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Posts: 125
Re: Wide or/and tele converter on kit lens Lumix 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ii ?
Teleconverters?
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The cheap options to improve on your kit lens in micro 4/3 (while you save up for the excellent Lumix 45-150mm) are
- get a legacy 50mm lens from the film era (eBay or ask an elderly friend or relative) and a converter. Pretty much any 50mm will do - but the big brand lens makers such as Pentax, Nikon and Canon attract more competition for the adapters. This creates a fast 100mm lens with great bokeh for portraits.
- get a new m4/3 mount Chinese lens - 7 Artisans, Meike, Pergear, Rise etc are brands to start with
- get the Fujian 50mm f1.4 c-mount CCTV lens and a c-mount to M4/3 converter
- Try a teleconverter lens
Some background:
- most tele-conversion lenses were made for low resolution video cameras - they simply won't give a worthwhile image resolution
- There are a few made to go with digital bridge cameras with small 1/2.3" sensors, such as the Lumix FZ series - these are not so good.
- instead look for conversion lenses made for 35mm cameras - the best were made by Olympus to go with their 35mm "bridge cameras".
- They have a code TCON. They are often on sale on eBay. They have 3-5 internal lens elements so are optically very different. They also have much larger front filter diameters than rear ones.
- There are modern Chinese "no-name" brand tele-conversion lenses available from online stores - I have yet to see a good review of any of them
Something for nothing? No - only in fairy-tales; so the 2x power lenses have more distortion - especially in chromatic aberration than the lower power 1.3x to 1.5x ones. All - the bigger conversion lenses can get very heavy (if they are the good 4-5 element ones) and this can strain your kit lens.
So, with a 1.3 to 1.5x conversion lens your 14-42mm Lumix kit lens becomes the equivalent of a full-frame 110mm to 126mm lens - at the same F5.6 aperture. These are good to isolate elements in a landscape or to get better bokeh for a portrait.
Added to a prime 42.5mm F1.7 M4/3 Lumix, or the Olympus equivalent, you get a great fast 110 to 126mm F1.7 lens.....very good for portraits!
I have a 2 M4/3 telephoto zooms, the 42.5 prime and a range of legacy long lenses to use - but I did try out conversion lenses just for fun, and within those limits - the result was OK for laptop viewing or 7x5 prints. I did this with an Olympus 1.3x 52mm thread conversion lens for the IS-5000 film camera for GBP £4.00 in 2020. Don't pay too much - there seem to be plenty out there on eBay!