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May 12, 2006
[ ACCESSORIES FOR THE WELL-DRESSED DIGISNAPPER ]
dpexpert is frequently asked what camera or what printer a newcomer to digital photography should buy, but Barry is the first person ever to ask: “how can novices like me benefit from accessories offered by the camera manufacturers? Should I buy the lens adapter hood set, teleconverter and wide angle converter for my Canon S2IS? I want to know if spending half the price of a new camera would be money well spent."
Good question. Most camera makers offer accessory lenses for some of their cameras and the superzooms, like Barry’s, can all be fitted out with optional focal length extenders.
Barry’s Canon S2IS has been superseded (isn’t that always the way?) by the S3IS which is fundamentally the same excellent camera with another million pixels. The Canon is one of the superzooms -- that is 12x zooms with a focal length range of 36–432mm film equivalent -- that we really like so we asked for the S3IS with both the wide and tele extenders for testing.
First, the cost. The TC-DC58B tele extender is $200, as is the WC-DC58A wide extender. The Lens hood adapter, which is essential in order to mount the extenders, is another $70. It all adds up to more than half the camera price of $800. [All in Australian dollars]
Second, the optical quality. Focal length extenders once had a poor reputation, which is one reason that we have not reviewed them here. However it is a pleasure to report that the Canon optics (and we assume the Sony, Panasonic, Olympus etc add-on lenses are of the same quality) are excellent. Both the tele and wide extenders are sharp as a tack and do not reduce contrast. Given that the tele add-on is taking the maximum focal length to 650mm this is impressive.
[ Photo taken with TC-DC58B telephoto converter ]
There is one small problem with using the lens at the 650mm maximum -- it can be hard to find the subject! Because superzooms all have electronic viewfinders and LCD screens finding and tracking a subject in bright light is not easy. The LCD is useless in daylight and the EVF doesn’t give enough information to easily locate the subject. Birds and small children have usually disappeared before you can pin them down. Need we say it again, these cameras are fun but they are not SLRs.The wide angle add-on shortens the focal length to about 27mm, which is a fairly modest gain over 36mm. The lens is sharp but there is noticeable barrel distortion that would not be acceptable in an interchangeable SLR lens. On the other hand this one is only a fraction of the price of decent SLR optics.
[ Photo taken with WC-DC58A wide angle converter lens ]
When the supplementary lenses are used with the Canon a setting has to be changed in the Menu to match the camera to the extender in use. Presumably this menu setting changes some of the shooting parameters to optimise the image quality.
Which brings us to useability. Fitting and using the supplementary lenses is no spur-of-the-moment affair. First a cosmetic ring has to be removed from the front of the lens, then the adapter, which comes as part of the lens hood not as part of a lens, locks into the main lens barrel. Then the add-on lens is screwed into the adapter and the Menu settings have to be changed. Given that most people who buy these superzooms have a single lens reflex phobia, on the grounds that they are too complicated and demand a bag full of bits and pieces to work, the add-on lenses are starting to look like a clumsy alternative to a better camera.
So what should we advise Barry? First, the lenses are excellent value for money and their image quality is good. Second, don’t forget that your camera already has a zoom range up to 432mm which is long by 35mm standards. Most SLR owners don’t have a lens that long in their bag. Do you really need 650mm?
The wide angle extender might be more useful, particularly for the tourist. However the distortion might be annoying.
The famous bottom line: if you have a use for the extenders then they are worth the money.
[ Note on the photos: The tiger and orang utan were taken with the camera mounted on a tripod and the lens plus extender at full extension. The church photo was hand-held at 1/6 second! The image stabilisation on the Canon really works! The tiger and orang utan photos have had no post-camera processing other than resizing. The church photo has had converging verticals corrected in PhotoShop, plus some lightening in the shadows.]
Posted by terry at May 12, 2006 06:26 AM
Comments
Would be good to see the untouched wideangle photo to realy see what you get out of the camera,
Posted by: Graheme at May 18, 2006 06:58 AM
Graheme:
I will try to put some untouched photos up on the blog within the next week.
Terry L
Posted by: Terry at May 18, 2006 08:18 AM
I have an Olympus 750UZ with the mandatory hollow tube and then the wide angle lens. The WA lens doesn't look as classy as the Canon one and I lose some contrast and detail in comparison to the camera without. You're right, it's not every point and shooter's dream to carry a bulky add-on and to vigorously mount or unmount the add-on during shoots. Plus the lens obscures the little pop up flash. However, I'm passionate on WA views, even unretouched ones.
Posted by: Ananda Sim at May 22, 2006 03:04 AM