P&S Teleconverters

For those tempted to believe that P&S cameras might be able to offer
telephoto capabilities similar to a DSLR see:

The Canon TC-DC58C teleconvertor on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/review/product...Viewpoi nts=1

"If you want a field-of-view equivalent to a 420mm lens on 35mm film
cameras, but not all the time, this is a good choice, assuming you
already have a G7 or G9. If you are a frequent user of such long
focal lengths, you will likely prefer a camera that has it built
in, or better still, a digital SLR."

"This lens works very well outdoors or when there is a lot of light
but is terrible indoors and takes very dark grainy photos. The
photos taken outside with full sun exposure were very good though.
Another problem is that for closer subjects you will see a circle
in the center of your photo until you zoom out enough to move past
this circle. "

"this add-on lens completely obscures the view through the optical
viewfinder, so you have to rely on the LCD screen for framing your
shots. You will need good light to be using a shutter speed that is
fast enough to hold the camera at arm's length, like you need to do
to see the screen, and the visibility of the screen in bright
sunlight can be less than ideal. It can be done. A tripod or
monopod would work better, provided your subject doesn't move
too quickly or erratically. My percentage of keepers shooting birds
in flight, for example, was pretty low. "

"While the G7/G9 lens zooms from 35mm to 210mm (equivalent in
35mm terms), and this 2x converter gets you out to 420mm at the
long end, you can't use it down to the 70mm (=2x35mm)you might
expect, as you will run into severe vignetting. I *think* you can
use it for all or most of the range above 210mm. "

The Nikon TC-E3ED 3X teleconvertor lens from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/review/product...Viewpo ints=1

"When I first saw tis lens I was excited about the possibility of
converting my coolpix from a 38-115mm to a 114-345mm lens.
Since this lens front mounts to the existing lens it vignettes at
the wider end of the lens all the way to approx 85mm. Leaving
you with an effective approx. range of only 250-345mm. While
shooting in this range you better have a lot of light on your
subject or a tripod. Otherwise you will get the predictable blurs
from using such a long lens hand held. Since the cool pix is not
the greatest in low light situations this extender compounds those
blur problems. It also blocks the crappy built in flash if you are
using it. Another problem you may notice is the size of this
converter. It's huge for such a small camera. If you bring your
camera for some quick snaps you may not want to lug this lens
around."


.... there is a down side.





Eric Stevens