Wide angle converter?

Hey all, what do you know about the Panasonic DMC-GWC1? Or maybe it's called the WCS1? It's a conversion lens that turns the 14mm or the 14-42 PZ into an 11mm wide angle. I'm intrigued by this old video about it:
I would love to get this product, or something very similar, but I can't find it for sale on Amazon or eBay or from Panasonic. Their page says it's out of stock. https://panasonic.encompass.com/item/9590501/Panasonic/DMW-GWC1/

Any thoughts as to where this might exist? Or other similar solutions? I'd love to hear people's experiences with this product.

I'm especially curious about it because 10/11mm is a great length for my purposes of casual architecture and landscape work, and as a street and travel photog mainly, compactness and efficiency are priorities to me. The other wide angle options haven't worked out well for me. I love shooting with the 8-18mm PL, but it's bulkier than I'd like on the GX9, and very pricy. The Oly 9-18mm isn't nice to shoot with. I like my 14-42 PZ, and would love to simply slip on a converter for the wider range, especially for less than 150€.

Any thoughts or leads are appreciated!

--
https://www.instagram.com/keithpictures/

What do I know? This was one of a suite of conversion lenses released in about January 2012 shortly after the 14-42PZ lens. They don't seem to have been all that popular and were discontinued in about 2016. I know I was looking for the DMW-GMC1 (macro version) in November 2016 and had to go half way round the world to find it in stock. At that time I noticed the GWC1 was still showing up as available and thought of getting that as well. I'm sorry I didn't, because I think the GMC1 is well made and gives good results.

davob said:

I was looking for the DMW-GMC1 (macro version) in November 2016 and had to go half way round the world to find it in stock.

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Yes, halfway around the world indeed: I have found three used versions of the GWC1 on the Japan Amazon page. Unfortunately they won't deliver to Europe! Frustrating.

Get the Fujifilm WLFXE01. It's at least as good in every respect and can be found on Amazon for just $12 shipped. Trust me, I have owned and used both on my 14mm f/2.5. Kept the Fujifilm , sold the Lumix.

Keithpictures said:

Hey all, what do you know about the Panasonic DMC-GWC1? Or maybe it's called the WCS1? It's a conversion lens that turns the 14mm or the 14-42 PZ into an 11mm wide angle. I'm intrigued by this old video about it:

I would love to get this product, or something very similar, but I can't find it for sale on Amazon or eBay or from Panasonic. Their page says it's out of stock. https://panasonic.encompass.com/item/9590501/Panasonic/DMW-GWC1/

Any thoughts as to where this might exist? Or other similar solutions? I'd love to hear people's experiences with this product.

I'm especially curious about it because 10/11mm is a great length for my purposes of casual architecture and landscape work, and as a street and travel photog mainly, compactness and efficiency are priorities to me. The other wide angle options haven't worked out well for me. I love shooting with the 8-18mm PL, but it's bulkier than I'd like on the GX9, and very pricy. The Oly 9-18mm isn't nice to shoot with. I like my 14-42 PZ, and would love to simply slip on a converter for the wider range, especially for less than 150€.

Any thoughts or leads are appreciated!

Click to expand...

Yes it is very useful. I can travel very light with the 14-42 PZ, the GWC1, the GMC1 and the GTC1. (Wide converter, macro converter & tele converter). Have used them for years.

There is also a GFC1 (fisheye converter), but I don't have this one as if I want a fisheye, my Samyang is better and didn't cost much more.

Can't help you where to buy one, but if an Amazon seller has one you can always ask direct if they will ship to you.

I'm getting a 42.5 next week, if Amazon don't lose it again! It is quite a good lens for macro, but I'm going to try my GMC1 on it - after all it is designed for a 14-42 PZ which has a 37mm filter thread, so a 42.5mm with a 37mm thread might also work. Who knows?

Keithpictures said:

Hey all, what do you know about the Panasonic DMC-GWC1? Or maybe it's called the WCS1? It's a conversion lens that turns the 14mm or the 14-42 PZ into an 11mm wide angle. I'm intrigued by this old video about it:

I would love to get this product, or something very similar, but I can't find it for sale on Amazon or eBay or from Panasonic. Their page says it's out of stock. https://panasonic.encompass.com/item/9590501/Panasonic/DMW-GWC1/

Any thoughts as to where this might exist? Or other similar solutions? I'd love to hear people's experiences with this product.

I'm especially curious about it because 10/11mm is a great length for my purposes of casual architecture and landscape work, and as a street and travel photog mainly, compactness and efficiency are priorities to me. The other wide angle options haven't worked out well for me. I love shooting with the 8-18mm PL, but it's bulkier than I'd like on the GX9, and very pricy. The Oly 9-18mm isn't nice to shoot with. I like my 14-42 PZ, and would love to simply slip on a converter for the wider range, especially for less than 150€.

Any thoughts or leads are appreciated!

Click to expand...

