Need help with lenses

[MapiWorks]

Forgive me, but this will be in layman's terms because I am not a professional.

I have a Powershot G1 and recently purchased and used a new zoom lens (1.5x).

I found that if I get too close, the picture is blurry.

Also, if I'm not close enough, there is a dark ring around my pictures.

However, when I do take a picture from the correct distance, the picture is clearer than ever.

With Christmas coming up, I don't want to mess up any pictures.

Is there something I'm not doing correctly, or is there something I should adjust?

I hate to think that I have to take the lens on and off and on and off.

Thank you for any help.

[PacAce]

mapiworks wrote:
Forgive me, but this will be in layman's terms because I am not a professional.

I have a Powershot G1 and recently purchased and used a new zoom lens (1.5x).

I found that if I get too close, the picture is blurry.

Also, if I'm not close enough, there is a dark ring around my pictures.

However, when I do take a picture from the correct distance, the picture is clearer than ever.

With Christmas coming up, I don't want to mess up any pictures.

Is there something I'm not doing correctly, or is there something I should adjust?

I hate to think that I have to take the lens on and off and on and off.

Thank you for any help.

If you're going to be shooting pictures for Christmas, can I assume that it's going to be pictures taken indoors, maybe by the Xmas tree with people opening gifts, etc.? If so, then you won't need the 1.5x teleconverter lens. If anything, you may find that maybe a wide angle converter will allow you to get more people in the shot given the limited distance you can back away from the subjects inside a room or house.

I would personally use the 1.5x teleconverter only when taking pictures of distance subjects and you want to get a "closer" shot of them.

[MapiWorks]

Thank you for your advice.

You're right in that I'll be taking pictures fairly close up to people.

My next lense will be the close up lens.

Actually, I never knew there were so many different kinds of lenses!

What are the essential lenses to have?

[PacAce]

mapiworks wrote:
Thank you for your advice.

You're right in that I'll be taking pictures fairly close up to people.

My next lense will be the close up lens.

Actually, I never knew there were so many different kinds of lenses!

What are the essential lenses to have?

I think what you want is a wide angle lens adapter (or converter), maybe something like a 0.7x or a 0.6x.

What you DO NOT want is a close-up lens for taking pictures of people. Close-up lenses are used for taking close up pictures (and I mean really close up) of small objects like stamps, flowers, insects, etc.

The lenses that are essential depends on the type of photography you do. For sure, if you want to take lots of indoor picture in close quarters, you'll definitely want a wide angle lens adapter.

For close up or macro photography you'll need a close-up lens or a adapter ring that lets you use an ordinary 35mm lens inverted (meaning the front end goes on the camera and the back end points at the subject).

And, of course, there's the telephoto converter that lets you close in on distant subjects.

There are a lot of other specialized lenses and adapters but the ones mentioned above are the ones most often used.