience with it.
For the actual tutorial on how to widen your Raynox visit the fisheye forum at Skateperception.com.


You start by taking the middle piece of glass out of this Sony 0.6x lens.


Once you have the piece of glass out you need some sort of adhesive to stick it to the back of the Raynox. Some people use a hot-glue gun, but I tried that route and screwed it up. I got hot glue on the piece of Sony glass and was never really able to clean it all off. So I picked up some sticky puddy and that worked like a charm.


The first thing I did was roll a bit of puddy out into a long and thin strip. Then I wrapped it around the outer edge of the Sony glass. Once I had the puddy wrapped around the Sony glass I pressed it into the back of the Raynox. Just push it in slow and carefully so you don't damage the glass on the Raynox. And make sure you push it in far enough so it's flush and don't stick out and damage the lens on your camera when you screw it on. This is much cleaner and easier than using hot glue, and you can totally remove it later if you want to.


I set the camera on a tripod and took some comparison shots. This is the VX2100 with only a UV filter.


This is with the unmodified Raynox MX3000.


After the MX3k is widened it produces some vignetting, but even after you zoom in past it the lens is much wider than it was. For the extra $16 dollars you have to spend on the Sony lens and sticky puddy, this is a pretty nice option if you can't afford the Century.

Sony VCL-0637H 0.6x lens on BHphoto.com
Raynox MX3000 0.3x lens on BHphoto.com