Keith, if you're serious, I'll happily sell you my almost unused GWC1 for 149 Euro.

Bought via Amazon in December 2014, and I doubt it's been out of the house again since!

This one...
.......................

However I don't think you'd notice much difference between the views to be had...

- with your 14/42 power zoom and the GWC1.... 14mm x 0.79 = 11mm

- at the wide end of the little 12/32 kit lens... 12mm

.... except perhaps some slight barrel distortion with the 14/42PZ + converter.

There's no portability saving, as they're so very similar in size and weight:

DMW-GWC1 - Length 28.0mm / 1.1in. Weight 72g / 2.5oz (excl lens caps)

12/32 lens - Length 24mm / 0.94in. Weight 70g / 2.47oz (ditto)
...............

I'm not interested in parting with my own 12/32 but, for a reliable source of used examples, see....


And just in case you were thinking of asking - NO, the GWC1 doesn't give good results with the 12/32 (worse, especially in the corners, than when on the 14/42PZ)

Peter

paul613 said:

Get the Fujifilm WLFXE01. It's at least as good in every respect and can be found on Amazon for just $12 shipped. Trust me, I have owned and used both on my 14mm f/2.5. Kept the Fujifilm , sold the Lumix.

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Can you explain please ? This fuji will mount on 14mm m43 lens? Will it work on 14-42 olympus ez?

paul613 said:

Paul S. in Maryland

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It has 43mm threads, so you'll need an adapter ring (46-to-43mm step-down or 37-to-43mm step-up) to thread it onto the Panasonic 14/2.5 or the Panasonic 14-42 zoom. I don't know how it will perform on the comparable Olympus zooms or the Panasonic 12-32 zoom. But you can find one or two long threads about the Fujifilm conversion lens at mu-43.com and another discussion site (whose name escapes me). through a happy coincidence, the Fujifilm conversion lens has about the same curvature as the twist-on Lumix conversion lenses.

--
Paul S. in Maryland

paul613 said:

Get the Fujifilm WLFXE01. It's at least as good in every respect and can be found on Amazon for just $12 shipped. Trust me, I have owned and used both on my 14mm f/2.5. Kept the Fujifilm , sold the Lumix.

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Thanks for this suggestion! I'm going to look into it.

eBay UK says they have a US source with 8 available,


and as they say "customs tracking available" I imagine they are OK to export it.

BUT, but, but ...... do find a way to make sure it works OK on the Oly 14-12PZ. I use mine on the Panasonic 14mm and have a sneaky feeling that it was not recommended for the Panasonic 14 - 42 zoom. It if isn't OK on Panasonic's own zoom, I'm suspicious that it might not work on the Oly one.

I too like the 10-11mm prime of the combination and I don't find any problem comparing it to the (rather awkward) 12-32mm zoom.

Good luck!

Maggie

Glad to hear it. Buy the slimmest step-up or step-down ring you can find. I think I've read that a thicker ring will require more stopping down to achieve great results in the corners. My 46-to-43mm step-down ring is slim, but it has no identifying marking and I can't recall the brand.

maggiemole said:

eBay UK says they have a US source with 8 available,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=dmw+-+gwc1&ul_noapp=true

and as they say "customs tracking available" I imagine they are OK to export it.

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Awesome! Thanks for this link Maggie. Not sure why it didn't show up in my eBay.de search...

maggiemole said:

BUT, but, but ...... do find a way to make sure it works OK on the Oly 14-12PZ. I use mine on the Panasonic 14mm and have a sneaky feeling that it was not recommended for the Panasonic 14 - 42 zoom. It if isn't OK on Panasonic's own zoom, I'm suspicious that it might not work on the Oly one.

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I have the Pany 14-42 PZ, not the Oly. So this would be an ideal fit, assuming it comes with the 37mm thread adapter.

maggiemole said:

I too like the 10-11mm prime of the combination and I don't find any problem comparing it to the (rather awkward) 12-32mm zoom.

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Right?

maggiemole said:

Good luck!

Maggie

Click to expand...

I have a complete kit of the three lenses.

Mine says 46mm .... which, not surprisingly, is the filter size of the 14mm prime. I don't know how a set-up ring would work within the setup?

Maggie

Keithpictures said:

Hey all, what do you know about the Panasonic DMC-GWC1? Or maybe it's called the WCS1? It's a conversion lens that turns the 14mm or the 14-42 PZ into an 11mm wide angle. I'm intrigued by this old video about it:

I would love to get this product, or something very similar, but I can't find it for sale on Amazon or eBay or from Panasonic. Their page says it's out of stock. https://panasonic.encompass.com/item/9590501/Panasonic/DMW-GWC1/

Any thoughts as to where this might exist? Or other similar solutions? I'd love to hear people's experiences with this product.

