Will the G1 Gurus help me accessorize? Please?

[mt1977]

i just got my G1. I have no lenses or filters or adapters. Filters, wideangle lens, adapters... I need advice if possible! I want some wideangle and close-up ability, and the Hoya R72 infrared filter also. I would like to use all three together if possible someday! Ive been reading EVERYTHING I can get my hands on about the accessories for G1, but I need a good, proper plan for buying inexpensive and quality goods. I hear that canon makes good accessories, then i hear they get vignetting problems with their lenses - its hard to know who and what is the best. Will some of you seasoned photogurus help me with a strategem? Please?

[Don Ellis]

Ok, I'll take a stab at this, keeping in mind that "inexpensive" and "quality" rarely share the same table:

1. Adapter -- get a 49mm Lensmate (or 58mm Canon or 43mm Tiffen). I have three Lensmates and they work well. They're aluminum, rather than the plastic Canon, but if you don't want the 49mm for some reason, go for the larger Canon. There's also a Hakuba 43mm that's become available. The Hakuba is silver on the inside; the Lensmate is black. Whether this reduces reflection and improves pictures, I don't know.

2. Close-up Filters -- The Hoya set (+1, +2, +4) is good and you can stack them all, but if I could find the B+W anywhere, I would buy two NL4 (+4), so I could have +4 or +8. There is also a 2-element Hoya +10 that I'll try someday (costs about US$76).

3. Close-up Lens -- I wouldn't bother with the Canon Close-up Lens. It's a good lens from what I hear but limited in terms of diopters (+4, I think). You can get closer with filters and you will want to.

4. Wide-angle Lens -- I'll be buying the Canon WC-DC28 wide-angle in a couple of weeks. It's only .8x, but I haven't heard of anything optically better. I understand that it's best to use this lens with your zoom set for full wide-angle, which makes sense since it's so close to your normal wide-angle anyway.

5. Telephoto -- Either the Canon TC-DC58 at 1.5x or the Olympus B300 at 1.7x. The Olympus is quite large for the additional .2x you get, which would be its major consideration. Yes, there is vignetting if you use the zoom at wide-angle, but that's true with any of these telephone lenses. I've read that you have a zoom between about 93mm and 152mm with the Canon and that seems to be supported in a quick test at my local camera shop.

6. Infrared Filter -- buy a Hoya R72 and you'll be happy.

7. Polarizer -- I bought a Hoya circular and I like it but I understand that linear is cheaper and works as well.

And, of course, you're buying a Canon 420EX external flash and a solid tripod, right?

Good, you're set.

Don

[mt1977]

Dear Don the Klepto-Guru...

I heard the Canon WC-DC28 (wait, you mean theWC-DC58 right?) had some problems with it... or am i just confusing myself? Wouldnt it require the LA-DC58 Canon Adapter, which is.. problematic?

Also, let me clarify. I should get all my filters (R72, +1, +2, +4) at 49mm, if possible... because they are generally less costly - right? I will get a UV filter too of course...

I have an excellent tripod and will get a flash later on... I'm using this camera for daytime mostly. But when I do get a flash it should be 420, I seem to hear a lot about it.

i respect your opinion Don! Thank you very much. Any other opinions are greatly welcome too!

[Don Ellis]

Don't know about any guru part if I'm forgetting the UV filter. Naturally, you'll need the UV filter and, yes, you should get them all in the size of your adapter -- 49mm for Lensmate.

The WC-DC28 is the wide-angle lens (according to the Accessories section of DPreview). You can use it with the Lensmate and a 49-58 step ring. Having said that, I haven't tried this combination to compare it with the Canon 58mm adapter. Logically, because the zoom is in the wide-angle postion, it would make sense to have the bigger adapter, but whether that's true in real life, I'm not sure.

I'll know when I try it, but that will be a few days yet. Perhaps someone else who's made the choice can jump in here.

As for the flash, although I have the 420EX and like it, I try to use natural light as often as possible -- even at night.

Good luck.

Don

[Mike K]

A different list:
1. by far I believe the most important accessory is lots of memory. I would start with 2x256 mb CF or a 1 gb microdirve, either choice about $200. Lots of memory will encourage you to take lots of pictures and to be free and experimental with your photography. This will help you to be a better photographer faster.
2. Often cited by phtography books as the single largest difference between professional Vs amateur phtotgraphers is use of a tripod. The G-1 is so light that any tripod will be sufficient, just take it along and use it. (maybe a mini tripod as well?)
3. A good photo quality printer and CD-RW. High grade output is not too difficult once you figure out how to do it, and the CD writer is to archive all of those thousands of images you are going to snap with your large CF. I have found sharing of my prints has been very rewarding and an inspiration to taking more photos.
4. This is where my list catches up to the camera accessories you mentioned. Don's description is great.
Mike K

[mt1977]

Here is what I got bought and on the way:

G1 Camera
Small carrying case
Excellent Tripod (stole it from my brother)
Lensmate Adapter (49mm)
Lensmate Lenscap and Lenshood
Hoya r72 Filter
Hoya +1, +2, +4 Macros
Misc Filters 49mm
256mb CompactFlash Type I
144mb CompactFlash Type II (x2)
Extra Battery



Total amount spent: $625

Now if I just had something to take a picture of... ;)

[G3G2]

battery & indoor adaptor at
sterlingtek.com

CF at
crucial.com

cheap tripod, case & strap at
ebay

[chikeang]

i think it is not necessery to buy any accessorize except extra battery or a good case specific for canon g2 and cf card
because the ingeneer of canon g2 has make an excellent camera for you .you can play to many think on it .it is not as old camera 15 year ago .the g2 has 7mm - 21mm optic focal lenght and wide-angle lense equal 35mm-105mm plus digital zoom. and now you can calibrate your photo in raw format or jpeg with your software photo editing you can do a thousand effet
summed
if you pay 200$ for tele lense conversion you ll get around 1.5x to 2x your g2 will upgrade to 5 x optic power lense but you lost wide-angle that mean to avoid vignetting you must zoom at least 3x .for wide-angle lens is faforis for video camera because g2 has already 7mm focal lenght equal to 35mm conventionel camera


CHIKEANG
canada