Opinions on Bower Titanium 0.42X semi fisheye adapter

A number of outfits sell the "Titanium 0.42x" adapter made by Bower
at eBay for $45 - billing it as either a "fisheye" or "super wide
angle" (or both).

I have been unable to locate any real reviews of this thing. Vendors
on eBay give little technical detail and sample pictures thay show
are too small to make it possible to make any judgement about its
optical quality.

The only opinon I was able to find was on the Nikonians BBS, where
someone with the handle "yellowlab" says:

"With a 35mm lens it gives a full frame fisheye effect and a 24mm
lens it has a full circular 180 degree effect. The edges are soft,
but at apertures f8 and above it is reasonably sharp and for what
I need it for I couldn't beat the price. Not as nice as a true
fisheye lens, but won't break the bank either."

That sounds promising (I know that I can't expect miracles for $45).
The intended use is as an adapter on my Canon G5 prime lens.

But before I spend my hard-earned cash, I would like to hear some
more opinions, and if possible, look at some full size crops of
images taken through this adapter. I would also be interested
in being pointed to online reviews or owner opinions posted to
boards.

Is there anyone out there that have used this that can post some
opinions about it?

And is there a kind owner that can put some center and edge crops
from images taken through this adapter on the web (or if he or she
prefers: just mail them to me as email attachements)?
--
- gisle hannemyr [ gisle{at}hannemyr.no - http://folk.uio.no/gisle/ ]
================================================== ======================
«To live outside the law, you must be honest.» (Bob Dylan)

In article ,
Gisle Hannemyr wrote:

"Titanium 0.42x" adapter made by Bower

Bower doesn't make anything. They are a distributor. This specific item
is a private label product that is probably available under a dozen, or
more, names.

--
To reply no_ HPMarketing Corp.

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 18:31:14 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr
wrote:

A number of outfits sell the "Titanium 0.42x" adapter made by Bower
at eBay for $45 - billing it as either a "fisheye" or "super wide
angle" (or both).

I have been unable to locate any real reviews of this thing. Vendors
on eBay give little technical detail and sample pictures thay show
are too small to make it possible to make any judgement about its
optical quality.

The only opinon I was able to find was on the Nikonians BBS, where
someone with the handle "yellowlab" says:

Well, search the forums at www.dpreview.com . I saw some
comments, mostly negative.

--
regards
Vidar Grønvold

Hi,

check http://kazutoku.cside.com/G3CON_eng.htm - although the site is for the G3 it provides
some excellent info & test images of TC & WC lenses.

Zol.


"Gisle Hannemyr" wrote in message
...
Vidar Grønvold writes:
On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 18:31:14 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr

A number of outfits sell the "Titanium 0.42x" adapter at eBay for
$45 - billing it as either a "fisheye" or "super wide angle" (or
both).

I have been unable to locate any real reviews of this thing.
Vendors on eBay give little technical detail and sample pictures
thay show are too small to make it possible to make any judgement
about its optical quality.

Well, search the forums at www.dpreview.com . I saw some
comments, mostly negative.

Thanks for the pointer! It doesn't look good, no.

Canon sells a wide angle converter (WC-DC58N) for the G5 which I
assume has decent optical performance, but it is only 0.7x - i.e.
the equivalent of f=24.5mm. I want at least something like f=20mm.

Any ideas on how to get reasonable quality wide angle or fisheye
adapter for the G5 that provides an angle of view equivalent to
20mm or less?
--
- gisle hannemyr [ gisle{at}hannemyr.no - http://folk.uio.no/gisle/ ]
================================================== ======================
«To live outside the law, you must be honest.» (Bob Dylan)

Sorry that only goes down to .7x

Zol.

"Zol." wrote in message
. uk...
Hi,

check http://kazutoku.cside.com/G3CON_eng.htm - although the site is for the G3 it
provides
some excellent info & test images of TC & WC lenses.

Zol.


"Gisle Hannemyr" wrote in message
...
Vidar Grønvold writes:
On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 18:31:14 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr

A number of outfits sell the "Titanium 0.42x" adapter at eBay for
$45 - billing it as either a "fisheye" or "super wide angle" (or
both).

I have been unable to locate any real reviews of this thing.
Vendors on eBay give little technical detail and sample pictures
thay show are too small to make it possible to make any judgement
about its optical quality.

