Conversion lenses for the Olympus 8080

Hello all,
Thanks for all your help in the past. I now have the Olympus 8080 and am
happy with it -- enough to use as a P&S when I want to and can play with
it when I want to learn more about shooting. I do have a question about
conversion lenses.

B&H video has a 1.4x telephoto conversion lens and a .8 wide-angle lens
conversion lens which would extend the camera's zoom from 28mm - 140mm
to approx 23mm - 196mm.

What do I need to know about the constraints of conversion lenses,
especially in terms of output quality? Yes, the camera is only as good
as the photographer, but I would appreciate additional information.

Thank you so much

Paula

Paula, I would strongly recommend you save your pennies, or bravely try
ebaying, and get the real Olympus wa and tele converters. I have tried
a number of OEM converters, and the quality just isn't there. Some of
the Raynox products look pretty good, but I can report that their
standard (ie not 'Pro') quality 0.66x wide lens is not good on the 8080
- poor centre sharpness and unacceptable chromatic aberration towards
the outer third of the image - maybe the Pro is lots better, but it
would want to be.. Generally, good wide angle converters are more
difficult to make than teleconverters, so if you want to save money, do
it with the tele end..

The Olympus converters are more expensive, but the quality is in a
different world. It all depends on your expectations, of course - why
not visit a store and try a few shots out, then take the images home
and look for yourself?

In article . com,
says...
Paula, I would strongly recommend you save your pennies, or bravely try
ebaying, and get the real Olympus wa and tele converters. I have tried
a number of OEM converters, and the quality just isn't there. Some of
the Raynox products look pretty good, but I can report that their
standard (ie not 'Pro') quality 0.66x wide lens is not good on the 8080
- poor centre sharpness and unacceptable chromatic aberration towards
the outer third of the image - maybe the Pro is lots better, but it
would want to be.. Generally, good wide angle converters are more
difficult to make than teleconverters, so if you want to save money, do
it with the tele end..

The Olympus converters are more expensive, but the quality is in a
different world. It all depends on your expectations, of course - why
not visit a store and try a few shots out, then take the images home
and look for yourself?



Thank you Chrlz for the reply. Just to make sure we're speaking of the
same thing (I'm on vacation this week and the brain isn't quite
engaged), I was going to order the Olympus brand lenses (wide angle and
tele with converter) from either B&H or Olympus. Are we speaking of the
same thing?

Thanks for the help

Paula

Paula Sims wrote:
Thank you Chrlz for the reply. Just to make sure we're speaking of the
same thing (I'm on vacation this week and the brain isn't quite
engaged), I was going to order the Olympus brand lenses (wide angle and
tele with converter) from either B&H or Olympus. Are we speaking of the
same thing?


Note that the Oly 8080 is not designed to take normal threaded
converters. The lense threads are for light weight filters and a heavy,
high quality TCON may be too much weight for the motors/servos in the
camera. Ideally, you would have an ultrazoom camera paired up with the
Oly 8080. The prices of the oly 765/770 have dropped a bit and are worth
considering. Also, converters block the built in flash and add a lot of
bulk, which may slow you in taking pictures. If you had 2 cameras that
can use converters, than maybe it is worth it, but otherwise.. I think
they will be under used.

wrote in :

Note that the Oly 8080 is not designed to take normal threaded
converters. The lense threads are for light weight filters and a heavy,
high quality TCON may be too much weight for the motors/servos in the
camera.

It would be very strange if the converter lenses that are specifically
designer for 8080 would not work for it. Furthermore, they do not attach
to the lens, but to the adapter tube, which is very much designed for the
task.

Ideally, you would have an ultrazoom camera paired up with the
Oly 8080.

No, ideally one camera is enough. I don't see any ultrazoom providing the
features and benefits of the 8080.

--
Matti Vuori, http://sivut.koti.soon.fi/mvuori/index-e.htm

It would be very strange if the converter lenses that are specifically
designer for 8080 would not work for it. Furthermore, they do not
attach to the lens, but to the adapter tube, which is very much
designed for the task.

True. There are two ways to approach it:

1. Get the proper adapter tube and only use the Oly lenses that are
indeed specifically designed for the 8080..

2. At your own risk, use a converter attached *directly* to the lens.
If the adapter is anything but lightweight (and the good ones are quite
heavy), this is potentially a very bad idea, and could damage the lens'
zoom drive mechanism. If you decide to take that chance, you *must*:

- make sure the converter/lens assembly is supported, even if only by
your hand.
- do *NOT* ever zoom the lens with the converter attached.
- keep the camera *level* at all times.

The Oly has a safety function built into the zoom, so that if it is
being 'pushed' by too much weight, it will automatically retract the
lens (if it can!), and it will beep at you in protest. If this
happens, you are obviously at the point where you are risking damage to
the camera. (You might ask how I know this, and I think I would rather
not admit it... - thankfully, my camera is still working fine!).

I actually use a Konica-Minolta ACT-100 1.5x teleconverter on mine
occasionally. The quality is just superb, but I would NOT recommend
this combination for the reasons above - this TC is very big and *very*
heavy. But I follow those rules and take great care with it...

Are we speaking of the same thing?

Yes, we are, see my post below in reply to matti..