FZ-30 Tele Lens Prelim. Test Report (2)

This should have been the first post of my telephoto converter comparisons. The previous comparison for long distance testing can be found here http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=15412877 and an updated version is available at my to-be-announced FZ-30 user guide: http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/FZ-30/ The goal of this post is to compare the performance at nearly infinite focusing distance.

The main subject is a historical lighthouse at the north tip of Keweenaw Peninsula in the upper peninsula of Michigan. This light house is about one mile away from the shooting location. Equipment used include a Panasonic FZ-30 and nine teleconverter lenses: Canon TL55 1.4X, Olympus TCON-14B 1.45X, Konica Minolta ACT-100 1.5X, Nikon TC-E15ED 1.5X, Nikon TC-E17ED 1.7X, Olympus TCON-17 1.7X, Panasonic LT55 1.7X, Sony VCL DH1758 1.7X and Sony VCL HGD1758 1.7X. However, the image taken with the Sony VCL DH1758 was not shot in the same day; but, it was shot at the same location a couple of days later.

Shooting parameters are as follows: shooting mode was Aperture-Priority with aperture f/5.6 and shutter speed determined by the camera; SATURATION, CONTRAST and SHARPNESS were set to LOW; and the focusing area was the top portion of the light house near the lamp housing. In general, shutter speed was 1/800 or 1/1000 sec; however, since the Sony DH1758 was used in a cloudy day, the shutter speed used was considerably slower at 1/125 sec, and tonality in the Sony DH1758 image is very different from those of the other cameras’.

In what follows, this comparison will be divided into four parts: center, below center, left edge and right edge. The following image shows the scene:

The Nikon TC-E17ED image was a little different view because of the shooting position change. However, this difference poses no threat to our comparison.

CENTER PORTION

The following is the 100% center crops of the original image. Since this portion is used for AF, it should be very sharp. Moreover, since lenses are usually sharp in the center, this portion should also be the best in the image of each lens. It is clear that the Nikon TC-E17ED and TC-E15ED captured the sharpest images with the TC-E15ED slight behind perhaps due to a smaller reproduction ratio causing the details not being revealed completely. The Sony HGD1758 is slightly behind but not by much. The problem with the Sony HGD1758, however, is chromatic aberration around the light tower in the form of purple fringes. In terms of sharpness, the Sony DH1758 may be as good as the HGD1758 with less chromatic aberration and less magnification (i.e., captured image being smaller). The Minolta ACT-100 is as good as the Olympus TCON-17; but, the former would be slightly ahead as demonstrated by the fence around the light tower. Moreover, the TCON-17 image has a significant purple fringe that the Minolta ACT-100 does not have. The Panasonic LT55 is slightly behind the TCON-17. The Olympus TCON-14B is also good, slightly better than the Minolta ACT-100; but, it has a trace of purple fringe around the roof of the light tower. The Canon TL55 may be as good as the other 1.5X class converters in terms of sharpness; however, its low contrast makes the Canon TL55 the worst of all converters. Please note the tonality similarity among the Canon TL55, Sony DH1758 and Sony HGD1758 as their colors are more or less in the bluish and cooler side.

BELOW CENTER PORTION

The next round is the area slightly off center. The following image shows the 100% crop of the small portion below the left window of the front wall. All 1.7X converters performed well with the Nikon TC-E17ED still in the lead position. Due to a higher contrast, TC-E17ED captured the fine texture of the white portion of the wall and none of the other four 1.7X converter came close. The Panasonic LT55 is slightly better than the Olympus TCON-17. Surprisingly enough, the Sony DH1758 also performed well although its contrast is the lowest of these five. Of the four 1.5X class converters, the Nikon TC-E15 and Minolta ACT-100 took the lead, and, IMO, the latter is very slightly sharper than the former. The Canon TL55 is behind these two with the TCON-14B being the worst.

LEFT EDGE

Then, we look at the left edge area. The following image shows the lower left 100% crop. Of these nine crops, the Sony DH1758 has the worst result. It is so blurred that we see a halo surrounding the little lake wave in the image. The Nikon TC-E17ED and TC-E15ED are the best for their capability of capturing the details of the rocky lake shore. This is followed by the Sony HGD1758, which is slightly better than the Panasonic LT55. In previous images, the Panasonic LT55 is not as good as the Olympus TCON-17; but, in the particular case, the TCON-17 is slightly behind the Panasonic LT55 because its left most edge is not as good. For the 1.5X class lenses, I still believe TC-E15ED is better. I believe the TCON-14B and Minolta ACT-100 are very similar, and, depending on how you interpret the result you might consider the TCON-14B being a little better. The Canon TL55 is not good, but, it is still better than the Sony DH1758.

RIGHT EDGE

The last comparison is the extreme right edge as shown in the following 100% crops. I believe the TC-E15ED is the best. While the TC-E17ED is also good, it is difficult for me to make a judgment because its crop does not show the same area. However, the rocky lake shore does not look as sharp as that of the TC-E15ED. In the remaining, the TCON-17 and Panasonic LT55 performed similarly with the TCON-17 slightly better, and both are better than the Sony HGD1758. The Sony DH1758 did not perform as bad as in the left edge case; but, it still is inferior to other 1.7X converters. The Minolta ACT-100 and TCON-14B are better than the Canon TL55, and both show some degree of chromatic aberration along the tree branches (e.g., purple for the TCON-14B and greenish for the ACT-100). However, it is hard to say if one is better than the other.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Here are a few findings from comparing the images of shooting this scene:

(1) The contrast of Canon TL55 and Sony DH1758 is low. As a result, sharpness also appears to be low. The tonality of the images captured by these two lenses is somewhat bluish.

