Quixdraw Loc: x

Strap Wrenches - inexpensive. Harbor Freight among others carries a variety of them.

melismus Loc: Chesapeake Bay Country

I have behind me a lifetime of misusing things to see what happens. Many disappointments, of course, but much learning, and enough successes to make it rich experience. I have more fun than most sane people.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

The front mount TC's can actually work quite well. I have several of them. The one that seems to work the best is the Olympus TCON-17X. It is a 1.7x converter with a male 49mm tread size.

The next best is the Minolta ACT-100 which is 1.5x with 55mm threads.

There are yet more manufacturers of them. And there is a very good review online that gives an in depth comparison. But I would need to go find it on my computer.

A good one does work better than one might expect. I have seen better results than I have seen from a generic TC that goes between the camera and lens. And without light loss.

But there are downsides.

First, the good ones are quite heavy. And the lens can struggle with all that extra weight.

Second, the camera will not know to change the focal length, and for vibration reduction, the camera will be set wrong.

Third, with step down rings, you are likely to vignette.

Again, I do have several. And they can work better than you might think.

But, I don't use them for anything besides experimenting. The above negatives out weigh the positives.

Years ago, I bought a real cheapee from BestBuy. Not a good idea. It was a very good CA amplifier. And edge distortion was ugly. But with a good one, this doesn't happen.

toxdoc42

thanks, i have been experimenting and find good magnification, but the images so far are a little too fuzzy. I am not finished with the work, it is interesting. I can't tell if it is movement of actual ficus that is failing, so I need to pursue the ring stability next.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Here is the frontend TC review that I mentioned:

https://pages.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/FZ-10/Converters/TEST/Tele-Tests/Tele-Compare.html

See also:

https://pages.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/FZ-30/Converters/Lenses/Telephoto.html

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Here is a sample image taken without the TCON-17x. This is at a distance of about 1 mile on a calm atmosphere day. Using an Olympus EM1 camera and a 4/3 Olympus 70-300mm lens at a FL of 277mm.

Next image is adding the Olympus TCON-17x. What I failed to notice at the time was the FL decreased to 226mm in the process of adding the TC onto the lens.

And finally, I cropped the 2nd image and resized it 4x using Gigapixel AI. This shows that the image was sharp enough for Gigapixel AI to work with it.

Don't listen to that negative advice and go have fun doing your own testing.

The last image shows the distance to the house and gazebo. I was actually about 1/4 to the left of where I stood for this shot. The house sits about 1000 feet higher in elevation and in doing the math, it was about 1 mile away.

The people that live up there certainly like being remote. Only one road in that I was currently on, and it winds down and across the bridge and then switch backs up to the top of the ridge.

Without the TCON-17x (lens at 277mm FL or 554mm apparent FL)

(Download)

With the TCON-17x (my slipup, lens at 226mm FL or 768mm apparent FL)

(Download)

Crop and 4x resize using Gigapixel AI of 2nd image (This is about the view one would have with a P1000 at 3000mm)

(Download)

Image added to show the distance involved. The house is in the upper left.

(Download)

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

My thought exactly! But, these impulses can result in a drawer full of odd bits of mystery gear to puzzle those who will clean out my house after I'm gone.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Good examples - thanks for sharing

toxdoc42

That is hysterical. We just downsized from 3300 ft2 to 1400. We gave away and threw out so much "stuff!"