hello all,
im new to this message board... i cant believe i didnt find it sooner but im glad i found it!

anyways, my question is this:
i film surfing primarily and the zoom on my gl2 has always been enough to get a tight shot on the surfer out in the water. I am taking a trip to puerto rico this winter and the waves break on a reef much farther out than the usual beach break i am used to here in north carolina...
i realize that i need a telephoto lens, i am skeptical about payin 300 bucks for a century (though i know they are the best and worth the money.. i just done have it) and im just as skeptical as buying a 40 dollar lense off ebay.
can anybody reccomend a modestly priced telephoto lens that doesnt kill image quality?

thanks

Without a doubt- go checkout the Sony 58mm 1.7x tele lens- they make 2 versions- 1 version is a consumer grade $139 model and the other is a $279 or so "high grade" model- I used it with my GL2 and the image quality was outstanding! Highly recommended!

thanks a ton steve, ill look into both of those....

i saw in an adorama page in the back of DV magazine that they sold this canon lens as an accesorie to the gl2 http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail.asp?store=macmall&dpno=402754&source=CNETSHOPPERPC&adcampaign=email,CNETSHOPPERPC
but the product description says its for powereshots and makes no mention of gl2's...
the guy at adorma assured me it would work but i know better than to take their word on it.

World of difference between a powershot and a GL2. Giving the salesman the benefit of the doubt he might have thought you meant the G5.

Canon doesn't make a tele-extender for the GL2. Their reps told me that they felt 20x was enough. So, your choices are the Sony and the Century Optics.

Here are some shots of a hawk eating a bird at a park near my house......these are actual frame grabs from the video- not digital pix......shot with a Canon GL2 and Sony 1.7X tele lens.

http://stevenunez.com/GL2frames/gl2grabs.html

(The video is quite sharp but the deinterlacing and image compression softens it a bit)

Steve,

Nice shots. About how far were you from the "dinner scene". Also, were you on a tripod?

Bob

steve,
excellent shots! you have totally convinced me on the sony, ill order it soon thanks so much!

also, this may seem a little dumb but how/why do you interlace frame grabs in photoshop and what does it do?

thanks again guys, this message board is so helpful.

Steve, I had been looking at Canon's TC-DC58N 1.7 zoom, but it is said to vignette through about half the zoom range. The Sony looks like the way to go, but I just want to confirm: you don't get any vignetting with the Sony, even outside the safe area?

Jerry: I believe you mean "deinterlace" in Photoshop. NTSC video is captured in two passes with odd and even lines being slightly out of sync with each other. Deinterlacing combines the two fields, and areas of motion look blurry because the computer has to do some fancy tricks to get rid of the interlace lines.

thanks marco, i did mean deinterlace... and thanks for the explanation, good day.

So Steve, the more important question is since it is 58mm will it work on the DVX100/DVC80? That cam really needs the zoom boost.

Thanks for the compliments. I don't have the GL2 or Sony 1.7X lens anymore as I sold them (& my XL1s) using the "Classifieds" section on this site (along time ago)...

...but from what I recall, you will see some vignetting when you aren't at full zoom- I'd have estimate at around 30% from the GL2's widest setting (no zoom) the vignetting would appear which is a very useable range (70%) with no vignetting....so anything at more than 1/3 the way towards zoom you'd have a perfect unobstructed view albeit with a 1.7 zoom- the Sony "high grade" not the regular consumer grade lens is a fantastic addition to anyone wanting to stay out of their camera's "digital" zoom.

.....Now the question of the "hour" is, how well could this lens be used with a DVC80 (or DVX100)? And how bad vignetting could we anticipate????
Well, I'm about to bring back my Sony PDX10 to B&H tomorrow and I'm down to the wire as to which I'll buy- the DVC80 or JVC Streamcorder but the DVC will definitely need this Sony tele lens and as far as how much vignetting would we experience- I have no clue- but I would imagine that you'd have to be at nearly 60%+ zoom for the vignetting to dissappear when used with the DVC80 because of it's larger lens and extreme WA lens...you'd also have to buy a step down ring b/c the DVC has a 72mm threading for filters and the Sony 1.7x is a 58mm threading meaning we'd have to get a 58-72 threaded adapter which luckily B&H does sell.
So sorry no answer on the DVC/DVX tele option yet- but I may have an answer soon- if anyone here has tried a tele lens on the Pan, let us know- we'd like to know!!

PS- the deinterlacing in necessary in PS because i was shooting in regular 60i mode- not frame mode as I prefer the razor sharp video look when doing animal documentaries- I want to see every feather and strand of hair and the interlaced mode produces sharp images and since it's not a drama of any sort people tend to like the video look of animal documentaries......hence my decision to bet the Streamcorder or DVC80 next......tomorrow will be an exciting day for me- stay tuned!

Ohhh Bob I forgot to answer your question....

I was about 30 feet away from the hawk when I shot that footage and to be honest the GL2 did a remarkable job.....Canon has sold a ton of those GL2's and let me tell you-they are worth every penny! That flourite lens is a work of art!

Vignetting -

You will get some vignetting on the Sony and on the Century Optics as well. The vignetting occurs at the wide end not the telephoto end.

Since I got my lens to boost the telephoto the only time I see the vignetting is when I zoom out to find the subject then zoom in for to capture the footage - no vignetting.

Between the Sony and the Century Optics - if they were the same price, which would be better?

from what ive read elsewhere and on this post, it sounds like the century is a better glass.... since i have neither i wouldnt put too much stock into my opinion

If they were the same price (which they aren't) I'd get the Century but only because I find I could sometimes use some extra zoom. Ok, you can almost never have enough zoom in wildlife photography...

How much more zoom do you get with the Century?

check the specs but i think its .3x more right? (from a 1.7 to a 2.0)

A better way of looking at it is in 35mm equivalents. The equivalents for the standard 20x is 40mm - 790mm (per B&H catalog). So, 790 mm is about the same as 16x power binoculars (15.8).

Using the Sony, 1.7x, gives you about 1300mm (27x scope)

Using the Century Optics 2.0x, gives about 1580mm (32x scope)

So the 0.3x difference translates into an additional focal length equivalent of more than 200mm and a magnification incease of an additional 5x.

Assumptions - the conversion factor of camera focal length to 35mm is 9.4x; multiply the additional magnification (i.e., 1.7x) times the focal length (84mm) times 9.4. To calculate binocular/spotting scope equivalent magnifiaction divide by 50.

Thanks! That helps.

I have the Century Optics 2X teleconverter and I am very happy with it. Quality is excellent. The quick on/ off bayonet mount is much faster and easier to attach compared to a screw in mount.

Either way you go, you need a good tripod!

Steve Nunez, nice Red-Tailed shots. Looks like a nice Bob White quail dinner.

Bill

i found a digital optics telephoto lens for $109. Had mine for week. No problems thus far.

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/Product.asp?ProdTypeList=&Sku=CNVGL2