A640 and adapters...

[bgart]

Has anyone here used the different lenses (tele-converter, wide angle, et al) for the A640? Are they good investments? If I were to move up to a dSLR at some point, could I use them with those lenses as well?

[yengyang]

i don't think you can use them for dslr. dslr are off on its own branch. the canon a640 is just a powershot. i did get some macro lens for my a640...they kinda annoy me, but i guess it would hurt for me to finally learn how to use them.

[BBoi]

640 / dslr lenses differ in how they are made, they are not compatible. Are they a good investment, well, I believe so yes. The max you can macro a 640 is 4x 10+ followed by a 4+ 2+ 1+ .. you can get some incredibly tiny things with it, BUT items have to virtually touch the lens to be in focus, and the DOF is incredibly tight. For regular macro use, no more than 20+ is needed, I just like pushing things to the limit.

I have a 0.5 wide, which is great though you do get a little edge blur and chromatic abberation - easily fixed with something like "PT Lens". I also have the 3x tele tokina, which is good little performer - just make sure and use it with a tripod. Incidently, with a male-male conerter ring, the wide angle lens can double as a fisheye lens too.

Additional essentials are CPL Poleriser, ND4 or ND8 for long exposure shots, ND grad for landscapes with bright skies. The rest of the special effects filters are optional - star filters, half defuse, etc etc .. if you really wat to push the boat out you can buy a cokin P style adapter for grab and gel plates, though I prefer to handle these manually as I take the shot; or you could get an adapter from ebay which allows you to connect to a telescope or microscope.

Hope that helps. I for one am having a ball of a time with these lenses and filters, I posted some images up here if you're interested.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=342895

The top one uses the tokina 3x tele, and the one below uses the ND graduated sky filter. The CPL was on too as this enhances the richness of the colour in addition to you using the vivid setting on your camera.

TIP #1 : for a nice light to lens effect, set your ƒstop to 5.6 - good luck, be glad to see what you come up with.
TIP #2 : If you buy the silver colour conversion adapter, paint the inside matt black or you'll get reflection on the inside of the lenses.