Well, search the forums at www.dpreview.com . I saw some
comments, mostly negative.

Thanks for the pointer! It doesn't look good, no.

Canon sells a wide angle converter (WC-DC58N) for the G5 which I
assume has decent optical performance, but it is only 0.7x - i.e.
the equivalent of f=24.5mm. I want at least something like f=20mm.

Any ideas on how to get reasonable quality wide angle or fisheye
adapter for the G5 that provides an angle of view equivalent to
20mm or less?
--
- gisle hannemyr [ gisle{at}hannemyr.no - http://folk.uio.no/gisle/ ]
================================================== ======================
«To live outside the law, you must be honest.» (Bob Dylan)

On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 13:32:09 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr
wrote:
Vidar Grønvold writes:
On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 18:31:14 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr

A number of outfits sell the "Titanium 0.42x" adapter at eBay for
$45 - billing it as either a "fisheye" or "super wide angle" (or
both).

I have been unable to locate any real reviews of this thing.
Vendors on eBay give little technical detail and sample pictures
thay show are too small to make it possible to make any judgement
about its optical quality.

Well, search the forums at www.dpreview.com . I saw some
comments, mostly negative.

Thanks for the pointer! It doesn't look good, no.

Canon sells a wide angle converter (WC-DC58N) for the G5 which I
assume has decent optical performance, but it is only 0.7x - i.e.
the equivalent of f=24.5mm. I want at least something like f=20mm.

Any ideas on how to get reasonable quality wide angle or fisheye
adapter for the G5 that provides an angle of view equivalent to
20mm or less?

Well, you should check out this webshop www.2filter.com . They
are specialists in lenses/filters and adapters and you may get
advice there.
One thing to remember is that you may need the slimmest possibel
if you need a step-up ring, to avoid vignetting and other kind of
bads in the photo. That was the case with my Oly 2100uz with an
Raynox 0.66. It's not a very good wide angle adapter, but the
photos got better (hardly perfect) with an ultra-thin Kenko ring
i bought from 2filter. They have good information at
http://www.2filter.com/prices/produc...pterrings.html

--
regards
Vidar Grønvold

Vidar Grønvold writes:
On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 13:32:09 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr

Canon sells a wide angle converter (WC-DC58N) for the G5 which I
assume has decent optical performance, but it is only 0.7x - i.e.
the equivalent of f=24.5mm. I want at least something like f=20mm.

Any ideas on how to get reasonable quality wide angle or fisheye
adapter for the G5 that provides an angle of view equivalent to
20mm or less?

Well, you should check out this webshop www.2filter.com . They are
specialists in lenses/filters and adapters and you may get advice
there.

Thanks, but I couldn't find much data advice 2filter.com. Maybe I
looked the wrong place? They sell converters from Kenko, Raynox and
Tiffen, but I there was little or no info about the actual products -
no data about what cameras they are compatible with, no sample images,
and no details about materials, coating, number of elements, etc.

A good site for those that want to examine the image quality for
different wide-angle converters is Lensmate (click on image to
see it at full (i.e. G3) size:
http://www.lensmateonline.com/G3wide...onverters.html

Raynox also put up decent size sample pictures on their site:
http://www.raynox.co.jp/comparison/d.../comp_psg3.htm

All the sample pictures shown are of acceptable quality for me.
(The barrel distorsion is horrible, but I know how to fix that is
software.) However, neither Lensmate nor Raynox tell what aperture
they've used. Since all the pictures are exteriors in bright
sunlight, it is obviously stopped down. I would also like to see
full size samples of interiors taken at full bore.

Beside Canon's own 0.7x converter, there seem to be just three other
non-toy brands out the Raynox, Kenko and Tiffen

Any opinions about these?
Are there any other brands I should consider?

I find the Raynox range interesting:

DCR-FE180PRO: $370 (0.24x)
DCR-5000: $75 (0.5x)
DCR-6600PRO: $100 (0.66x)
DCR-720 $55 (0.72x)

The DCR-5000 is fairly inexpensive, and if it's half decent, it will
give me the eqvivalent of 18mm on a G5. The DCR-FE180PRO fisheye
is tempting (it's a bit more than fifty bucks, tho ' :-).
--
- gisle hannemyr [ gisle{at}hannemyr.no - http://folk.uio.no/gisle/ ]
================================================== ======================
«To live outside the law, you must be honest.» (Bob Dylan)

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 11:13:26 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr
wrote:

Vidar Grønvold writes:
On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 13:32:09 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr
Well, you should check out this webshop www.2filter.com . They are
specialists in lenses/filters and adapters and you may get advice
there.

