The Red Eye in Ireland
This packet arrives at my door all the way from Alberta, Canada. My folks emigrated there from Ireland back in the '80s, so I figured it was a surprise gift from them. And a surprise it was.....not from my family, but from a chap called Rene Collins who has invented a wide angle filter for TV lenses called the Red Eye.
I have to say, what immediately attracted me was the packaging: a gorgeous soft, light green leather pouch designed to sit on my belt if I so desired, and with an innocuous circle of polished glass fitted snugly inside. Not just any old glass, but a filter made like many others to fit directly onto my camera lens. It doesn't clamp on or slide on, it screws on and that's how I like my filters - screwing it on means it stays on, it won't fall off.
My first instinct was to hold it up and gaze at a wonderfully distorted, crystal-clear view of a much wider world beyond. I couldn't wait to use it!
I shoot news I'd say 95% of the time and in practice it's the wider end of my lens I prefer to use. But as with most good things in life I just can't get enough of it. I have dabbled with the idea of forking out the cash and buying a wide angle lens, but I'd still want to burden myself by carrying around the longer lens. Even wide angle adaptors are pretty pricey and what a crazy amount of money to pay for that occasional wide shot. But I have to say, 'that occasional wide shot' really does add a lot to a news package when used sparingly and in the right places.
My first chance came the following day. A local election was running in the obscure little market town of Dromore in County Down, but it signified greater things politically, depending on the swing in the vote. I didn't want to go out of my way to use the Red Eye, that is, I would only use it if I felt I needed to. Using a piece of kit just because it's there, is in my view, rather 'insincere'. But similarly, when you have that extra means of gaining a shot, it should always be considered when weighing up the story
At one point I had the choice of how to visually 'set up' the story which was being told through the eyes of one of the candidates. Armed with the Red Eye, I subsequently found myself inside a battered old Ford Escort with a massive loud speaker 'secured' to the roof by ample lashings of 'quality' baler twine commandeered from a local agricultural hardware store. Because of this design of makeshift mobile platform the rear doors could not open. I had to squeeze past the front seats with my camera to position myself behind the Ulster Unionist candidate as he belted out his message through an ageing Shure microphone. I would not have even attempted the shot if I hadn't got the Red Eye: the maximum reach I could manage between the front element on my lens and my main subject was approximately three inches (7.5 cm). As it turned out, I had a truly fabulous opening sequence with his right ear and side of the face filling the left of the frame and the scene through the windscreen of the moving vehicle making up the remainder.
The following day I had just five minutes to do a pool shoot of a political get-together around a large table in a rather small room with limited light. I was not allowed to use my tripod! Again I used the Red Eye to wonderful effect: wide angle means massive depth of field (essential in this low light environment) and there's a distinct lack of noticeable shake when hand held. Everything in the shot, from center to edge was crisp and I could even argue that the contrast was enhanced, but not at the expense of shadow or highlight detail.
But wide angle, with few exceptions, also means distortion. I like distortion. I believe that it's only proper to show at least a little distortion when using a wide angle lens/filter - it's hardly a true representation of what we see and I believe the viewer should be aware of that fact. However, I was surprised by the relative lack of distortion with the Red Eye. Depending on the perspective when shooting a scene you can lessen or increase the perceived distortion, depending on your preference. I found I could shoot consistently with the Red Eye in such a way that it was difficult to detect any distortion.
I fully expected that, even though this is a truly unobtrusive piece of kit, it would prove to be a pain in the ass to use it. Off comes the lens hood, then off with the clear/UV filter and then on with the wide angle. In practice the whole operation truly takes less than 20 seconds to perform and for the kind of news shot where even that kind of time scale is impractical, I ain't gonna worry about wide angle anyway! No really, I reckon it's a similar story to the tripod - if a cameraman isn't going to want to use the Red Eye it's because he isn't bothered to, not because there isn't the time.
On the downside, by its very nature the Red Eye cannot allow 'zoom-through' operation as zooming dramatically alters the focal length and hence the focus! However, for me wide is wide - I'll do my zooming when the filter is off!
So....I've had the Red Eye in my possession for three weeks now and I'm hooked on it. I love it, it's fabulous, it's small and simple and it works! I rarely produce a news piece now without a Red Eye shot or two, and it always raises favorable comments from the news desk.
I have a question for the manufacturer though.....can I buy some of those dinky little leather pouches, as I have several other filters in my arsenal that would dearly love to find a home in one!?
(Collinscraft informed us that you can buy the leather pouches without the lens. The cost is $40 Canadian dollars plus shipping)
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/
