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From: Lobster on 17 Feb 2010 03:01
I have a Canon Powershot A710 IS, and as I have a need for some
wide-angle interior shots, hoped to be able to buy a wide-angle
attachment for it to do this. I know these are pretty hopeless quality,
but it would do the job here.

Now, I still have the old wide-angle attachment I used to use with my
previous Canon digital camera (a Powershot A40). This had a similar
same bayonet-style connector on the body to which an extension tube
attached (which went completely over the built-in camera lens), with the
w/a lens screwed on the front of this.

Ideally, I would just re-use the same lens, screwed to an adapter for
the A710; however as the kit was a gift I have very little info about it
and/or where to go / what to buy.

The extension tube had a female thread (~40mm?) at the front, and the
wording "For Canon A40 Adapter 37 Made in Japan". Next a single lens
screws to that (with the wording 'Macro'); this has a male thread (both
~40mm) at either end). Then the w/a lens (with female ~40mm thread) to
the front - lettering is "Fujiyama 0.45x AF high definition digital lens
with macro Made in Japan".

Any suggestions gratefully received (even if it's starting from scratch)
as I don't know where to start!

Thanks
David
From: Better Info on 17 Feb 2010 04:50
On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:01:15 GMT, Lobster <davidlobsterpot601(a)hotmail.com>
wrote:

>I have a Canon Powershot A710 IS, and as I have a need for some
>wide-angle interior shots, hoped to be able to buy a wide-angle
>attachment for it to do this. I know these are pretty hopeless quality,

Apparently you've only been listening to trolls instead of finding out just
how very nice in optical quality that some of them are.

I would suggest that you hunt out image tests done with that particular
camera's lens design for various wide-angle adapters from various
companies. If wide-angle adapters are not compared with that particular
camera model, then find out what other camera models use the same lens
design as your own and search for those test results too. Often the same
company's own adapters aren't as perfectly matched to their own lenses as
they are from other makers. Some that score very high on the list,
depending on what camera they are attached to, come from Sony, Olympus,
Canon, and Raynox. A good example of cross-match performance increase is
when you mate a Sony 1.7x teleconverter to Canon cameras. Easily beating
Canon's own teleconverters. They work better on Canon cameras than Sony's
own cameras.


Avoid brands like Crystal, Century, Opteka, Kenko, etc. They are all made
by the same company and are the cause for all the bad press that adapter
lenses get on the net. Often bundled with beginner's starter-packs or sold
individually for less than $50. They also lie about their conversion
multiplier, taking the area instead of a linear measure. E.g. the 2.0x
teleconverter from them is only a 1.4x converter, and it's not constructed
with any achromat lens elements in it. I bought one once because I wanted
the lens-housing for a lens I was designing of my own. Their mount + optics
was less expensive than what I could have bought the mount for by itself.
Before discarding the included glass I tested things to find out the
misleading conversion factor and what the elements were made of. It also
created very poor images.

There's one off-brand exception that I found for $80 (still available). But
I won't suggest it for your camera. It doesn't seem to mate up well with
Canon's optics. It's a 0.25x wide-angle adapter that when mated up with my
Sony P&S camera affords phenomenal performance with zero chromatic
aberrations and no softness right to the edges. From full-circle fish-eye
framing right up to the camera's own focal-length by using the camera's
zoom range. On my Canon P&S cameras it has too much chromatic aberration
for my tastes. Correctable in software but I'm spoiled by how well it works
on the Sony. On the Sony it surpasses the performance of a $2500 Nikkor
fish-eye D/SLR lens.

I'd be more direct than this in helping someone, but I don't care to help
anyone that just spews anew the usual troll's bullshit about adapter lenses
always having poor performance for P&S cameras. That's an outright lie
perpetuated by those that have never used nor tested them.

