Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon WD-H43 0.7x Wide Angle Converter for HV20 & HV30 Camcorders

Amateur filmmakers who've puchased the Canon HV20 should seriously look into getting this lens as an accessory: once you start shooting with it you'll never want to take it off! Unlike cheaper wide-angle lenses, the WD-H43 doesn't cause blurry edges. Some complain you can't attach a lens hood to the WD-H43, which shows how little they know about their HV20 (its built-in CMOS sensor is designed to eliminate the need for a lens hood). Several reviews complain about the weight of the lens - I for one am happy about the added pounds as the HV20 is frighteningly light otherwise. I've found my shots are not only more cinematic-looking with the WD-H43 lens but the additional weight makes for smoother footage & handling. You feel like you've got a 'real' movie camera, it's very cool.

It is a bit larger and heavier than other wide angle converters I have used. On the other hand, the results are better than other converters I have used. For me, the added bulk is a fair trade off.

On my old video camera I had the wide angle lens, telephoto lens, and an external microphone. The one accessory I used the most was the wide angle lens. So I had to get one. The WD-H43 fits perfectly on the camera as it should since it is made by Canon. It looks great on the camera, but I was surprised at how heavy is was. It makes the camera a little front heavy. I bought a neck strap for it because it is just too heavy with this adapter to be trusted without one.

Optically this is a great lens. Working with this lens on the camera made the camera much more usable for me. I was not particularly happy with the relatively narrow field of view of the zoom lens that is built into the camera.

This lens is as heavy as the camera itself, but the camera and lens together still seem to balance well in my hand.

Coming from the still photography world, I think that it's a bit misleading to refer to this as a wide angle lens. It feels about the same as 35 mm lens on a 35 mm camera. Even with that somewhat negative comment, I would recommend this lens to anyone using the HV20 or HV30.

The Canon HV20 HD Videocamera is really a great camera. But the normal "wide" angle of this camera is not very useful inside a house or close to something you want to tape. The original Canon WD-H43 0.7x Wide Angle converter seemed to be perfect. Cheaper converters always had bad reviews, so there must be a reason for this converter to be a little more expensive than the rest. After the part arrived I attached it to my camera and you see no blurry edges or so. Picture is still HD, crisp clear and when you zoom it stays very good.
Only minus I have to add, just like many other reviewers, the weight is huge compared to the total weight of the camera itself. But I don't care. The pictures is the result I want to see, not a good looking, tiny video camera :-)