Thanks, but I couldn't find much data advice 2filter.com. Maybe I
looked the wrong place? They sell converters from Kenko, Raynox and
Tiffen, but I there was little or no info about the actual products -
no data about what cameras they are compatible with, no sample images,
and no details about materials, coating, number of elements, etc.

No, I guess not, I was really thinking about mail. I guess I also
was mostly remembering the step ring information on the page I
linked to. I had learned from rpd that I needed an extra thin
step ring for the Uzi and was frustrated I didn't found the
needed information on webshops before i found 2filter.com.

Beside Canon's own 0.7x converter, there seem to be just three other
non-toy brands out the Raynox, Kenko and Tiffen

Any opinions about these?
Are there any other brands I should consider?

I find the Raynox range interesting:

DCR-FE180PRO: $370 (0.24x)
DCR-5000: $75 (0.5x)
DCR-6600PRO: $100 (0.66x)
DCR-720 $55 (0.72x)

The DCR-5000 is fairly inexpensive, and if it's half decent, it will
give me the eqvivalent of 18mm on a G5. The DCR-FE180PRO fisheye
is tempting (it's a bit more than fifty bucks, tho ' :-).

I have the DCR-6600PRO for my Oly 2100uz. Here is two sample
pictures I took right now on the balcony. (rainy day, dark pics,
no enhancing). Without adapter:
http://home.powertech.no/gronvold/dill/P7120019.JPG

and with: http://home.powertech.no/gronvold/dill/P7120018.JPG

Actually I don't think the adapter is so bad, when I look at it.
The thinner Kenko step-up ring made wonders. The only degrading I
can see is the obvious vignetting at top left and that I can take
out with cloning. And I don't think every camera will have this
problem. The Uzi has extremely long lenses.

--
regards
Vidar Grønvold

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 11:13:26 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr
wrote:

Vidar Grønvold writes:
On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 13:32:09 +0200, Gisle Hannemyr
Well, you should check out this webshop www.2filter.com . They are
specialists in lenses/filters and adapters and you may get advice
there.

Thanks, but I couldn't find much data advice 2filter.com. Maybe I
looked the wrong place? They sell converters from Kenko, Raynox and
Tiffen, but I there was little or no info about the actual products -
no data about what cameras they are compatible with, no sample images,
and no details about materials, coating, number of elements, etc.

No, I guess not, I was really thinking about mail. I guess I also
was mostly remembering the step ring information on the page I
linked to. I had learned from rpd that I needed an extra thin
step ring for the Uzi and was frustrated I didn't found the
needed information on webshops before i found 2filter.com.

Beside Canon's own 0.7x converter, there seem to be just three other
non-toy brands out the Raynox, Kenko and Tiffen

Any opinions about these?
Are there any other brands I should consider?

I find the Raynox range interesting:

DCR-FE180PRO: $370 (0.24x)
DCR-5000: $75 (0.5x)
DCR-6600PRO: $100 (0.66x)
DCR-720 $55 (0.72x)

The DCR-5000 is fairly inexpensive, and if it's half decent, it will
give me the eqvivalent of 18mm on a G5. The DCR-FE180PRO fisheye
is tempting (it's a bit more than fifty bucks, tho ' :-).

I have the DCR-6600PRO for my Oly 2100uz. Here is two sample
pictures I took right now on the balcony. (rainy day, dark pics,
no enhancing). Without adapter:
http://home.powertech.no/gronvold/dill/P7120019.JPG

and with: http://home.powertech.no/gronvold/dill/P7120018.JPG

Actually I don't think the adapter is so bad, when I look at it.
The thinner Kenko step-up ring made wonders. The only degrading I
can see is the obvious vignetting at top left and that I can take
out with cloning. And I don't think every camera will have this
problem. The Uzi has extremely long lenses.

--
regards
Vidar Grønvold