Customer Reviews

Canon WC-DC58B Wide Converter Lens for Canon A650IS, G7 & G9 Digital Cameras

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Overall, this is a very sharp lens, and in fact, it is sharp from corner to corner. However, it is a very large lens, which makes it not easy to carry around. Also, this lens is very prone to flare, so you often get a purple beam of light at the corner of your picture. One way to avoid this problem is to make your own lens shade. Because this is an add on lens, it has some barrel distortion. Too bad, canon does not implement a in-camera barrel distortion correction like Nikon p5000, but the type of distortion this lens has can be correct easily by using photoshop's lens correction filter. I give this lens 5 stars because the result this lens can produce is excellent, and it does give you 25mm field of view for not a lot of money.

This is a serious lens. I know the price can turn some people off, but that's because you're paying for what you get - this lens is a real piece of work. There's lots of glass in this product, so it's heavy and pretty wide. Still, if you're using your G7 to take pictures indoors, for example of rooms as a real-estate agent, or just want to get that wide-angle effect, you'll get more than you've bargained for. The photos come out clear, bright, and vibrant. Note that you must have the LA-DC58H adapter to use this lens, as it does not attach directly onto the camera. The G7 actually has a setting designed for this lens in the menus, so if you want to get the most out of this, make sure you set the camera properly.

Ahh, where to begin? The WC-DC58B is a wonder to behold. The quality, look, and feel of this lens at first sight impressed me greatly. I was immediately seduced. It had the same effect on my wife. After using this lens now for a few weeks on the Canon PowerShot a650IS I have both positive and negatives to relate. (If you intend to use this lens on the G series Canon Cameras some of the details may differ or not apply... for example the focal length.)

The good:
* Excellent construction quality
* Inexpensive compared to a high quality wide angle SLR lens
* Comes with a lens sack and two plastic lens covers that fit easily and stay snug on the lens
* No perceptible degradation of image quality compared to pictures taken without the wide angle lens
* The camera becomes quite impressive with this lens, however you no longer will look discrete when taking pictures :-)

Quite a few Cons:
* Quite large and heavy, it is a bit of a juggling act to carefully screw this to its adapter and then attach it to the camera when you are in the "field". Luckily with a lot of attention while doing this I have not dropped anything (See the images I posted for a look at the parts and sizes).
* The Canon documentation for the a650is says to only use this lens on the camera's wide end setting
* You have to buy the separate adapter to attach it to your camera
* The closest focus distance is about 12" (1 foot) on the A650IS
* The lens blocks the optical image finder and the flash. This makes the lens less than optimum for indoors use unless you buy the external flash unit.
* Wide angle but not so wide as to be dramatic: This lens gives a 35 mm Film wide angle equivalent focal length of 26.8mm on the Canon PowerShot a650IS. This is on the minimum side of being a wide angle lens and not quite as wide as I would have liked. This was probably a trade off Canon made between increasing the lens size even more and limits on image degradation for this add on converter lens.
* Canon documentation says that there are no attachment provisions for filters or hoods. You can make do by providing an improvised shade/hood. I haven't had the need to add a filter yet so I haven't investigated any work-arounds.
* When used with the a650IS you must remember to set up the camera for the lens in the menu and when taking the lens off you must remember to reset the menu. This is easy to forget when you are in the middle of taking pictures; I have forgotten several times.

In summary: I bought this lens to use outdoors. If you need/want to take shots with extra wide angle perspective and don't need to take them indoors with poor lighting (or you have the external flash or will buy the external flash unit) then this lens is a high quality addition to your camera.

Good, reliable,sturdy but rather bulky. Performs as specified. Cannot use the onboard flash with the converter as it blocks the flash.

As an enthusiast, I bought the G7 to work my way up to a digital SLR camera (from a 35mm) without spending a ton of money. While not inexpensive, buying all the options for the G7 has been a good choice and the results are amazing. This lens does everything I need it to do and I use it for all around shots. Need an external flash if you buy this lens.

This lens satisfies my need for a wide angle lens except it is almost as big and heavy as the camera. The lens blocks the built in flash, so I had to get a hot shoe flash in order to use the lens with a flash.

Haven't had a chance to take any serious pictures with it yet.

I have a feeling I am going to have to buy another smaller camera with a 28mm when I go on my next vacation.

Looking for a wide angle attachment for my Canon G9. I got duped by Abe's of Maine to buy a "better brand" for half price. The reality is only canon lens allows you to use the entire range of the built in lens ability to zoom. With all other brands,which are smaller, you end up with a picture in a circular frame unless you are zoomed completely out.When I called Abe's to return it they said "all lenses work that way". Not true.

I returned another brand that claimed it was superior and compatible with the G9; however, their claim was false and the lens was useless since there was tunneling around the entire image and you had to zoom in to get rid of the dark edges making it a useless wide-angle lens, The Canon WC-DC58B works well with minor barreling and NO edge cut-off. I am very pleased with this product and commend Canon for its production.

Solid and classy construction. Quite pricey. This is a true Canon product. Picture quality is superb for a converter although there's some very slight chromatic aberration in corners and image barreling. Easy to fix in Photoshop though. Highly recommended.

The product does exactly what it promises - takes the view of my G9 and makes it wider. I have taken a few shots with this so far, and they look good - canon makes pretty good glass, even at this lower screw-on adapter filter level of products. one thing though - this lens is BIG. makes the little point and shooter look like a kids toy with a big shiny monster eye in the middle.. I probably won't leave this on while walking around with the camera.

one 'feature' i didnt like was the way the threads are set up - you cant put another filter between this and the camera unless it has very deep threads - so i cannot use my IR filter and wide angle together easily.