I'm especially curious about it because 10/11mm is a great length for my purposes of casual architecture and landscape work, and as a street and travel photog mainly, compactness and efficiency are priorities to me. The other wide angle options haven't worked out well for me. I love shooting with the 8-18mm PL, but it's bulkier than I'd like on the GX9, and very pricy. The Oly 9-18mm isn't nice to shoot with. I like my 14-42 PZ, and would love to simply slip on a converter for the wider range, especially for less than 150€.

Any thoughts or leads are appreciated!

Click to expand...

I just bought one. I was thinking the exact same thing. Actually, I "had to" buy the DMW-GCK1 set as a grey market import from Japan. There seem to be no GWC1 available in the US anywhere. The GCK1 also comes with the fisheye and macro converters to play with.

I have an ebay search set up for the GWC1, it's had one hit in the last few weeks. These seem to be rather rare. If buying anything which is not brand new (in box), I'd be very careful to make sure you get all the bits with it. Most crucially are the adapter rings. There's a 39mm (for the 14-42) and a 43?mm (for the 14/2.5). Without those they're uselesss. You also get lens caps for the front and back, and for the host lens with the adapter mounted.

I want to use it with my 12-32, which is not a supported lens. That seems to work about as well as the 14-42 and the 14/2.5, if not better. At 12mm it does suffer from vignetting, which might be why it's not supported. You can shoot at 16:9 and cut off the vignettes, while still getting a wide frame (or shoot normally, and crop later). The vignette clears up by 13-14mm.

In that setup, the combination does have significant barrel distortion. I have found software which will correct for that. It turns out, if you correct for the distortion, the vignetting is cut off as well, at least for the upper corners. My copy seems to be a bit decentered and I get more vignetting at the bottom.

The worst problem is the softness in the corners. Even best case, I reckon I wouldn't want to display more than a 3mpix image (2048x) using it. It's alright for screen resolution, but disappointing for anything more.

If you do find one, one slightly less than obvious thing about it. You mount it on an adapter ring which screws into the lens filter thread. The converter lens then connects to that with a bayonet mount. The in obvious thing is you twist it in the same direction (against the filter thread) to get it off as to put it on.

Here's a test shot, edge and centre shot. 12mm+GWC1. I was shooting in medium rez (8 Mpixels).


Centre crop, 12mm+GWC1,from 8Mpixel original


Edge crop 12mm+GWC1, from 8Mpixel original

Nice, Barry. Congrats on getting it!

Interesting that it works for you on the 12-32... I guess that gets you under 10mm..

What happens with your EXIF metadata? Does the converter register as a new focal length? Or does the file think it's still just a 12mm/14mm? This seems like it would be a major advantage to the Panasonic-branded converter. Otherwise, maybe the Fujifilm is worth it.

Keithpictures said:

Nice, Barry. Congrats on getting it!

Interesting that it works for you on the 12-32... I guess that gets you under 10mm..

What happens with your EXIF metadata? Does the converter register as a new focal length? Or does the file think it's still just a 12mm/14mm? This seems like it would be a major advantage to the Panasonic-branded converter. Otherwise, maybe the Fujifilm is worth it.

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I make it 9.5mm.

The exif doesn't reflect the presence of the converter, there's no way for the lens to know there's something in the filter ring. That's one of the annoying things about it. I mark the pics as I import them, so I'll remember that the converter was used.

That's also a problem using correction software, the software looks up the correction necessary for the lens alone, and thinks that's good enough. I have to set manual correction, and tweak it myself. Over time, I could probably come up with a correction preset, but I'm just experimenting currently.

Hi!

I have the GWC1, and it is a really nice wide angle converter. Not flawless in every situation, but a trusty companion of any hobbist. I suggest you to check the pictures made by it (+14mm f2.5) here:


cheers,

Loga

Keithpictures said:

Hey all, what do you know about the Panasonic DMC-GWC1? Or maybe it's called the WCS1? It's a conversion lens that turns the 14mm or the 14-42 PZ into an 11mm wide angle. I'm intrigued by this old video about it:

I would love to get this product, or something very similar, but I can't find it for sale on Amazon or eBay or from Panasonic. Their page says it's out of stock. https://panasonic.encompass.com/item/9590501/Panasonic/DMW-GWC1/

Any thoughts as to where this might exist? Or other similar solutions? I'd love to hear people's experiences with this product.

I'm especially curious about it because 10/11mm is a great length for my purposes of casual architecture and landscape work, and as a street and travel photog mainly, compactness and efficiency are priorities to me. The other wide angle options haven't worked out well for me. I love shooting with the 8-18mm PL, but it's bulkier than I'd like on the GX9, and very pricy. The Oly 9-18mm isn't nice to shoot with. I like my 14-42 PZ, and would love to simply slip on a converter for the wider range, especially for less than 150€.

Any thoughts or leads are appreciated!

Click to expand...

+1

10.6/f2.5 is quite usable for indoor/low-light when paired with IBIS-capable body.

Sounds awesome, Chris. I think I want this same set-up.

What happens to the metadata when you use these converters? Does the new, proper focal length appear in your data, or does it register it at the native lens length?