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06/08/2006 02:01:44 AM · #1 |
I'm looking for a wide lens for my Panasonic DMC-FZ5. I tried a friends Jessops 0.42x (54mm thread), and it worked really well. I had to hold the lens in front of the camera, as it doesn't quite fit the thread, but the shots were really good. Unfortunately, the Jessops lens is 5 years old, and not made anymore.
The best camera shop in town had a range of converters from Raynox and Giotto, but none of them worked well. There was aberration, poor focus, focus only at widest angle, misleading zoom label - a Giotto 0.5x was about the same effect as a 0.75 fuji. Having tried those, I'm a bit wary about buying unseen. I need one that works well with the FZ5, focuses well throughout the zoom range, and doesn't have any major chromatic aberration. The Jessops lens came to almost a full vignetted circle at the widest zoom, so this is not a major problem, but I could still get a much wider shot than the native camera before vignetting came into the field of view.
I've seen some Bower lenses on ebay that look good, with similar specs, but I'd like to find out if anyone has tried them out, and what the results are like. I don't know of anywhere in Australia that would stock the Bower lenses to try them out myself.
Message edited by author 2006-06-08 09:22:49. |
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06/08/2006 04:58:54 AM · #2 |
Panasonic users traditionally use the Olympus W-Con something or other. Good trade off of price vs quality. Otherwise, you could go for Panasonic's own converter which is amazing quality but very expensive. I believe Nikon also do a converter which is quite expensive.
Message edited by author 2006-06-08 04:59:04. |
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06/08/2006 09:43:37 AM · #3 |
| I believe the standard Panasonic wide angle is only a 0.7, which is not wide enough for what I want. Olympus WCon is the same, 0.7. |
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06/08/2006 10:03:02 AM · #4 |
| What are you using it for? I'd have a serious think about upgrading to an SLR. |
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06/08/2006 10:14:26 AM · #5 |
Check THIS out. Looks like it would hold anything....
I got a ring that'll hold yer lens.... |
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06/08/2006 07:46:48 PM · #6 |
Upgrading to an SLR would be great. I've had concerns about the image quality of my FZ5, but it's just too handy. An SLR would be great for serious photos, but proably too much to carry around for non-serious photos, and there's so many times when I use the full zoom. To get an SLR with similar range of zoom will mean very many lenses, a large camera bag to lug around, needing a tripod more often, lots of mucking around changing lenses all the time, and lots of money. So, while I still dream of an SLR, I still want to load up my FZ5 with extras. :)
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06/10/2006 09:45:10 AM · #7 |
Well, in case anyone is interested, I bought a wide converter lens on ebay today. 0.42x titanium thingy. I'll take the risk, and I just hope it works out. Now, the waiting begins... I'll post again in a few weeks and let you all know whether it was worth it.
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09/24/2007 10:32:14 PM · #8 |
Wow, this is an old thread now, but somebody PMd me for more details on my lens, so, as I promised, here's my quick summary of the lens...
The converter I bought was better than expected in many ways. Compared to anything I tried in the local stores, it performed really well on my Panasonic FZ-5. It gave a great wide-angle view, with just over 90 degrees angle of view, so you can stand in the corner of a room and get both walls in the picture, and a small amount of fish-eye distortion.
It allows a nice wide-angle view, which is a great enhancement to a P&S camera that only goes to 36mm equivalent.
Compared to other converters I tried, the image corners had relatively little CA and the sharpness was acceptable at the corners. It would never stand up to any comparison with an SLR lens, but for what it was, it did OK. At 6x4 print size, and a non-professional eye, it did a fine job.
The fish-eye circle was visible in the corners of the wide frame, but that was expected. The most frustrating thing was that in zooming in actually brought the vignetting circle with it. Something peculiar about the optics meant I couldn't simply zoom in to get rid of the circle, because the circle moved in as I zoomed in! By the time the black edges were completely gone, the image was only slightly wider than the 36mm equiv! The best option was to shoot wide and crop to remove the black edges.
Anyway, here's a couple of bobbleheads taken with this attachment on my FZ-5...
 
All in all, quite a good purchase. It was really easy to fit this thing on and off, with the bayonet fitting on the FZ-5 camera, so I used to carry the camera in one hand, and the wide attachment in the other.
But, Bobster was right, and I now have an SLR. :) This attachment does fit onto the SLR onto the front of the kit-lens, and if anything, works better than it did on the FZ5. However, my quality expectations have gone up, and I also have 29mm equiv on the kit-lens without the adapter, so the wide attachment just doesn't get used anymore. In an SLR world, I would not recommend buying one of these attachments. If you are thinking about getting one of these attachments, seriously think about putting your money toward an SLR. However, having said that, for my P&S, I really enjoyed having it, and used it a lot, so I don't consider the money wasted, even if all it did was convince me how nice an SLR would be.
Message edited by author 2007-09-24 22:39:45. |
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