feedback on Merkury Optics

Hello to all. New member here with a bit of a concern that I was hoping I could get some advice with. I have a G6 and (lucky me) my xmas wish for accessory lenses was granted. The thing is when the lenses arrived they were Merkury Optics (whom I've never heard of) not Canon as the person who ordered them thought they would be. I received a 2x telephoto and a wide angle w/macro, both professional series. The price for both was about $370 (don't know individual prices). This whole system is a step up for me and I'm not that savy on lens manufacturers, yet. I've done some internet sluthing and I haven't found any info to help me. So what I wondering is if anybody has experience with or even an opinion of Merkury Optics. I should add the reason for my concern is that one of the glass elements in the tele lens was loose and rattled around with the slightest tilting of the lens. The company they were ordered from is already sending a replacement but I'm wondering if this is indicative of the overall quality or just a rare manufacturing fluke.

Hope that was clear and thanks for any advice.

Happy new year

It seems that nobody has anything to say one way or another about this company. I've been doing internet research and dropped by another forum and I still have found out almost no information. All I've uncovered are two references. One guy off handedly mentioned having a Merkury Optics 2x telephoto and said he "liked it" with no other details. Another post I found ranted about the poor quality of the optics and limited range that produced any decent results at all. So at this point I think I will take the loose glass element and lack of any feedback as a bad sign that this is an inferior product and try to return the two lenses. For the $370 I think I can do better. Any reccomendations???

Ok I feel like I'm talking to myself here but just in case anybody else is interested or might chime in with some advice all keep this current. The company these lenses were ordered from (Digital Megastore) did send me a replacement for the 2x tele with the loose glass element(arrived an hour ago) and the new lens is made by a company called Opti Vision. The lens is the "Titanium Pro" series which sells for $250 on their web site! The Merkury Optics lenses originally sent aren't mentioned anywhere on their web site. SO what gives, are these lenses just no name pieces of junk that use flashy words like "Pro series" and "Titanium", combined with inflated prices to make them seem like high quality equipment? Or are these decent lenses that I should consider keeping. Given the lack of technical info available and the fact that nobody has mentioned either of these manufactures at this site or others I've searched, I'm still leaning towards sending them all back for a refund. I don't think the Canon lenses even cost as much as the "Optivision" ones.

I just want to get some decent equipment so that I can work on my own knowledge and experience to become a better photographer and not have poor equipment factor to that learning curve. Although maybe that's part of it all too.

If anyone feels like adding their 2 cents please feel free.

Hi Snowdog, Welcome to the board.

I suspect the main reason that nobody has commented is, if like myself, they have never heard of Merkury optics.
Now, the accessory lens store that most folks here will recommend is; www.lensmateonline.com . They also have new adapters and lenses for your G-6.
Good luck.
-Bruce

I suspect Bruce is right--at least that's why I didn't respond when I read your initial post.
That said, the fact that nobody has heard of the manufacturer does not bode well. I don't know what your recourse is for a refund with Digital Megastore, but if you can return them, I'd definitely go for a known lens maker (like the ones at lensmateonline, or discussed extensively on this forum: Canon, Olympus, Tiffen, Raynox, etc.).

The lenses you have could be excellent, but it's more likely that your suspicions are dead on. For that price, you could get a pair of Olympus lenses and still have spare left for a dedicated lensmate adapter tube for each, as well as some nice, multi-coated filters.

If you search on this forum for any of those name-brand lenses above, you'll find a reference to a great Japanese site that has sample pics from many different conversion lenses, some of which suffer from the kind of issues I suspect you'll see with the lenses you have right now. You can do some quick tests and compare your results.

Good luck!

Snowdog,

sorry I didn't answer before like the others, but I hadn't seen your thread so far.

I'd definitely try to send back the lenses. I did a very quick check on German eBay and found that the Merkury 2.0 and 0.45 lenses for 'Canon G6' (obviously the same lenses as for various other cameras) are for sale there for a bundle price of about EUR 170 (with price differences in Germany, this should be roughly equivalent to a $150-170 price in the US). Also, it's not a 'bargain' offer but one of those sellers that has some 30 identical accessories of dubious quality for all types of digital cameras. I am not saying that they are bad, but the price looks very inflated to me. I think that I've seen some 'Titanium' lenses on US eBay before a much lower prices, but I haven't checked this now.

You have to check yourself if the lenses are good or not!

For $ 370, you can get lenses from renowned manufacturers (Canon, Olympus, Tiffen, Raynox).

