Canon 250D 58mm Close-up Lens for A700, A710IS, G1, G2, G3, G5, G6 & EOS SLR Cameras

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 3 x 1 inches ; 4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Note: Gift-wrapping is not available for this item.
• ASIN: B000050M6M
• Item model number: 250D-58
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 31, 2000

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description
Compatible with Select Canon SLR cameras and lenses, the 250D close-up accessory attaches to the front of your camera lens, where it changes the closest focusing distance from infinity to roughly 9.9 inches. The lens supports most EF lenses, but also attaches to the Canon PowerShot G1, G2, G3, G5, and G6 cameras and the A620 and A610 models. The various Canon cameras require different conversion lens adapters.

• PowerShot G1 and G2 cameras require the LA-DC58 adapter
• PowerShot G3 and G5 cameras require the LA-DC58B adapter
• The PowerShot G6 camera requires the LA-DC58D adapter
• A620 and A610 cameras require the LA-DC58F adapter

Product Description
The Canon Close-up Lens 250D is the right accessory to bring you closer to your subject when shooting with the Powershot G5, G3 and G2.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Close-Up Lens! Get One!, September 27, 2004

By	Grumple Dumple - See all my reviews

I bought the 250D lens to use with my Sony DSC-F717 and it is just wonderful. I can also use it with my Canon G3 because I bought a Canon LADC58B Conversion Lens Adapter (which is required and is inexpensive).

I had been hearing a lot of good things about this lens in digital photography forums and I have seen many wonderful examples of its use.

I recommend this lens to anyone who wants to make their "macro" photography shine. Get one!

Just be clear that there is the 52mm and the 58mm and don't be confused as to which one will fit your camera.

Edit:

Just a clarification:

This one 'is' the "58mm" even though above (on this page) when you click the links "See More Technical Details" and "See all Product Description" it mentions "52mm". This is misleading and confusing. At the very very top of this page it says "58mm". Let me just assure you that this particular one 'is' the "58mm" and 'is not' the "52mm".

late edit (Aug 04, 06):
Well, it looks as if Amazon finally corrected that misleading info I mentioned just above in my clarification.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Canon 58mm 250D Close-up Lens, February 14, 2006

By	R. Andelfinger "randelfi" (Chandler, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an excellent add-on close-up lens, not to be confused with the relatively inexpensive 1-2-4 sets sold as aftermarket accessories. This is a double-element achromatic (color-corrected) lens made by Canon and recommended for lenses in the range of 50-135mm focal length. It is very sharp and clear with no color fringing. The "250" indicates the maximum distance to the subject is about 250mm with the main lens focussed at infinity. The actual lens power is about 4.0 diopters (+4). It has a 58mm outer thread so you can add a clear filter (UV or Skylight) to protect the lens surface. I am using it with a Canon A620 and the required adapter, and it produces outstanding pictures with excellent detail and sharpness.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for small critters, May 22, 2007

By	L. Saul - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I use this lens with the Canon A710IS. It turns out, this is a pretty generic closeup lens (not specific to the Canon compact digicams); it is compatible with a lot of lenses. It works fine with the full 6x zoom on this camera (210 mm equivalent).

With natural lighting, this lens gives great results. At closest focus with max zoom (about 7 inches), the field of view is about 1.4 inches across (compared to around 7.5 inches across at same distance without the lens, where you'd have to use 1x; or, with 6x zoom, you'd get about 4.1 inches across at closest focus, about 22 inches away). The result can be stunning detail of small critters. I take a lot of small-critter close-ups, and I find this lens most useful for the skittish ones (spiders, flies, butterflies). But if the subject will hold still for you, you can do better without this lens, using 1x (no zoom), with a field of view about 1 inch across at about 1/2 inch from the subject; but, at that distance you often have a problem with the lens casting a shadow over the subject. Bottom line: If you have the Canon A710IS or similar camera this lens makes a huge difference and is well worth the money (especially with the A710IS where closeup ability is the greatest weakness).

I use this lens only with maximum zoom setting. If you go down to 1x (35 mm equiv.) this camera lets you go into macro mode, but it gives a field of view about 2.1 inches across at 1/2 inch from the subject. Not good!

A word of caution. After blowing a bunch of photos using this lens, I figured out that even if the camera shows you a green "OK focused" signal, it will *still* be blurry unless you hold the camera between about 7 and 10 inches from the subject. So, in practice, you will want to take several shots at different distances to make sure you get within the zone where focus is sharp. Also, it is very hard to see if you have the right parts of the critter in focus, so throw in a few extra shots for that too. But, it is all worth it to get a couple of sharp close-ups. One thing that helps is the relatively speedy focus of this camera, so you can take the shot before your hand sways out of the plane of focus.

There is no vignetting whatsoever with this lens at any zoom setting (unlike the 1.75x teleconverter). However, a rather significant drawback is the shadowing the adapter causes in flash photos. It is not a sharp-edged shadow, in fact it creates more of a linear gradient, darkest at lower right and brightest at top left. Happily, many closeups will be of tiny subjects anyway that still occupy only a small portion of the image, so once you crop the image, the shadowing gradient is pretty subtle. I got several excellent photos of this kind already. However, when you want to keep the whole image (e.g. a close-up of lichens over a rock), the shadowing will ruin the photo, unless perhaps used as an added subtle fill-flash. This is a shame, because with a working distance of 7-10 inches provided by this lens, you could imagine some really great flash photography otherwise. (Normally the problem with flash with point-and-shoot close-ups is it is too bright.)

The most convenient way to use this lens will be keeping it threaded onto the adapter already; you can then pop the whole thing on and off the camera very quickly. Unfortunately, only a standard filter-box is provided with this lens so you'd need to find a larger container to hold it together with the adapter.

Incidentally, if you try (carefully, loosely!! so the lenses don't touch) combining this lens with the 1.75x teleconverter for the A710IS, the results are: Field of view about 3 inches across at 31 inches distance (farthest), or 2.5 inches across at 19 inches distance (closest focus). Probably not worth doing.

One nice feature of this closeup lens is it has 58 mm threads on both sides, so you can add a polarizing or other filter on top. In fact, once you have the $20 adapter that is required for this lens (for A710IS), you can add 58mm filters for everyday use even when not using add-on lenses -- that was a nice surprise!