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You have to take some care with using this lens. I did not detect any appreciable barrel distortion or fringing in the photos. The addition of the converter makes a significant difference in field of view. The front lens is humongous and a fingerprint magnet. You pay extra to have the brand name. It's just a wide-angle converter, providing 0.75x magnification, meaning the equivalent of a 28mm lens on the low end of a Canon S5 instead of the normal 35mm. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
Fortunately, the Canon S5 has a hot-shoe and I simply used a generic strobe on manual. On the S5 and, I presume, the other Canons that it will work on, you have to adjust a menu setting to indicate that you are using the converter and then remember to toggle the setting off when you remove the lens. The converter attaches to an optional adapter and the threads do not have a very sturdy feel. Yes, it is overpriced, but that is - forgive the pun - the price of buying Canon, Nikon and similar products. I am sure that if I subjected the images to minute inspection, I would find some evidence of both, but I am not that critical. Canon did not provide threads around the front of the converter, so you can't attach a filter. But it is well worth the cost when you need a fairly wide angle lens.
This is a big hunk of glass.
I had buyer's remorse immediately after ordering all the way to the point of entering museum, at which point I nearly broke my arm patting myself on the back for my wise decision.
In my case, I was able to capture the full wingspans of B-29, B-36 and B-52 bombers in the museum as well as being able to get good shots of other aircraft in the sometimes relatively narrow walking lanes of the museum.
It blocks the internal flash of an S5, so you get a dark semi-circle on any nearby subjects.
It's a handy item to have.Jerry
Combine it with the compactness and lightweight of the Canon cameras it works with and you have an excellent camera kit that will not break your back or your wallet.
I bought this on impulse before leaving for a trip to the National Museum of the U.S.
The optical quality of the lens is very high.
Be very careful to avoid stripping the threads.
Bought this for a trip to Alaska recently and kept the lens on for most of the 200 pics. Love this easy to attach lens.
The Canon one fits perfectly, has no apparent vignetting and works seamlessly with an S3-IS. I bought a less expensive adapter a while back and found it to by unsatisfactory. Do not waste money trying to find something cheaper.
Rather, never let idiots and butterfingered dimbulbs use your camera. Period. Be careful. That's a big piece of glass to be hanging out there with no protection from scratches and fingerprints. The only drawback I have so far seen is that there is a dark arch in the bottom of the pictures when using the flash. I have this lens and the teleconverter. I wish Canon had designed in threads for a UV-Haze filter, but they did not. Do not let idiots and people with butterfingers use your camera when this lens is attached.
Fun. I'm not sure it's worth the money for that tiny gain.Also, it partially blocks the flash on the S5. This lens only provides a modest bump in wide-angle coverage. Standing in an average room at home, it's the same as stepping back one foot. If you plan to use it with the built-in flash, expect the bottom third of each photo to be dark.
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