Wide converters and tele converters for A80 – links

[kaushama]

I wanted to buy tele/wide converters for my new A80 marvel. So I did an extensive search for the options. Following are the three main places where one can find the 3rd party lens converters and lenses.

Lensmate

1. http://www.lensmateonline.com/A80adapter.htm & http://www.lensmateonline.com/buy2.html

BugEyeDigital

2. http://www.bugeyedigital.com/product...acc-canon.html & http://www.bugeyedigital.com/moreinf...ity_chart.html

go4dc

3. http://go.dc-accessories.com/int0-canon.html & http://go.dc-accessories.com/int0-adapters.html

All sites have their own 52mm and 37mm adapter tubes.

Lensmate sells Tiffen, Raynox and Canon lenses. They also have Hoya Macro lenses.

BugEyeDigital sells Tiffen and Raynox products. They have listed both CKC Power CrystalVue Sharpshooter 8x Telephoto Lens and Raynox 0.3x Semi Fisheye Lens for use with A80.

Go4dc sells impressive range of Focus Optics lenses and they are the cheapest also.

Hope it helps!

Has anyone used Focus Optic products? How good they are?

[orion999]

First of All, (((((( NO FOCUS OPTICS!! ))))))

I know they are tempting and priced lower than all commonly available lens, but you would understand it is NOT CHEAP if you really did bought it because they are cheating on the spec and virtually non-usable. Trust me.

go4dc is exactly the same www.dcamhk.com here in my city Hong Kong. They are great resource and trust-worthy for finding *NON-GLASS* items only.

IMO, Lensmate does shows a good service style in researching and helping A80 users to solve every problems. If I were you I would certainly buy from them.

Rudolf.

[kaushama]

Thanx

I was just going to order Focus Optics!!! Is there a 2.5X tele-converter 37mm other than those?

[richardh]

The canon 2.4x teleconverter for the a70 will work on the a80. One person claimed that it had minor edge softness that could be eliminated by mounting a filter or step ring and then the lens to push the lens a little further from the camera. I would suspect that you would have less usable zoom range than the 1.7x lenses though.

[orion999]

Originally Posted by richardh

The canon 2.4x teleconverter for the a70 will work on the a80. One person claimed that it had minor edge softness that could be eliminated by mounting a filter or step ring and then the lens to push the lens a little further from the camera. I would suspect that you would have less usable zoom range than the 1.7x lenses though.

Yes, in fact I have tested A80 + canon 2.4x tele combo (and sold it) it needs a 41mm fitting measuring from the chassis of A80 to the rear side of tele converter to give optimal image performance. I guess it is also reported on Lensmate's site as they build a spacer for this purpose.

With this fitting distance the A80 will only have 2 zoom stops (in the tele end) left without vignetting. Nevertheless, there was just 1 more vignetting-free zoom stop on A70 so it won't be too bad feeling. With the new 1.7x tele it does gets better results but as the price is no cheaper than olympus TCON-17 I would suggest getting TCON-17 instead. Both because it is of the same magnification and much slighter vignetting issue. But, TCON-17 is a huge beast.

As you might not be satisfied by 1.7x like me, my recommendation is getting a nikon 2x tele converter. This tiny lovely and light weight gadget gives you 5 vignetting-free zoom stops (out of the 7 available on A80). I was surprised with the good image quality and handyful and sold all my 1.7x and 2.4x tele.

Below is the vignetting test I have done on A80 + nikon 2x tele:



Samples (artifacts due to jpeg compression, sharpness is great):



The look of nikon 2x tele:

[kaushama]

Yeap! After extensive searching I have concluded that following are the best converter lenses for Powershot A80. [In the descending order in my personal view]

Tele-converters

• Nikon EC2 Tele converter [28 mm rear thread]. It provides 5 non-vignetting focal length stops for A80 out of original native 7 points. It is light weight and small. Only thing is that it is expensive 120$-150$. One needs 37 to 28 step-down rings to attach it. They can be found @,

http://go.dc-accessories.com/int0-rings.html or
http://www.ckcpower.com/

• Tiffen Megaplus 2x 37 mm converter. $ 69.95
• Canon 52mm TC-DC52A 1.75x

If one needs more zooming power, options are
• TC-DC52 2.4X Teleconverter 52 mm [Needs a step ring or filter]
• CKC Power CrystalVue Sharpshooter 8x Telephoto Lens ;
http://www.bugeyedigital.com/product_main/ckc-cvs8.html and http://www.steves-digicams.com/sharpshooter.html

For more details regarding comparisons visit, http://kaushama.tripod.com/Comparison.htm

Wide converters

Here one has lot of options.

• Nikon WC-E63 Wide Angle Converter Lens, 28 mm light weight, least distortion and vignetting. Needs 37 to 28 mm step-down ring.
• Raynox DCR 6600PRO 52mm .66x; very little distortion.
• Canon 52mm TC-DC52A 1.75x Teleconverter
• Tiffen 37mm .56X Wide Angle Converter, vignetting with an aperture wider than 5.0 or so. The lens needs more light and slow shutter speeds.

If one needs semi fisheye,
• Raynox HD-3030PRO High Definition Semi Fisheye Lens 0.3x; 37 mm

It is advisable to avoid focus optics and pro tama as one gets what he paid for. Better to avoid kenko as well coz they give fairly severe color fringing.

So I have decided to get Nikon wide converter and still undecided between Nikon and Tiffen tele-converters. Tiffen is almost half the price of Nikon and has four elements. Has anyone got experience with Tiffen tele? Is it worth paying 60 odd $ for Nikon?

[orion999]

You might want to check ebay or some second hand market. In fact I got my nikon TCE2 in HK from a nikon 995 user for only HK$400 (about US$50) and it is excellent condition!!

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...&sosortorder=1

[littleboy]

Hello there,

I am thinking of buying add-on lens for my A80. After some time of thinking, i am interested in the lenses below, please give your comments:

> 1) Lensmate 37mm adapter
> 2) Tiffen Close-Up Macro set 37mm
> 3) Tiffen 37mm .56X

Alll are available from http://www.lensmateonline.com


How good is the Nikon WC-E63 compare to the Tiffen 37mm .56X? And what about "value" wise? The Tiffen 37mm .56X is certainly much cheaper.

[nathantop]

is 'Bugeyeddigital' reliable. Has anyone bought from them, can somebody living in UK research and let us know. The storefront seems pretty small and no addresses mentioned. they offer cheap Canon S1 adapters and I plan to buy from them

[Rriley]

i cant talk with authority about other wide and tele adapters
but the Canon variety are fine
just be aware using flash leaves a shaddow where the lens is

Riley