Take a look at this link ... granted, it's for the G2, but I think much of the comparison is still valid. Other than that, it's a great primer on the issue of conversion lenses. http://kazutoku.maxs.j​p/G1andG2/report1_eng3​.htm
http://kazutoku.cside.​com/G3CON_eng.htm

I use the Olympus WCON-08 and Kenko LD-20T on my G2 and am very happy with them. If you're interested in seeing a comparison between full resulution pictures with the wide angle conversion lens (normally more critical) and without I did, take a look at this folder: ***
*** EDIT: I had to take down the sample pictures due to storage space reasons. If you're interested, drop me a PM with your e-mail address, I can mail something to you. ***

You can do the same ... take the same picture on a tripod with and without the lens, and compare the results. Especially the corners of the image sometimes show possible deficits of a lens.

Best regards,
Andy

Oh what a pleasant suprise to return home and find some replies to this thead, other than my own ; ) I would have resonded with thanks earlier but I left town for a couple of days and just about counldn't get back do to a major winter storm. The drive over Hwy 299 (N.Cal) was gripping and extremely slow! But safe and warm now.


ANyways thank you for the responses. I am sending back these lenses Monday. The fact that the breadth of experience on this forum has not covered Merkury or Optivision is indeed telling. I did try a few test shots with each lens as well, and was not at all satisfied with the results. Although I am only halfway through my camera's manual and still have much to learn about using my G6 I think my amature non-scientific testing was enough to show these lenses to be sub par. I would suggest anybody else in the market for lenses to avoid these two brands!

I have read the suggest links and am well on the way to purchasing some better equipment. THanks again for the advice. Hopefully my next post will be about using my new camera and improving my photography!

Last week I bought the bundle (Wide angle and telephoto) from e-bay for $115. The service was quick, but unfortunately the telephoto didnot work with my AF, so the pictures are blurred. I contacted the seller and he said I could send it back (he will pay the shipping costs). We'll see from here.

The lens itself looks sturdy enough.

I've also received these lens in a package purchased at eBay.

I must say that I'm very satisfied by these lens. They are far good enough for an amateur like me.

They seems to be a NY registered company that build their componenent in the Chengen zone in China. That may explain why they are so low priced.

Here are more info about them : http://chaby.trustpass​.alibaba.com/

Also remember that branded lens are most of the time purchased in china for a couple of bucks and over priced just because of the band written on it!

That would most likely only apply to 'brands' like Hama etc.
I've never heard this about lenses from companies like Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sigma, Tokina, Tamron, Tiffen, Raynox etc...

It is right, while many of these companies have operations in China and produce there, they normally produce their own designs according to their international quality standards.

Best regards,
Andy

Hello, I am a Canon G3 user. Looking for a 0.45 wideangle lens, I bought a Merkury Optics at ebay.de . This lens is a monument to chromatic aberration and included in the frustration you obtain blurred pictures at the edges. Unfortunately, Canon does not manufacture x 0.45 lenses.
I wonder if there is another better manufacturer for this application.

Although I haven't personally tried it, I have heard that the Olympus wide angle converter like the ones meant for the E-10/20 series work well on the "G" cameras via the proper adapter.
-Bruce

Ballen,

you are right.

The Olympus 0.8 (and most likely 0.7) wideconverters are among the best glass you can put in front of your G series (even superior to the Canon WC-58, according to some tests).

I have owned the WCON-08 and can vouch that it brings the same optical quality as the lens of my G2. I haven't used the 0.7, but I assume that the it will be similar. Unfortunately, I had to take down the test shots of the Wcon-08 due to storage space reasons. If anyone is interested, just drop me a PM.

However, there just is *no* thing like a 0.45 converter that will give you decent optical performance.
It's sad, but it's one of the facts of life (and optical theory) that has to be accepted. It is very hard to construct a good wide angle lens, and most likely even more so for a converter lens. Also, most likely those lenses that are advertised as 0.45 converters are in reality more like 0.6 or 0.7 converters. I have owned a Hama 'professional' ( ) 0.45 converter shortly, and after cropping away the parts that were either vignetted or blurred beyond belief, I ended up with exactly the same angle of view as my G2 without the converter

So I'd rather go for a good 0.7 lens instead of a bad '0.45' lens.

One thing more ... I tried to use the WCON-08 on my 20D with 18-55 kit lens. Unfortunately, it did not work there.

There was no vignetting, but because the 18 mm lens already gives you the field of view of a 28 mm lens on 35 mm film, there was a considerable amount of chromatic aberration and blur in the corners. The pictures looked ok on first sight (in the LCD and viewed at 640*400, but when you opened them, it was clearly visible. Just thought I'd let you know.

Best regards,
Andy