Another ? concerning teleconverter

[gle56]

I have a Canon 3IS and now have ordered a 58mm adapter which came with a hood and UV lens.

My question is will any 58mm converter work (digital or film) and does it make any difference what brand or distance (2X,3X). - Thank you - Sammieg

[Sintares]

Go for a good make, see the various ones listed at lensmateonline for example.

Don't be suckered in by the cheap garbage on ebay, those cheap x2 and x3 tcons will produce blurry pictures, or ones riddled with softness, distortions, color fringing etc

Remember phrases in ebay sales such as "high definition", "professional", "titanium", "digital" are likely warnings to avoid, along with brands such as "opteka", "tokina", "crystal view/optics" and "sakar" etc

[[email protected]]

I recommend that you look at CK Shene's comparisons of teleconverters at:
http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/

While he tested them with a panasonic FZ30 the results should apply equally well to the Canon S3 IS.

You may have to purchase a 58mm-55mm step-down adapter to use some of these lenses.

Probably your best buy would be a used Olympus B-300, a 1.7X teleconverter that appears to be the same as the Olympus TCON-17. The Nikon TCON-E17ED is probably the best you can get but it costs a lot for a marginal gain compared to the Olympus lenses.

I had a Canon S1 IS; the limitaion in image quality I observed was in the Canon's lens and not in auxiliary lenses of the Olympus quality.

[dnas]

Sintares wrote:

Go for a good make, see the various ones listed at lensmateonline for example.

Don't be suckered in by the cheap garbage on ebay, those cheap x2 and x3 tcons will produce blurry pictures, or ones riddled with softness, distortions, color fringing etc

Remember phrases in ebay sales such as "high definition", "professional", "titanium", "digital" are likely warnings to avoid, along with brands such as "opteka", "tokina", "crystal view/optics" and "sakar" etc

I don't know much about Tokina Teleconverters for non DSLR digital cameras, but Tokina make some of the best lenses for SLR & DSLR cameras around. Tokina make lenses that are equal to, and in some cases, better than lenses from Nikon, Canon, Pentax, etc.

They usually make only top quality lenses, so I think that perhaps their teleconverters might be good as well.

[Sintares]

dnas wrote:

Tokina make some of the best lenses for SLR & DSLR cameras around.

Indeed, but we are talking about the terrible tcons they make for fixed lens cameras, this being of course the "Add-On LensesFor fixed-lens digicams." section of the forum.

[LoveLife]

There is no standard of performance with ad-on lenses. It is how the marriage of the two works together. Not all marriages are successful and the same is true with ad-on lenses. Example: the best Tele on the Panasonic FZ20 is the TCON14B the best Tele on the FZ30 is the Nikon followed by the TCON17 which is poor on the FZ20. Unless someone shows you proof of results stay away from that product.