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Wednesday 24 February 2010

Evaluation of Sigma 1.4 teleconverter lens.





I have in my possession, a Sigma 1.4 X teleconverter lens, that a friend gave to me... I think it is supposed to be for a video camera, but it fits on my FZ28 with it`s 46mm thread, and does not need to be removed when shutting the camera down... I have not used it much, (for no particular reason) since I did my initial tests when I got it, and found it only increased the 18X zoom by a small amount... Recently I have been investigating the internet to see if I could come up with a cheaper alternative to the TCON17 favoured by so many... below is an evaluation of a Sony lens that I rather liked.... however, I may have done it a dis-service and been too quick to return it....
Since returning it to Amazon, I have become aware of a setting on page 5 of the FZ28 camera menu listed as "Conversion"... Not fully understanding what it meant, I left it alone, until a remark on the FZ35/38 group on flickr.... so, today I have done some more test with my 1.4 X teleconverter lens, to see if it makes any difference to the "quality" of the pics.... I am not sure it makes any difference at all....! I think the reason for having the setting, is to ensure that when you zoom back from full zoom, the motor stops about halfway, preventing the additional lens from jamming inside the housing.... so it is really a safety setting....

Anyway, I put up four pics that have come straight from the camera. (apart from the text added to them) for you to decide, and tell me if you can see any difference in the "quality" of the pics...

NOTE... CLICK ON THE PICS TO GET A LARGER VERSION....

The first two are NORMAL settings.... 18 X zoom and 18X zoom with the 1.4 x converter.....

The second two are both taken with the "conversion" setting at "T" (18x and 18x plus1.4x)

If you can see any quality difference, (or none at all) then please leave a comment below, or on the FZ28 thread here

http://www.flickr.com/groups/793920@N24/discuss/72157622887937015/

Thank you for your time....

Monday 1 February 2010

Cropping from Rubbish Pics to make a "Keeper" !












Just passing on a few thoughts on how to make "a keeper" out of a lot of Rubbish Pics !....

If I had put the "originals" on my flickr site, I doubt if I would have had any comments, so I tried to crop the "best bits" and here is what I did.

You can see the comments here.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32369450@N02/

click on the pic (on Flickr ) to bring it up to size, and the comments are displayed below it...

Due to the way this blogger site works, the one that is on flickr, is the last but one !..... the others are not on flickr...