Consumer camcorders are limited in their additional lens options because the additional lenses screw onto the front of your camcorder in front of the original camcorder lens much like a cap on a soda bottle. Here’s a brief description of the two types on lenses available and when you might want to use them:
Wide Angle Lens
You’re standing at the back of the auditorium, but you still can’t get the entire stage in your shot.
A wide angle lens is used in situations where you can’t get everything you want in the shot, and you can’t move back any further widen your shot. These lenses can be good for things like school plays and concerts where you want to be able to record the entire stage.
Unfortunately, since wide angle lenses are essentially stretching out your viewing area they also tend to make your video look slightly distorted which can in some instances be jarring to your audience. You should test drive your wide angle lens before you use it in any new setting.
With a traditional wide angle lens you do not want to use your zoom at all while recording. If you do a lot of zooming you should purchase a wide angle lens that is marked with the phrase “zoom-through” this type of lens will keep your video from looking stretched out when you zoom.
Tele-extender Lens
A tele-extender lens, lens is a lens designed to make objects appear closer to you than they actually are. For instance if you use a 3x tele-extender lens, then objects are going to be appear three times as close as they would without the lens. Unlike a zoom lens that would give you additional distance to zoom, a tele-extender almost makes it seem you moved your camcorder tree times closer to the object, so you won' be able to record things closer than that to your camcorder without removing the lens.
Since tele-extender lenses screw onto the front of your camcorder they can make it difficult you’re your camcorder to process light, and in turn can make your video appear darker than it actually is. These lenses are great for brightly lit scenes like soccer games, but tend to have bad results in places where there is dim lighting such as an indoor performance.