Canon A80 Advice PLease

[chimp]

Hi All

I am thinking of buying the Canon A80 and i was wondering how the add-on lenses that you can buy for it are for quality etc. Would it turn the A80 into a 6x zoom instead of a 3x with the add-on lens(+ convertor).

Also, can the camera take a 512 mb cf card? It does not say on the spec for it.

Thanks for any advice

[mkoso]

First, the camera can take as big of a card as you want to put in.
Second, the Canon teleconverter is a nice lens but, it does have it's limitations on the wide angle side such as vignetting.

Mark

[orion999]

Originally Posted by chimp

Hi All

I am thinking of buying the Canon A80 and i was wondering how the add-on lenses that you can buy for it are for quality etc. Would it turn the A80 into a 6x zoom instead of a 3x with the add-on lens(+ convertor).

Also, can the camera take a 512 mb cf card? It does not say on the spec for it.

Thanks for any advice

Concerning tele, I would like to share my experience on some lens I have tried on A80:

1. Canon TC-DC52 2.4x tele convertor:

It is a very nice lens convertor. At the optimal distance from the A80 built-in lens (41mm from body), you can get a FULLY PLANAR focussed (i.e. image sharp from center to edge) image of 7.2x optical zoom. But the weakness are:
a) You have to do some custom stepping/extension on your adapter tube. Looks like www.lensmateonline.com has it finally.
b) The eyepiece glass lens of TC-DC52 is only about 25mm, which accounted for the heavy vignetting at wide angle range even on A70. On A70 the usable zoom positions (without vignetting) are the last 3 zoom clicks on the tele end. On A80 only the last 2 zoom clicks (f/4.5 and f/4.9) are available.

My choice: Too limited in zoom range, I have sold it.


2. Olympus TCON-17 1.7x tele convertor:

Obviously it is different design from the Canon TC-DC52. The photo taken with TCON-17 mounted at different distances from the A80 camera body is pretty sharp. It has a much bigger and nice eyepiece glass of 35mm diameter. Weaknesses are:

a) You need a 52mm -> 55mm step up ring to mount the 55mm rear thread of TCON-17.
b) TCON-17 is really a monster. If you think TC-DC52 a big guy, you will call TCON-17 a giant.
c) Unfortunately accompanying the big eyepiece glass it also has a very long barrel (> 100mm) and the vignetting caused by the side far away from the camera body. As a result when mounted close to A80, it can only work for the last 3 zoom clicks (f/4.0, f/4.5, f/4.9) are free from vignetting.

My choice: Too clumsy for getting extra 1.7x zoom, I have sold it too.


3. Nikon TC-E2 2x tele convertor:

Yes! It is Nikon!! You might wonder why use 28mm tele lens not 52mm ? :?
It is because though the adapter tube of A80 is 52mm threaded, the built-in lens of A80 is not big lens design. Experience with TC-DC52 which has only a 25mm eyepiece shows that 28mm glass is good enough. So I took a bold try on Nikon 2x. The result is surprising:
a) There are 5 zoom clicks (f/3.2b, f/3.5, f/4.0, f/4.5, f/4.9) available free of vignetting!!
b) Overall image sharpness is pretty good.
c) Nikon TCE2 is a cheap and very light weight addon lens yet with adequate quality. I got mine for only US$50 in the 2nd hand market.
d) Because Nikon TC-E2 is 28mm rear threaded you need to find your 52mm->37mm, 37mm->28mm step down rings to work with it. I got mine from www.ckcpower.com. If you are going for Lensmate's 37mm adapter you need only 37mm->28mm to run nikon 2x.

My choice: It is nice 6x optical zoom and it is currently in service. 8)


4. Nikon TC-E3ED 3x tele convertor

After the success with Nikon 2x convertor, I cannot help myself from trying out the Nikon 3x convertor TC-E3ED. It is same 28mm rear thread as Nikon 2x. As many people has reviewed, this loudspeaker shaped tele convertor is a nice and gives extraordinary crisp images at a combined 9x optical zoom. But it does has it weakness:

a) Though it is 28mm rear threaded, the eyepiece glass is only about 17mm across. The immediate result is heavy vignetting again. Everything go back to the case for TC-DC52 and only 2 zoom clicks (f/4.5, f/4.9) are available free from vignetting now. Of course it has the advantage of 3x optical zoom vs. 2.4x of TC-DC52, it is also DOUBLE the price.
b) Nikon TC-E3ED is more than double the weight of Nikon TC-E2 and looks a bit fragile with the bag nikon offers right in the package.

My choice: It is too expensive a lens I couldn't sell it at any acceptable price. ops: So I plan to keep it both as a compliment to the Nikon 2x and wait to see if I can acquire a nikon camera later.


Considering Image sharpness I would rate the 4 as:

Nikon 3x > Canon TC-DC52 > Nikon 2x > Olympus TCON-17

Orion~