help me buy a lens converter pleez!

[zachtos]

Zach's Lens Set?

I have a fujifilm finepix E550 specs and I am having trouble zooming in and focusing on SPS corals more then 12" inside my 240G reeftank. I spent so much on the tank ($10K and counting) that I really just don't want to buy another camera if I can help it.

If I buy this teleconverter lens, do you think it will solve my problem or will it be too puny of an upgrade? I can't afford a $500+ camera anymore, so is this upgrade even worth my time?

Plus, am I supposed to get a telecovertor or a widelens? The tele converter increases focal lenght 1.94X and the widelens would give me .77 or 125% wider shots I guess. I'm not sure what I need more in my case are you?

my manual says I have a focal length of f=7.2-28.8mm and zoom lens 4x F=2.8-5.6, but aperture 2.8-8. Sooo, what does the telephoto do to those stats? a wide angle lens is available too, but neither lens say they change the f-stop

 

[gregr]

Adding a telephoto adapter or wide angle adapter will result in a small amount of light loss so you're max aperture will probably go from f2.8 to f3.5 or f4 or so- not a huge loss but it will affect things.
As far as being able to zoom in on corals at the back of your tank- the telephoto adapter (not wide angle) will help you better achieve that goal, however I'm not sure if adding the adapter will affect your minimum focus distance. Most point and shoot cameras nowadays get their best macros by zooming out to the widest angle--- if you zoom in at all you have to move the camera further away from the subject. If at all possible you should go to a camera store that has one of those adapters and see what happens when you put the adapter on-- zoom out to the widest angle and see how close you can get to an object and get it in focus. Without the converter the camera can focus as close as 7.5cm away.

Hmm- after reading the reviews for the adapters it seems that you have to have the lens zoomed all the way in to use the telephoto adapter-- that will mean you'll need to be far away from the tank and for sure use a tripod. Not so good. Still though, if you can find one to try on the camera first that would be best.

 

[zachtos]

thanks, I ordered it and the adapter for $75, if I'm dissatisfied, I can return it for a 20% restock fee. We'll see if it works better. I'll be happy if I can just get the camera to focus on coral in the back of the tank honestly. I can't justify spending $500 on a better camera JUST for tank photography at this point.

I just made sure I bought a camera with manual options for aperture, shutter speed, focus and exposure settings for $200 or less, so if I can get this camera to get some average or so shots of the back of the tank now, I'll be satisfied for now. (quick fix)