From: ransley on 17 Feb 2010 11:52
On Feb 17, 2:01 am, Lobster <davidlobsterpot...(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> I have a Canon Powershot A710 IS, and as I have a need for some
> wide-angle interior shots, hoped to be able to buy a wide-angle
> attachment for it to do this. I know these are pretty hopeless quality,
> but it would do the job here.
>
> Now, I still have the old wide-angle attachment I used to use with my
> previous Canon digital camera (a Powershot A40).  This had a similar
> same bayonet-style connector on the body to which an extension tube
> attached (which went completely over the built-in camera lens), with the
> w/a lens screwed on the front of this.
>
> Ideally, I would just re-use the same lens, screwed to an adapter for
> the A710; however as the kit was a gift I have very little info about it
> and/or where to go / what to buy.
>
> The extension tube had a female thread (~40mm?) at the front, and the
> wording "For Canon A40 Adapter 37 Made in Japan". Next a single lens
> screws to that (with the wording 'Macro'); this has a male thread (both
> ~40mm) at either end).  Then the w/a lens (with female ~40mm thread) to
> the front - lettering is "Fujiyama 0.45x AF high definition digital lens
> with macro Made in Japan".
>
> Any suggestions gratefully received (even if it's starting from scratch)
> as I don't know where to start!
>
> Thanks
> David

There are no threads on the camera so can any system work. why not
stitch a panorama
From: Lobster on 17 Feb 2010 13:53
ransley wrote:
> On Feb 17, 2:01 am, Lobster <davidlobsterpot...(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
>> I have a Canon Powershot A710 IS, and as I have a need for some
>> wide-angle interior shots, hoped to be able to buy a wide-angle
>> attachment for it to do this. I know these are pretty hopeless quality,
>> but it would do the job here.
>>
>> Now, I still have the old wide-angle attachment I used to use with my
>> previous Canon digital camera (a Powershot A40). This had a similar
>> same bayonet-style connector on the body to which an extension tube
>> attached (which went completely over the built-in camera lens), with the
>> w/a lens screwed on the front of this.
>>
>> Ideally, I would just re-use the same lens, screwed to an adapter for
>> the A710; however as the kit was a gift I have very little info about it
>> and/or where to go / what to buy.
>>
>> The extension tube had a female thread (~40mm?) at the front, and the
>> wording "For Canon A40 Adapter 37 Made in Japan". Next a single lens
>> screws to that (with the wording 'Macro'); this has a male thread (both
>> ~40mm) at either end). Then the w/a lens (with female ~40mm thread) to
>> the front - lettering is "Fujiyama 0.45x AF high definition digital lens
>> with macro Made in Japan".
>>
>> Any suggestions gratefully received (even if it's starting from scratch)
>> as I don't know where to start!

> There are no threads on the camera so can any system work. why not
> stitch a panorama

That is actually a brilliant idea... why didn't I think of that?! For
the essentially 'one-off' use I have in mind, that would be ideal.

Many thanks!
David
From: ransley on 17 Feb 2010 14:44
On Feb 17, 12:53 pm, Lobster <davidlobsterpot...(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> ransley wrote:
> > On Feb 17, 2:01 am, Lobster <davidlobsterpot...(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> I have a Canon Powershot A710 IS, and as I have a need for some
> >> wide-angle interior shots, hoped to be able to buy a wide-angle
> >> attachment for it to do this. I know these are pretty hopeless quality,
> >> but it would do the job here.
>
> >> Now, I still have the old wide-angle attachment I used to use with my
> >> previous Canon digital camera (a Powershot A40).  This had a similar
> >> same bayonet-style connector on the body to which an extension tube
> >> attached (which went completely over the built-in camera lens), with the
> >> w/a lens screwed on the front of this.
>
> >> Ideally, I would just re-use the same lens, screwed to an adapter for
> >> the A710; however as the kit was a gift I have very little info about it
> >> and/or where to go / what to buy.
>
> >> The extension tube had a female thread (~40mm?) at the front, and the
> >> wording "For Canon A40 Adapter 37 Made in Japan". Next a single lens
> >> screws to that (with the wording 'Macro'); this has a male thread (both
> >> ~40mm) at either end).  Then the w/a lens (with female ~40mm thread) to
> >> the front - lettering is "Fujiyama 0.45x AF high definition digital lens
> >> with macro Made in Japan".
>
> >> Any suggestions gratefully received (even if it's starting from scratch)
> >> as I don't know where to start!
> > There are no threads on the camera so can any system work. why not
> > stitch a panorama
>
> That is actually a brilliant idea... why didn't I think of that?!  For
> the essentially 'one-off' use I have in mind, that would be ideal.
>
> Many thanks!
> David- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

If you really want to get the most, since interiors are a nightmare,
try the free to test, Photomatrix HDR then stitch together a group
panorama, its going to be time consuming but the result if your lucky
will be great. PTGUI might give you ideas also. Photomatrix works
well, just leave the main parameters unchanged and let the program do
the work, until you learn it. Go wide with a new lens, you get
distortion, do an HDR panorama and it will look real.
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