Sony DH1758 teleconverter on a Dimage A1, A2, A200?

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Does anyone know if the new Sony VCL-DH1758 1.7x teleconverter works with the Dimage A1, A2, or A200?

Thanks,
Ollie

[BillS22]

At first glance the only problem I see is it's thread-size. The Minolta A2 has a 49mm thread ring and the DH1758 is 58mm. I could be wrong, but I'd say it won't fit.

Here's a review Ifound http://www.pagenation.com/an/B0009OAFJ8.html



Minolta makes a ACT-100 for the A2. I'm thinking about getting one. See my post about Washed Out Whites. Can't help but think a little more lens power would have helped that situation.



Bill

A 49mm to 58mm step-up ring should enable you to use it. I have the ACT-100 & it's a great piece of glass!

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Well, here goes ordering a DH1758 lens and a 49-58mm step-up ring for my A1.

The DH1758's press from many non-Minolta users is very good (For example, http://boomzfoto2.fotopic.net/c668207.html - on a Panasonic FZ5K) so it's time to test the waters.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Ollie

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Review of Sony VCL-DH1758 1.7x teleconverter on an A1 Dimage (part 1)

I finally got my DH1758 teleconverter lens and put it on my Dimage A1. Although B&H's suggested it would take 10-15 days to get from US to Australia, it took 3 weeks and I was sweating for the last week. But it arrived! It has some really good features and some not so good features. I don't have another lens to compare with, so you will have to make up your own mind.

Best points:

1. Light weight, very easy to carry and fit with a 49-58 step-up ring attached.[/*]
2. Crystal clear images over the centre part of the frame. (See the attached cropped photos of kangaroo, comparing a maximum 200mm zoom without teleconverter to a 200mm zoom with the teleconverter)[/*]
3. Auto focus works very well with the lens. You can use manual focus too, but the distance values are out.[/*]
4. Virtually undetectable chromatic abberation - impressive.[/*]
5. No visible image distortion (see attached grid image in my next post)[/*]
6. Screws on to my polarising filter without extra vignetting, but needs supporting. (The filter is not built for this kind of thing.)[/*]

Not-so-good points:

1. Despite Sony's claims, it is 1.6x magnification, not 1.7x. (Have Sony H1 users noticed this too?)[/*]
2. There is some vignetting at all zooms. (see attached image comparison of various zoom levels)[/*]
3. There can be significant loss of focus in the corners and edges of the image. This is minimised by using small apertures (see attached image comparison of apertures at 200mm zoom), but you can lose significant useable pixels at wide apertures (eg, below f5.6). My best estimate is that at f11 and 200mm zoom (ie: least amount vignetting and corner focus loss) the acceptably focussed photo size drops to around 3.3 to 3.6MP, while at f3.5 the useable pixels drop to about 2.5-3.0MP.[/*]

The loss of focussed pixels at the edges/corners makes me little ambivalent about using this lens with my A1. Am I judging it too harshly? I wish I had other teleconverter lenses that I could do a direct comparison with.

Cheers,
Ollie

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Review of Sony VCL-DH1758 1.7x teleconverter on an A1 Dimage (part 2)

Here's the other test photo with the teleconverter. Nice detail in the kangaroo - shot from about 30 metres away.

[amazingthailand]

Definately unuseable, in my opinion. Best to stick with the Minolta converter.

Declan