Skateboarding: Cameras and Lenses: What is the best fisheye lens and HD camera setup?

If you are looking for a skate cam, the VX always have a place in every skaters heart. Many guys on skate forums still have this die hard approach that VX is the best even though the quality of it doesn't even compare to HD cameras, it is a style thing. It really depends on what you are looking for. I have friends who are professional skate filmers and it seems like lots of them are using Panasonic now rather than Sony, not sure why. But cameras similar to this one http://www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/AG-HPX255.asp?cm_sp=PSC-Web-Site-_-RightHandColumn-_-HPX255_Rebate (link). It would really depend on your price, but these ones are HD and have handle that everyone loves to film skating with.

The VX-1000 with a century .3X fisheye is the gold standard for skate videos, but people are moving away from DV into HD. I think most skate filmers are using the Panasonic HPX170 or HMC150 with the Century Xtreme Fisheye. Many also use an HDDSLR with an 8mm fisheye. The generic Rokinon, Vivitar, Bowers, etc... 8mm fisheye are all fine. THe DSLR option is cheaper but shooting long lens is harder to get the focus right.

I'm a skater and a videographer, but seldom a skate videographer. The 8mm fisheye for a compatible DSLR is right on que, but there is one thing that I want to add, a handle! I think a lot of videographers like the Sony VX cameras, Canon GLs (and some Sony PD models) because they have a handle on the top. A handle on the top lets you sling the camera low and aim up, that way when your subject pops a super high tre flip or a kung-fu style pop shove-it you won't cut off his head or lose the spinning board. Look for DSLR handles if that is the type of camera that you're shooting with. As far as wide angle lenses go you'll need to know two things; 1. What is the diameter of your camcorder's lens and 2. What is the magnification of your conversion lens. Conversion lenses screw onto the front of a camcorder that has a built in zoom lens. To determine which threading diameter you will need, look at the front of the camcorder. There will be an icon of a circle with a line drawn through it and a number in millimeters. Match the diameter of the camcorder to the diameter of the conversion lens and you've got it. As far as magnification goes you don't want to use a conversion lens with more than x.42 magnification because you'll loose the edge distortion and vingnette. Conversion lenses work on DSLRs too, again just look for the lens diameter.

A cannon T31 is a very popular and affordable digital camera. Previous versions of the camera do not have a flip out screen which comes in handy when following with a fisheye, while later versions have features that you will not need if your only use for the camera is shooting skateboarding. T3is have one major drawback, which is that if you try to zoom while filming longlens your subject will become blurry, or so I have heard.