Teli Reviews

Overall I like the Extension, however anyone purchasing should be aware of the following;

It is somewhat heavy!

It uses very large filters.

With converter on camera you have to use the maximum zoom or it crops the corners.

Other than those things I am very happy with this

Switching from 35mm film to digital? This is the system for you unless you are shooting layouts or high def posters for billboards. 4.1 megs with tiff format gets you a 36" x 24" poster size print (Kinko's if you don't have a 4x printer). Use Photoshop to up the definition 300dpi to 600dpi and be prepared to burn a whole CD for your cause. I used to shoot 35mm with fuji 50 with a Nikon F2 and the biggest frek'in lens (f 1.0) that you could buy. I'm so happy with not having to rent a custom color darkroom to get the photos that I want. If you are a low light shooter, you have to play with the camera a bit...easily done with digital, quick feedback. If you shoot speed one disadvantage is the E-10 only goes down to 1/640 sec. I have to admit I rarely used the 1/2000th on my Nikon, unless it was on a sunlit day with my 400mm f2.8 and I needed to "freeze" the shot. Rare with anyone, but outdoor sports photography.

The compliment of lens allows for some very creative shots. In addition, going digital gives you the control of your very own darkroom. Enjoy!

I'm a big fan of the Olympus E-10, though I've only had it for a short while, because they started from scratch and designed a camera system to take advantage of what works best for digital. Unfortunately [for someone who has a pretty good collection of "traditional" SLR lenses], part of that design is that the lens is not removable. Hmmm . . . what to do for those occasions where you need a tighter shot?

In comes the Olympus 1.45x tele extender, and it is as impressive as the camera itself! I have a fair bit of experience using tele extenders and converters on traditional cameras, so I was prepared to do some give and take -- more give than take. I was quite surprised that this extender actually gives more than it takes! A big, heavy chunk of glass, it [almost completely] retains the speed of the permanent lens, and delivers bright, clear images. Olympus' directions tell you to set the camera control to "extender," and then zoom the permanent lens to full tele; in pradtice, you can get away with about 20mm [equivalent] of play, but then you start to get vignetting (looks like you're shooting through the end of a pipe).

For the price, this is certainly a great value. Even if you don't think you'll need to buy the 3x extender, you will probably find lots of uses for this one -- and the price is low enough that it doesn't hurt [too much!] to buy it.

The item does extend the zoom range. (But, one has to purchase the adapter separately to use it at all. It's not expensive, but it should come as a package since the lens is useless without it!)
It comes with caps for both ends. However, the adapter has to come off to use the one for that end of the lens. The cap does not fit the camera end of the adapter. Either you take it apart - which leaves you with a piece capable of scratching other things - or leave the end open. The bag provided does accomadate the two pieces and offers some protection from scratches, but not dust.

Attaching it is easy enough. But, having to do a quick change from normal to the telephoto or vica-versa is not amoung it's virtues. Of course, some of this has to do with the menues of the camera, since one has to change the lens setting too. Resign yourself to just shooting for distance, or carry a second camera to avoid missing an opportunity wihtin normal range. You KNOW how uncooperative wildlife can be!
Most focusing is done by the camera's autofocus. You can do
some general range-finding with the camea's zoom control. Then it's up to the camera. Having the menues set for the correct white balance and focus options is also important because it helps the autofocus.
In short, it does the job as long as one knows how to use all the camera's options to assist.

The lens itself is high quality and after examining the images, I could not find anything bad to say. I am using a Coolpix 5400. The images were sharp from corner to corner with good contrast. The fit and finish are excellent.

On the other hand, you can only use this at max zoom. If you reduce the zoom at all, the corners start to vignette. I am used to the 2X teleconverters that go between the lens and the camera body. They do not have this problem.

A couple of other complaints are that the focus is set at infinity and the internal flash is disabled if you set the camera for tele. You can over ride this by using the "auto" mode, however the lower left of your image will have a shadow from the lens barrel. I have not tried my speedlight with the tele, but I would expect this to work OK since it is much further away from the lens.

The last issue is not a big deal, but if you use the optical view finder, the lens blocks a substantial portion of the viewing area. You might be inclined to move the camera to the right to see what you are shooting.

Over all the quailty is good and I can work with its limitations, but I wish it was a 2X and could zoom without that vignetting effect.

You'd better have tripod ready when purchased this telescope. It's powerful zoom factor 420 mm(equal 35 mm camera). In order to get a good picture from this telescope you must learn how to control exposure and speed shot. It's an excellent tool for Nikon Coolpix 5700.

Unfortunately, Nikon made the Nikon Coolpix 5000 with a non-threaded lens front, and this adapter tube is required for several accessories. The metal tube is accurately made and well-crafted, and works well for its intended purposes. But I can't imagine Nikon engineers and designers could not find a simpler, more elegant solution to accessory lenses and macro lights.