teleconverter for eagle shots with the canon xh a1

[Brendan Marnell]

I would love to see some video clips, Steve. The compression required to reduce each clip to 2Mbs can be coarse on image quality but seeing the water move around your ducks could make it worthwhile.

At a basic practical level I'm trying to understand:

1. Do your 1.7x and 2.2x telextenders magnify digitally or optically?
2. In B&H brochure your VX2100 makes no boast about interchangeable lens capability; does this mean that a telex is a sort of compromise magnifier (between the standard lens and an interchangeable more powerful lens)?
3. If you can use a telex on a camcorder which has no capability to interchange lens could I use a telex on my Canon XM2?

I'm sure these questions are well covered elsewhere but it's not easy to find clear answers to specific questions.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Brendan, these telextenders fit on the outer threads of the basic, non-removable lenses of the cameras we've been discussing. Also, they are occasionally used on the outer threads of removable lenses on camcorders such as the Canon XL-series. I'm not sure about your Canon XM2. It has a 58mm mounting thread, but I believe it also has a bayonet mount for add-on lenses. You'll have to figure out how to solve that issue. There was a Century Optics 2X telextender that had a bayonet version, just to match the XM2 (GL2). I'd check with Raynox or some other XM2 user who has used this telex, to find just how the 2.2X DCR-2020PRO would be attached.

They produce an optical increase in the combined focal-length and magnification-effect of a camera. It would be nice if you had a camera shop in your area, where you could take your camera and try these lenses.

[Brendan Marnell]

Thanks a thousand Steve, for explaining this telex-add-on feature which has puzzled me for years.

There is a Canon specialist within easy reach and I'll put it up to him next week.

[Brendan Marnell]

Steve, please help me to understand the difference in quality between the 4 items on this list (I see that 3 are x2 and 1 is x1.7). My questions are, given the variation in their descriptions, (a)do they all do the same thing and (b) which does it better and why?

[Dale Guthormsen]

Stephen,

Thanks for posting the frame grab. It is very nice for having used a duplex converter. It is about as i expected, perhaps a little better. obviously the raynox is a good duplex!!! the video is always better as our eyes don't focus as acutely when we are following moving objects and we kind of fill in the blanks. One thing is certain, everyone sees it differently and what is to soft for one may be just fine for another.

I have had the thought of putting on my 1.6 on the xl2, then the ef adapter and then the 100/400mm lens. That would be interesting to see if it works at all. something like a 6000 mm lens.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Brendan Marnell

Steve, please help me to understand the difference in quality between the 4 items on this list (I see that 3 are x2 and 1 is x1.7). My questions are, given the variation in their descriptions, (a)do they all do the same thing and (b) which does it better and why?

Brendan, I'll do my best to help with those four telexes on that page, but I don't know all the cameras with which they'd be compatible. I can't figure the difference between the first two Century Optics 58mm lenses, unless one of them has a bayonet mount that would fit your XM2. I have read several messages in past years that said there were some focus problems with them at extreme ends of the zoom, with some camcorders. I don't know any more than that about them. The big, expensive Century lens, that isn't pictured, seems to be a more powerful version of a 1.6X telex they sold a few years ago, mainly for the Panasonic DVX100. It was priced at $895. U.S. It had a 75mm mounting thread, to fit the DVX100. I talked to a Century Optics representative 3 years ago and she said it was recommended for use with the Canon XL camcorders, with a 72mm to 75mm step-up ring. This new 2X model likely has the same purpose and compatibility. It's probably the one we're reading about, that's used with the Canon HD camcorders. I'd hesitate to suggest it for a 58mm camcorder, like your XM2, as the optical dynamics of small lenses might not blend well with it, at the outer edges of a frame. You'd have to experiment with it, to find out. I tried my Sony VCL-HG1758 on my Sony H5 digital camera and it produced blurred outer frame margins. Although this telex and the H5 both have 58mm threads, the actual H5 lens is much smaller than 58mm camcorder lenses and this causes the clash in the different curve-pitches of the glass, which are more pronounced at the edges.

The Sony VCL-HG1758 shown on this page is the same model number I have, but it's a different version. Mine is black and has what appears to be a wider outer rim and an angled side to its barrel. Beats me what the difference in compatibility might be. I'm not sure if your XM2 will take both threaded 58mm lenses and those with bayonet mounts? There is a Canon 58mm telex made primarily for the XM2------have you investigated it? There's also a Canon 58mm telex made for their digital still cameras, which is probably much smaller in the barrel and wouldn't be as suitable for a camcorder.

I Hope I've improved your understanding a bit on these lenses. If you can fit the Sony VCL-HG1758 on your XM2, I'd guess it would be the best of all of them. If you read my previous messages on this thread about the two Sony digital camera telex models, you might consider one of them, despite some limitations they might have with camcorders. They are less expensive than any of the others being discussed and with the exception of the Raynox 2.2X, probably have sharper optics, since they were designed for 5-MP to 8-MP digital cameras. Don't forget to consider at what point any of them might cause vignetting in the zoom range.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Brendan Marnell

Thanks a thousand Steve, for explaining this telex-add-on feature which has puzzled me for years.

There is a Canon specialist within easy reach and I'll put it up to him next week.

I got a chuckle out of this message. We have an American expression, that goes, "Thanks a Million!". This just illustrates typical Gaelic frugality, with which I am personally very familiar.