[Recovered Thread: 107814]

[Changeling]

I am speculating on buying a Sony VCL-DH1758 tele lens for a Canon S2 CAMERA.

However I would like to know what the letters mean?
Can anyone tell me the difference between the following;
1. Sony VCL- DH1758

2. Sonyl VCL-HGD 1758

I take it that the numbers mean "1.7" and 58mm

But what is the difference between VCL-DH and VCL-HGD

What does it mean?

Changeling

[Sintares]

VCL-HGD1758 old version heavy (metal barrel I think) , weight:560 g

VCL- DH1758 new version much lighter, ABS (plastic?) barrel, weight: 260 g

[Changeling]

Sintares, I take it the lenses are the same, is that correct?
Which one is desireable over the other?
Changeling


Sintares wrote:

VCL-HGD1758 old version heavy (metal barrel I think) , weight:560 g

VCL- DH1758 new version much lighter, ABS (plastic?) barrel, weight: 260 g

[Sintares]

Changeling wrote:

Sintares, I take it the lenses are the same, is that correct?
Which one is desireable over the other?
Changeling


Sintares wrote:

Yes the lenses are the same except for the barrel contruction materials.

You might as well get the lighter one, since its actually being made currently and not old obsolete stock like the older one.

[Changeling]

Sintares, thanks for your input.
Please check out my post on DL about lenses, a real eyeopener!!!!!!!!
Changeling

[shene]

Changeling wrote:

[.....]the lenses are the same, is that correct?
Which one is desireable over the other?

No, HGD1758 and DH1758 are two different lenses because their front glass sizes are different (i.e., 90mm vs. 74mm). The HGD1758 is better than DH1758, at least on Panasonic FZ-10 and FZ-30. Please see my Panasonic FZ-30 user guide for more details: http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/FZ-30/

CK

http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam

Nikon Coolpix 950/990/995/2500/4500/5700, Panasonic FZ-10/FZ-30 and Canon A95 User Guides

[Sintares]

Yes, but the camera you tested it on has a much larger lens than the cameras we are taking about the S series Canon and H series Sony.

It may like the wider front and older "last century" styled design.

Two tcons have been tested and compared over at the Sony forum on dpreview many times over the last couple of years and people have found no significant difference between them, some prefer the heavy obsolete lens, more solid and tough, some like the modern lightweight, much better if you have to mount a filter between it and the camera ( less stress on the filters front threads )

When it comes down to taking pictures with it, then on the smaller cameras H/S series at least, the lens are a dead heat.

[shene]

Sintares wrote:

Yes, but the camera you tested it on has a much larger lens than the cameras we are taking about the S series Canon and H series Sony.

It may like the wider front and older "last century" styled design.

A converter lens has only two basic parameters, the focal length of the front group and the focal length of the rare group. The diameters of the front and rare glasses are basically required to reduce vignetting (i.e., the cos^n law in optics), and there is no "new" vs. "old" issues. The HGD1728 was designed for F828 and latter became popular on other cameras (e.g., Nikon 5700/8700/8800 and Panasonic FZ-10/FZ-30) due to its "size". The H and Canon S series cameras used a smaller senser (i.e., 1/2.5") and, as a result, the lens diameter can be smaller to support essentially the same maximum aperture of the Panasonic FZ series. Given these fact, the HGD1758 and DH1758 ARE two different lenses and, again,there are no "new" vs. "old" design style issues. In fact, Zeiss Ikon built converter lenses even before WWII for Contaflex TLR cameras and after the war for Contaflex SLR. The optical design formulas are essentially the same and some were even more complex than some modern designs. Weight is neither proportional nor inversely proportional to optical quality. Some manufactures prefer to use all metal lens barrel and larger glass to reduce vignetting (e.g., Nikon TC-E17ED - presumably the best, Olympus TCON-14B, and Sony HGD1758), while some others may choose to use synthetic materials for lens barrel and optical elements. It is not a "new" vs. "old" issue. It is the choice a manufacture must make to support THEIR own cameras, especially that camera does not have a strong lens barrel.

Sintares wrote:

Two tcons have been tested and compared over at the Sony forum on dpreview many times over the last couple of years and people have found no significant difference between them, some prefer the heavy obsolete lens, more solid and tough, some like the modern lightweight, much better if you have to mount a filter between it and the camera ( less stress on the filters front threads )

Again, there are so many comparisons of the HGD and DH versions on many forums and web sites using other cameras, some of which are trustworthy while some are not. In my case,I have made it very clear that my tests were done on a FZ-30. This gives the assumption of my conclusions. In fact, the HGD is also better than the DH on Nikon 5700/8700/8800 and Panasonic FZ-10. Moreover, when a small diameter camera uses a larger diameter lens, due to the use of center portion only, vignneting would be slightly (and sometimes significantly) lower, and sometimes resolution power is also somewhat (or significantly) higher depending the converter lens and the camera lens being used.

Mounting filter between a converter lens and the camera lens is not a good idea for a number of reasons. First, the distance between the rare glass of the converter lens and the camera lens is larger, which can cause insufficient power. Whether this is significant depends on both lenses and has no definite answer. Second, due to this added distance, camera lens zoom range may be affected somewhat. Again, this is also a combined factor of both lenses and has no definite answer. Third, adding one more glass between the lenses increases the chance to have flare. It is even worse if the filter is not multi-coated and there is a very string light source in or near the image frame. Keep in mind that most converter lenses do not have threads for mountinglens hoods.

CK

[Changeling]

Well, regardless of whatever, there is a guy selling the Sony 1758's on ebay for $80.00 delivered with factory gurantee, so I bought one.
That was cheaper than the used ones i have been seeing!
Changeling

[maryccc]

Will these lenses take good pictures of the moon?