The Red Eye in Lebanon
While on location shooting we all had the experience of not being able to shoot wide enough. Shooting documentaries, current affairs and news you constantly find yourself wishing that the lens could go wider. And as the shots are not pre-planned you have to carry with you something that would get you out of the jam. An extra wide-angle lens is expensive and heavy to carry around all day so a practical solution is a wide-angle adaptor. A wide-angle adaptor is a piece of lens that fits in the front of the camera lens and converts it giving a wider angle of view. Such a wide-angle adaptor is the Red Eye, manufactured by cameraman Rene Collins in Canada.
I decided to test the Red Eye while on assignment in Lebanon. The Israeli army had just pulled out of South Lebanon after a 22 year occupation and the current affairs stories to be done where many.
The real test of the Red Eye came the day when we drove to the previously occupied South Lebanon. On a hilltop stands the El Khiam prison. Since its existence, from 22 years ago, cameras have not been allowed anywhere near the place. And as we discovered that was for a good reason. Crimes against humanity took place here. The South Lebanese Army, backed and financed by the Israeli army, tortured and killed many prisoners here over the years.
We decided to focus the story of the prison around an ex-prisoner, Ali Kheshesh who was held in the El Khiam prison for 11 years. I placed a clip radio microphone on Ali and let him guide us around and explain to us what took place here. He walked us through badly lit corridors into tiny, dark cells where the inmates lived. He showed us the solitary rooms where they were kept for long periods of time without any daylight, without much food and having to sleep among their own excrement. I was looking for an opportunity to try on the Red Eye but as I was limited to only one focal length I decided to film without it. Once the Red Eye is fitted on the lens the focus can only be achieved by the use of the macro or by changing the back focus. Changing the back focus is not that great an idea when you are on location. But changing the macro is not a problem as it has a preset which you can always go back to.
After we finished following Ali around I went back through the route we took to get some additional shots. And this is where the Red Eye came in very handy indeed. Once firmly screwed on the whole perspective of the image changed. The tiny prison cells could now fit into my viewfinder. The Red Eye's curved image managed to show the whole cell and the curved distortion emphasized how tiny the cells where. With the macro I was able to focus either on the foreground or the background. The Red Eye can be removed easily and the only adjustment to be made is setting the macro back to normal. Removing it to get some tighter shots was easy.
Indoors it worked without any additional thought behind it. The low light assured that I was using a large aperture and the short depth of field made sure I had no visible spots on the lens and that the lens shade was not visible at the edges.
Once outside though, at the mercy of the strong Middle East sun, every little spot of dirt was visible. The lens shade was visible in the corners of the picture. I had to cut down the light with the ND filters and make sure that I used the minimum depth of field and make sure the focus of the lens was set on maximum. Using a short depth of field is not a problem with any wide-angle as the wide-angle provides a good range of focus. All the shots where sharp.
But the Red Eye is not only to be used for small areas. I used it while filming the reconstruction of Beirut in order to emphasize the magnitude of the project. Tall buildings where made taller, streets looked longer. This is not a distortion of the truth but rather an exaggeration to get the point across. And having a tool like that is a great novelty. This is not a lens that you have on your camera but rather a lens that you carry with you to get you out of tight situations and to add a spice to your creative streak. The small size of the lens makes it easy to carry around without you even knowing it's there.
But this review would not be complete if I did not compare it my other wide angle adaptor, the Canon 85. The expensive version of a wide-angle adaptor.
The Canon is large, heavy and cannot be used with any existing filters, matt boxes or lens shades. But it has very little distortion and has the zoom-though capability which allows the user to change the focal length of the lens without removing it. So in practice you can leave the Canon on you lens constantly and film without any restriction, well almost without any restrictions. Since there is no lens shade and since the front element of the Canon is large it is very hard to keep the sun off it so flare can become a problem. And having the Canon on you have to constantly clean the lens from small particles of dust. The Canon slides onto the lens and is secured in place with two hand screws. It's an easy operation but an operation that requires both hands.
On the other hand the Red Eye is small, light and it can be used with matt boxes and lens shades. The Red Eye can be fitted onto the lens using one hand, useful if you are working hand held. And the cost is at a fraction of the Canon. The disadvantage is that it is not a zoom-through lens and that you need to have a lens with a macro facility (back focus can be used instead of the macro but I would not recommend it). The Red Eye has some slight distortion, vertical and horizontal lines close to the lens curve. But this kind of distortion can be used in a creative way to add emphasis to the shots.
With regards to the quality, well without having both lenses scientifically tested, I can pretty much say that I could not see any difference. Collinscraft provide a very good professional and personal service.
An 82mm Red Eye costs around $490 Canadian dollars (plus shipping) and a 77mm costs $360. If it gets you out of a jam once, it has earned its worth.
The RED EYE wide-angle adaptor
The Red Eye is an efficient and cheaper way to convert your normal lens into a wide angle. The Red Eye is a screw-on "NON-ZOOM THROUGH" wide-angle-adaptor made out of high quality material. It weighs less than 100 grams and provides up to a 30% increase on the angle. The Red eye converts an 8mm lens into 5.6mm. The Red eye fits over existing filters and it can still be used with the existing lens shade.
It comes in two sizes, 77mm and 82mm and it fits lenses that are equipped with a macro or back focus adjustment. The 77mm Red Eye features a seven layer anti-reflective coating to increase light transmission to 99.5% for optimum image clarity, contrast and sharpness and it uses a high index, high clarity glass to reduce the size of the lens substantially.
The 82mm Aspheric has a five layer AR coating and is made of the latest high tech materials.
Both sizes offer an extra degree of scratch resistance and also make the Red Eye HYDROPHOBIC improving water repellence. The Housing of the lens is made out of Anodized Aluminum. Each lens comes in a hand made padded leather case.
Cameraman Rene Collins created the lens in 1994. The lens is manufactured by Collinscraft in Canada.
For more information visit http://www.collinscraft.com/
