----- Original Message -----
From: "Hans van Veluwen" <hcvanveluwen@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Olympus Mailing List" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 12:33 PM
Subject: [OM] Off-brand tele/wide converters for iS?
> I was browsing in an old copy of Popular Photograhy (July 1996) when I saw an
> ad
> of 'Coast to coast cameras' (Brooklyn, NY) that mentioned four off-brand
> teleconverters for iS. Below the converters from Olympus
> (A-200,B-300,C-180,A-28,B-28) they listed: '220 Tele for iS-10', '270 tele for
> iS-1,2', '360 tele for iS-3' and 'Ultra wide converter for iS-1,2,3 & 10'.
>
> Has anyone ever used one of these off-brand converters, or read about it
> regarding quality? Especially the ultra wide converter sounds interesting
> (unless it produces the same poor quality as video wide converters). Which
> company made them, and are they still available? Does Coast to Coast still
> advertize them?
>
>
> hnz
Very interesting questions Hans. Of course overseas orders are always less
attractive for us in
Europe. Especially for one like me, having ordered a manual last year from KEH
that never arrived
(got the money back at last though). I've found a Swedish photo store that has
some of these
off-brand converters. It's CyberPhoto AB ( http://www.cyberphoto.se/ ), and I
know they are ok to
deal with (in my opinion much better than the other big Sw photo store -
Scandinavian Photo). I made
a deal with them a couple of years ago when I exchanged a Fuji digital (which I
had won at a net
auction) for an Oly C-900Z. No problems there.
They have some front converters made by Hama, and although the iS series is not
specifically
mentioned (then it never is) they appear to fit all of the iS models (available
in 49, 52 and 55
mm). They are listed as video accessories, and although I know about the
general quality of video
converters compared with the dedicated MC iS/L converters I would expect the
Hama name to ensure
some level of quality. Certainly they must be available also in the rest of
Europe. Does anyone know
anything about these video converters from Hama? A list of them can be found at
http://www.cyberphoto.se/pri_video_tillb.php . The ones that would be of
interest to me (as an
iS-3000 owner) are a 2.0X teleconverter (1070 SEK), and a 4.0X teleconverter
(2235 SEK; no picture
avialable). The 2.0X converter would give you 360 mm, and the 4.0X an amazing
720 mm(!), both with
very little loss of light. Unfortunately it doesn't seem as if Hama has an
ultra wide converter,
only a 0.5X wide converter which is of no interest to me since I already have
the iS/L B-28 0.8X
converter Would these teleconverters be worth buying? Any comments would be
welcome.
Regards,
Per Nordenberg
Zoo keeper at Kolmården
http://www.kolmarden.com/default.asp?language=EN
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|