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[ReverendTed]

I recently purchased (through Amazon) one of those $6 add-on 3-in-1 lens sets intended for an iPhone, tablet, or other small camera.
It came, as most of them do, with a two piece Macro\Wide-Angle (0.67x) lens and a separate Fisheye lens.
The lenses I got included the magnetic base which other users had noted interferes with the operation of the IR-cut filter in the DCS-932L.  I managed to remove the magnet from the base of my wide-angle lens so that it wouldn't interfere.  (I also ordered a second wide-angle lens for my other camera, but this time ordered the clip-on version which I believe does not include the magnet.  I haven't received that one yet, but I'll post back once I receive it.)

Since I got the lens attached to the camera, I figured I'd post a before-and-after shot.
On the top is the original view, on the bottom is after attaching the lens to the camera (via a thin adhesive disk):



As you can see, there's a considerable increase in the field of view, but some loss of fidelity especially around the periphery.   In case you were wondering, the white blotch on the lower right is not the lens body occluding the view, but a wall that was not previously visible.

The Fisheye lens, on the other hand, works alright on my phone camera, but the picture got very blurry when used on my DCS-932Ls.    I presume this is due to my phone being able to focus through the lens, while the DCS-932L doesn't have a focusing feature.  (Right?)

Here's what the lens looks like in place:

I'm curious how well the adhesive will hold.  If I'm satisfied with the function of the lens and the adhesive fails, I may opt to more permanently attach it with some superglue.

[JavaLawyer]

Thank you for the detailed post. The images do a much better job at illustrating the increased FOV than any text description. 

[JavaLawyer]

Whoops!  I meant to post this in the DCS-932L subforum, not the DNR-202L.  Sorry!

I've moved the post from the DNR-202L board. 

[Jim1590]

Can you link to which one you got? Also anyone willing to put up a picture with someone standing in the room? I use mine for security and blurry faces not much good.

Thanks

[ReverendTed]

Can you link to which one you got? Also anyone willing to put up a picture with someone standing in the room? I use mine for security and blurry faces not much good.

The second one I ordered (the clip-on version without the magnet) is [ this one ], but Amazon lists it as "Currently Unavailable".  However, the search terms you'd use are "0.67x wide angle macro iphone" and you'll get tons of hits.  It looks like one company makes them and then several companies buy them to resell\import\re-brand.  The main thing you're looking for is one without the magnetic attachment, which usually means a "clip-on" variant.  I paid $6.
The first set I got had the magnets and it's working fine, but I had to remove the magnet, which wasn't trivial.

[JavaLawyer]

I drafted an FAQ entry for adding a wide angle lens. Please let me know if this FAQ is innaccurate or can be bolstered with additional useful information: DCS Network Cameras - Can I Add a Wide-Angle Lens to My Camera?

    

[ReverendTed]

Please let me know if this FAQ is innaccurate or can be bolstered with additional useful information

Great!  The FAQ entry lets people know it's possible, but I'm not sure it has enough information for someone to really get started.  Perhaps a list of forum links at the bottom for "User Examples"?  (Although so far, I think there are just this thread and one other about it.)

[JavaLawyer]

While  I agree about adding a user example, I'm leery about linking threads to the FAQ posts.  All the FAQ posts that exist in this forum stand on their own or link to other FAQ posts (that stand on their own).  I also avoid posting FAQs with images as there are no D-Link-hosted image repositories with guaranteed staying-power.  I realize that's kind of limiting, but it's what I have to work with (only way to maintain the long-term integrity of the FAQ section).

[ReverendTed]

I wondered if that might be the case.  It makes sense.

[unix932]

text ...

First, Thanks for sharing your experience with putting a separate lens on the 932L. It gave me the courage and an incentive to buy two fish eye lens, one for the 930L and one for the 932L. With a small screwdriver between the glass and the magnetic ring (of the fish eye), the ring popped easily out. And for sticking the lens on the 932L I am using posterbuddies.

Well, I already have a wide angle lens on the 930L, but after using the fish eye lens there is a big difference between those. I am only using the cameras as surveillance, so detail doesn't really matter. The picture quality is indeed a bit worser, but the wider field of view is awesome.

My collection  :
932L with fish eye lens
932L with wide angle lens
930L with fish eye lens
2*930L with wide angle lens

First details:
Wide angle lens: 4.4 gram
Fisheye lens: 9.1 gram
932L 930L with magnetic ring taken inside the house at 23.00 o'clock

Without lens:



With wide angle lens:


With fish eye lens:


Other pictures in daylight:
930L with wide angle lens: http://i59.tinypic.com/hrhod2.jpg
930L with fish eye lens: http://i59.tinypic.com/2vlr5mo.jpg

[ReverendTed]

Awesome results unix932!

One thing I noticed is that after gluing the lens on to one of my cameras, the image got blurry.  I realized I had accidentally gotten something on the inner lens (or the setting superglue released something) and it had "etched" the surface of the add-on lens.  Fortunately, I was able to polish it back smooth with a lens cloth and some toothpaste.

With my set, the magnet on the Fisheye lens pops out very easily.  The magnet on the wide-angle lens was mounted in a more difficult position.

One thing that's different in my experience from unix932 is that when I have the fisheye lens on my DCS-932L, there's a noticeable amount of vignetting (black border) around the edges.

[unix932]

Made a mistake...  , the images of my previous post were all taken using a 930L.

Probably tomorrow or the day after, I can post some pictures of the 932L with the wide angle and fish eye lenses. I also have the black border at the edges on my 932L, probably because of the greater distance between the camera lens and the fish eye lens. Well the wide angle seems to do a fine job on both the cameras .

Pictures:

932L with wide angle lens: http://i60.tinypic.com/jiey3n.jpg
932L with fish eye lens: http://i58.tinypic.com/2dqtzpl.jpg

And for the ones who are interested (these are the last pictures I will post):

932L Nightview with wide angle lens: http://i59.tinypic.com/28insjm.jpg
932L Nightview with fish eye lens: http://i57.tinypic.com/2i8zy8g.jpg

Well the fish eye lens cost around 4 dollar on ebay, so can't really complain about the price. The wide angle lens cost about 3 dollar online in chinese webshops. I think personally that the wide angle lens is the best product for the 9xxL (assuming that it work on all the other models).

There is also a 'super fish eye lens', but that lens cost around 20 dollar.... so the price quality of the other two are way better.

[ReverendTed]

Thanks for sharing!

That reminded me of one other thing about the wide-angle lens.  The IR lamps seem to be calibrated to illuminate things within the normal viewing angle of the DCS-932L and not much else, so at night the areas that normally wouldn't be viewable tend to be darker.

[JavaLawyer]

Thanks for contributing your findings. If we only had the ability to store images locally on the forum server I would add images like these (and instructions) on our FAQ board. 

[unix932]

Well, I placed the 932L on a different place and the IR light doesn't go far... A solution is to add an external IR light source with more leds, but the problem is that you have to spend more money on something that's already built in. Sinking ship

I used a cctv camera dome with 24 leds on it to use it as a external IR source. The result seems impressive, if I add two sources in two corners of the room, the 932L can see the whole room. But then I am wondering why I am not buying a real cctv system for like 120 euros. So I am probably putting the 932L  back on his previous place.

932L with fish eye lens:
http://i57.tinypic.com/fp1kdf.jpg

932L with fish eye lens and 1 external IR source:
http://i57.tinypic.com/2e3o7sh.jpg