Customer Reviews

Opteka .45x HD² Wide Angle Lens for Canon Powershot G10 & G11 Digital Camera

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am a professional photographer so what was I doing buying a $30 piece of glass for my Canon G11? Well sometimes I have to take elevated photographs of homes from the top of a 40ft mast and need a light weight camera and wondered if I might get away with this wide angle lens added to the G11. The G11 is just not wide enough to often get the whole house in and I finish up stitching two images together. I must admit however I was expecting to return it to Amazon after trying it out.

My 4 star rating is based on the price and, for the price this is not to bad piece of glass. In fact it is much better than I expected and I'm keeping it.

Now there are issues. Chromatic aberrations are quite high (color fringing at the edges) much of which I can correct, or at least reduce in Photoshop Camera RAW. There is also some curvature at the edges of the frame noticable on verticals. PT Lens software can help here but at the cost of loosing some of the image. However even the G11 prime lenes used alone has noticable chromatic aberrations at its widest setting. For me the Opteka lens would not be good enough for professional home interiors where verticals are important. Here I rely on a Nikon D300 + Sigma 10 - 20mm which is good but still not perfect.

So this lenes is by no means perfect and nor should one expect it to be for $30. It does come with the extension tube that fits directly onto the G11 body (and I think also G10's) - so don't buy the extension tube as a seperate item. That is not always clear from the sales information. The tube is in two parts and for using the wide angle Opteka lens only the bottom half is used. If you use the whole tube you get a black ring around the image creating a circular looking picture. Nothing like a fisheye just a circle instead of rectangle, although I believe Opteka do make a fisheye lens.

I think for landscapes and groups of people this may do the trick and at a modest price provided the prints are not too big.

I've bought lens attachments like this before and learned quickly that they usually hurt more than they help. I tried very hard to find information about this particular lens but there isn't much out there, so I decided to just go ahead and get it, without expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised when I received it because the quality was much higher than I expected and it also came with a metal Bower lens attachment for the G11, equivalent to the Canon LA-DC58K ($40) which clicks into the bayonet mount around the lens. I was expecting the adaptor to be cheap plastic with 52mm threads. I didn't know beforehand that the threads on the adaptor and the rear threads on the lens are 58mm, not 52mm, which is what I'd seen in pictures. This works out great because the lens can also be screwed onto most SLR kit lenses as well. There is absolutely no vignetting when used on the G11, with slight softness at the corners, but it focuses and performs great. There is very obvious barrel distortion, which some weirdos out there really freak out over. I don't mind it, and it can be easily removed in Photoshop or equiv. Chromatic aberration and flaring seem minimal. I haven't figured out yet what size the front threads are on the lens, but I figure it to be about 72mm, so other filters like polarizers and what not can be added. The macro attachment doesn't offer the G11 much because of it's already awesome macro ability. The flash and optical VF are severely crippled with the attachment on, but that's to be expected. Overall, I'm extremely glad I bought this lens and I hope I offered some information that will make others more at ease about purchasing it. The filter adaptor alone makes it worth it.

After many comparing and contrasting with the other lenses, I found that this actually works really good for me. I'm not a professional but I do like taking good photos. Recently i've been taking action shots in football games and basketball games. My recently purchased G10 wasn't really helping me out since it wasn't up to its full capacity. So i decided to get some lens for it.

I must say, the Opteka .45x HD2 Wide Angle Lens really helped me out! A lot! The ghosting went away and also the lens flare. My pictures came out much better than last time.

As for the delivery, it delivered right on schedule! Now I just need to buy a flash system for my camera, and maybe it'll deliver me even better pictures than without.

The lenses are also very cheap. Don't hesitate. It's worth your money.

I guarantee it.

This product works well and really comes in handy when you need it. I was looking for a wide lens for my G11, and didn't initially want to spend that much money. That search led me to this product. I saw the price and figured I would at least give it a try. Can't expect too much at $30. I received the product and was immediately impressed with the quality of construction. The fit and finish on the lens is excellent.

As has been mentioned, the lens comes with a wide/tele adapter as well (again, only use the bottom portion with this lens). I did not use it, as I already had a lens mount adapter. If you aren't trying to capture a particularly special image or something that requires critical IQ, this lens is a great asset when you need to get as much in the picture as possible.

Using DXO optics with the G11 module, the CA and barrel distortion issues I've experienced are all but completely corrected.

The Macro attachment when used on its own is great too. While the G11 already has fantastic macro ability, I was able to magnify even more when using it. For the price, this is a great addition to your G10/11.

This item shipped quickly and was easy to attach to my Canon G11. I immediately took pictures of all sorts of lighting and compared it to the normal lens pictures. The wide-angle pictures were sharp and colors very true. I am extremely happy with it.

The only draw-back using the wide-angle attachment was you cannot use the internal flash unit as vignetting results due to the lens covering a portion of the flash coverage.

