( 4 reviews )
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Posted: 05-05-2009
OK, if I were a 16 year old girl instead of a 59 year old man the subject line of this review might be "OMG! OMG!" I cannot get over how well this teleconverter works with my DSC-H50 with its Super Steady Shot! I am not a professional, but I am an avid amateur. I own several 35mm bodies and lenses up to 400mm plus 2x and 3x converters. I am very familiar with the problems of taking photos with longer zoom lenses with and without tripods. To be able to use Smart Zoom with the teleconverter on the H50, do not change the settings to tell the camera you are using the teleconverter. This will allow the Smart Zoom to give you an amazing 137x total zoom at the VGA (640x480) resolution. Granted, this resolution does not give the absolute best image, but I am amazed at what a great image it does produce. Admittedly, I have been kind of pushing the envelope to see just what the camera and lens were capable of. Today I took some images I could not believe were possible. Braced carefully, but still handheld, I took a picture of a parked car over 600 feet from my building (I paced it off) from my 17th floor office. The license plate was very clear. With care, I could probable have stretched it out to 1000ft and still have been able to make out the plate with in-camera zoom. Don't get me wrong. I don't care about license plates; it was just a handy test of picture clarity. As I was showing the camera to a co-worker he saw a pigeon light on a building a full city block away. All I could see was a dark speck, but I zoomed in, and snapped off a completely handheld shot, no bracing at all. The pigeon was recognizable. With any steadying at all I'm sure it would have been a clear image. I have not tried any of the higher resolution settings that limit the Smart Zoom significantly, but I am sure the lens will produce great images. A tripod would produce even better images at extreme zoom, but I am amazed at the results handheld with decent bracing. This lens is a great accessory for the Sony DSC-H50.
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Posted: 10-18-2008
I bought this conversion lens for my husband for our anniversary in Aug. We have a Sony DSC-H7. At first he did not think it really did much. But then we started to take some pictures and they were amazing....really neat flower pictures and deer. The other night there was a full moon coming up over the mountains. He took pictures of it and you could even see the trees on the mountains. (We live about 10 miles away from them) I can't wait to take it with us to Yellowstone next year and get pictures of all the animals.
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Posted: 08-28-2008
I purchased this lens for my Sony DSC-H50. Adding another 10x to my 15x optical zoom is really quite beneficial. I like to take bird pics on my property and that additional bit can really make the shot. I wish I had it when I had my dove nest! I have always had good experiences with Sony lenses for the quality of the manufacturing as well as the quality of the glass, and this is no exception. It does add some serious weight to the camera so I find that my tabletop tripods are not able to support it, but it works brilliantly with a full-size tripod. If anybody out there knows of a super heavy duty tabletop tripod that can support the weight, I would appreciate the information greatly. The only pain for me, and this is probably a non-issue for some, is that I cannot go quickly back and forth between using it and removing it for closer shots because of having to do a setting change in the camera's menu. To use the lens (with my camera anyway) I must go into the menu and change the setting from no lens to either tele or wide (I have both). With my old, granted not nearly as good, digi cam I could just pull off the lens and keep shooting. Over all, however, I would absolutely recommend this lens. I got mine at etronics for the best price I could find at the time, plus a $[...], for a bottom line price of $[...]!