(2) The Olympus TCON-14B did not perform as good as being used with FZ-10. In many cases, it is no more the best.

(3) Again, the expensive Panasonic LT55 did not perform well against the Olympus TCON-17.

(4) The new Sony DH1758 for the Sony H1 did not perform as good as some owners claimed to be due to its lower contrast, poor corner sharpness, and tone shift. It is perhaps the worst of the 1.7X group. Given its price, the Sony DH1758 seems to have a worse cost/performance index than the TCON-17.

(5) Some people claimed that the lower image quality of the Olympus TCON-14B is due to the use of a step-up ring. I am very skeptical about this claim because a 1mm or so gap will not cause much difference in teleconverters. Additionally, since the TCON-14B consistently performed worse than other 1.5X class converters, it is likely the main reason would be the lens was not designed for higher resolution cameras.

(6) The Nikon TC-E17ED and TC-E15ED are still the best of 1.7X and 1.5X converters, respectively.

(7) If I have to rate the 1.7X, I would suggest (just my personal opinion) this order: Nikon TC-E17ED > Olympus TCON-17 > Panasonic LT55 > > Sony DH1758. The Sony HGD1758 is somewhere between the TCON-17 and Panasonic LT55 if you care more about the center portion. Otherwise, it is rated much higher than the Sony DH1758 and slightly lower than Panasonic LT55.

(8) In the case of 1.5X converters, I would rate them (my personal opinion, again) as TC-E15ED > (Minolta ACT-100 > [very slightly] TCON-14B) > > [much better] Canon TL55.

Ching-Kuang...

EXCELLENT! Thank-you for this. I'm on-board with the Nikons and will probably buy either the 15 or the 17. With the FZ30, my whole mentality has shifted toward long focal lengths. I used to be more of a wide-angle person.

Thanks again!

JF,

I'm on-board with the Nikons and
will probably buy either the 15 or the 17.

Please keep in mind that the Nikon TC-E15ED will cause more serious corner light fall-off.

CK

rogie australia wrote:

i have a panasonic LT55 orderd should be here early november,hope
to be able to post some pics soon

If your LT55 would produce a better corner image quality, my copy could be a lemon. I would suggest that you do an extensive testing from infinity, long distance, moderate distance (e.g., 15m), and at minimal distance. If it is unacceptable, return it asap. I really cannot believe an expensive lens would have such an average to good image quality compared with the TCON-17.

CK

RA:

What panorama software? Can you provide some info? Thanks.

The weight of the 1.7 Nikon is 635 grams (22 oz.) whereas the 1.5 Nikon is 275 grams (9.6 oz.) -- quite a difference.
--
JF

C-K...

Did you need a lot of step-up/step-down adapters or were all of these 55mm thread?

Dumb question...

For all practical purposes, what is the advantage of using a TC over the DZ/EZ modes? Seems like people have had very good results with the digital zoom and the EZ mode. No additional hardware required.

JF,

Interesting question, indeed (not dumb at all).

For all practical purposes, what is the advantage of using a TC
over the DZ/EZ modes? Seems like people have had very good results
with the digital zoom and the EZ mode. No additional hardware
required.

Suppose you use the EZ feature to get 19X at 3mp. With a 1.7X on the lens, you would have 19*1.7 = 32.3X, which is 35*32.2 = 1130.5mm!

CK

BillZM wrote:

Is there a big difference in the two re: usable zoom range w/o
vignetting? perhaps you cover that on your webpage? or should we be
desperate to remove the teleconvertor at anything besides full zoom
anyway?

The usable zoom range data are reported in my FZ-30 user guide: http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/FZ-30 although all are estimate (i.e., approximation data). However, since the Nikon TC-E15ED's rear glass is pushed very far away from the FZ-30's front lens, the highest zoom is approximately 9.8X. The TC-E17ED is normal, about 4X.

BTW, it would be better to remove the converter lens if one can take the shot with the camera lens only, because no matter how good a converter would be some image image loss is always possible. I did not post anything in this regard because the level of acceptance (of image quality loss) is different from people to people. Hmmm, maybe I should add a page on this topic in the future.

CK

JF,

Did you need a lot of step-up/step-down adapters or were all of
these 55mm thread?

Only Canon TL55, Olympus TCON-17 and Panasonic LT55 have 55mm thread. I did carry a number of rings around while doing the comparison shots. Please see my FZ-30 user guide for the step ring details: http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/FZ-30

CK

Thanks for the concise response, Bill.
--
JF

I ahve the Tcon 14b and the older Sony 1.7, and I have found with the 30 I do like the Sony over the Tcon 14b. I found an OK deal on Ebay for the Nikon 1.7 and it's on its way. Seeing your results I know I am going to like the Nikon even more. Especaily for getting some more detail on birds which will be my main use.
Again, thanks for this useful comparison.