This is easily overcome with an external flash unit, that works well with the G11. Overall, it's worth every penny!

I don't usually write on-line comments on what I've bought, but this item appears to have a range of conflicting comments. I'd like to clarify. I purchased both 0.45X and 2.2X Opteka converters for my Canon G12. My comments should also apply to the G10 and G11, as they have the same lens.

As another reviewer mentioned the two-piece adapter comes with the 0.45X, so you don't need to buy that separately. The Opteka adapter is a nicely made metal affair, but just a tad loose. To use these converter lenses, you first remove the decorative metal ring at the base of the camera's lens. The Opteka adaptor then bayonet mounts in place of the metal ring. The Opteka converter lenses screw onto the front of the adaptor. The front of the Opteka converter lenses are threaded to allow use of filters (but will probably lead to more vignetting on the 0.45X converter).

The people that have had bad vignetting problems with the wide angle converter lens appear to be using both (stacked) adapters or are trying to use the adapter on a model of camera it was not intended for. The converter lens' very generic instructions are really not sufficient, as they talk about mounting directly on the camera's lens threads or using an unspecified adapter. There are no instructions with the adapter. So you're pretty much on your own using an adapter - it pays to do internet research. I see a bit of vignetting in the bottom corners at widest angle setting on the camera's lens. These are sub-$40 converters designed to fit any number of lenses (not your particular lens), so you could be disappointed if you're a pixel peeper or have very high standards. If image quality is all important, consider buying 1) an Interchangeable Lens Compact or 2) use Lensmate adapter(s) and get the more expensive $200+ Nikon or Olympus wide angle converter lenses. The Opteka may be a 0.45X in other situations, but on the G12 it's really about a 0.70X, judging by the field of view. For the 0.45X converter, when zoomed to the wide end, the extreme corners are very soft (but center sharpness is good), there is some chromatic aberration, and a good bit of barrel distortion (about 4% - this can be corrected in PhotoShop, etc.). So, this Opteka 0.45X converter is best used for snap shots or where maximum edge sharpness and straight lines are not required. The wide angle converter works out to 20mm equiv. at the wide end of the G12's lens (0.70 x 28mm equiv.). Note that even relatively expensive SLR lenses this wide have optical issues, particularly with chromatic aberration and soft corners. All of these issues get better as you zoom to longer focal lengths - by the equiv. of 21mm the corners are less soft and vignetting is gone. Using the shorter portion of the adapter means the G12's lens hits the back of the 0.45X converter lens zoomed out beyond 15mm. So you get a 20 - 50 mm equiv. zoom, which isn't too bad, and overlaps the camera's 28 - 140 mm equiv. zoom.

With both parts of the adapter used for the 2.2X converter, there's no lens conflict a problem. Like the 0.45X, it may be a 2.2X on other lenses, but on the G12 it's really about a 1.4X, judging by the field of view. Since the converter is not part of the original lens optical design, the Opteka 2.2X suffers from some corner softness (but center sharpness is good). The soft corners are sharper than the 0.45X converter. I was surprised that the 2.2X showed very little chromatic aberration. And there doesn't appear to be any barrel or pincushion distortion with the 2.2X. The long adapter means you have a tunnel effect with vignetting out to about 18mm (80mm equiv.) where it's very minor - there is no vignetting beyond this. So you get a ~115 to 195 mm equiv. zoom.

There are other wide angle and telephoto converters that list 0.70X and 1.4X as their magnification rating, so my guess is these advertisers are talking about a focal length multiplier when referring to using their converters on a G12. I assume the Opteka and similar converters derive their magnification rating from a theoretical calculation and not their magnifying power on any given lens. That is, alone, without another lens, I assume they have the rated magnification. It just means you can't use the rating as a focal length multiplier, as must users, myself included, are hoping to do. It would be nice if this was stated in the advertising. Statements like the the 0.45X will "double your angle of view" are not correct. The statement that the converter doubles the AREA being viewed may be correct. Similar things can be said about the 2.2X.

Given my expectations, these are good products for the price. They allow me to carry a nice small, light kit for snaps (with converters) or better pics with the camera's good base lens, without having to lug around my SLR. Under certain conditions, a super-zoom compact could perform this mission better, but it would not be as good in low light situations as my larger sensor G series, and wouldn't produce as clean images in well-lit situations. So, you make your choices and chose your compromises.

The lens is built with good quality. Only complain it is that it curves to much at the edges of the pic, but I am not sure if it is fair to criticize it, maybe it is supposed to do being a .45x, just i am not familiar with wide angle lens.

Pros:
Its cheap, thats it.

Cons:
Worst chromatic aberration you can imagine.
Except for the center of the image plane you see every thing else blurred.
Even if you use it for macro shooting, you will experience more lens faults.

Better save your money for some thing else.

It creates a circular frame at the corners of the picture. Picture quality is very good, but it is not as wide as I imagine.

Bought this for a friend for her birthday! Was a great gift. Works great!