Are these kind of screw on lenses any good?

[taikuodo]

http://cgi.ebay.com/LENS-SET-2X-Tele...QQcmdZViewItem
I have a Nikon D40 with stock lens, love it, and would want to have a wide angle for those really big landscape shots I do.

And the Telephoto couldn't hurt either.
I'm never going to buy a lens over $200, so this isn't (crap glass going on expensive glass).

Does anyone have experience with these types of lenses? Are they any good? (decent wise).

[mn shutterbug]

You know the saying, "you get what you pay for". I say, don't waste your money. I had ordered a conversion lens for my Panasonic and the company substituted the same brand, Digital Optics. It was junk as was the replacement from the manufacturer. Save your money for something decent. I wouldn't give $2 for a truckload of these lenses.

[Tel]

Just go buy something QUALITY off Adorama or B&H.

[deckcadet]

I have a Nikon D40 with stock lens, love it, and would want to have a wide angle for those really big landscape shots I do.

You'll be much better off learning some basic photo stitching skills than buying these pieces of junk. Conversion lenses are bad enough on point and shoots where people don't pixel peep and already have poor glass. On a DSLR, you're going to see some major optical aberrations induced that depending on your standards, which if you bought an SLR, I would expect to be reasonably high, may make the shots you take with this undesirable or unusable, or at the very least noticeably inferior to without them.

And the Telephoto couldn't hurt either.
I'm never going to buy a lens over $200, so this isn't (crap glass going on expensive glass).

If you want to have good image quality and at the same time expand your horizons (e.g. getting additional reach into the telephoto range or a wider lens for landscapes) you will probably have to break this rule. Otherwise, what's the point of spending money on an SLR system if you're going to compromise the quality.

That said, there are plenty of lenses that are far superior to these conversion lenses for under $200. You can get the Nikon 55-200mm AFS DX for around $165 new or $140 or less used, or the 55-200mm VR for just a smidge over $200. Either one will give you much more bang for your buck than a cheap screw-on telephoto converter, and remember- with Nikon lenses, even the 18-55mm and 55-200mm, the cheapest of the cheap, aren't to be ruled as 'bad glass'. SLR lens technology has advanced a lot and with the advent of the inexpensive DX zooms for our DSLRs, we're getting really good quality at affordable prices. So yes, screwing one of those on would be putting crap glass on good glass, even though it isn't expensive.


I've used them on a Coolpix 5700 before, in fact I think this same brand. Quality was acceptable for a 5 megapixel point and shoot with the wide converter, and very poor with the telephoto converter. Lens aberrations were everywhere.

IF you're really set on getting a wider angle and don't want to budge much above $200, then I'd suggest you get a wide converter *only*.

Then there's technical reasons why not. Part of the reason the cheap lenses can be good optically is there are tradeoffs in build. These conversion lenses can be heavy- I would NOT mount one on an 18-55mm DX zoom and use autofocus under any circumstances-you'll put significant strain on the micro AF-S motor and lens barrel, as well as the mount. Also, as with a proper teleconverter, the 2x conversion lens will cut the light available to your actual lens significantly. You're already at f/5.6 aperture at maximum at the telephoto end- a conversion lens would increase the effective aperture well beyond that and would relegate use to only the best of lighting conditions.


Now I'll admit i'm a stickler for optical quality, but I'm also a firm believer in getting the best for what your budget is. Right now I'm telling you that for your budget, you're much better off putting that $50 towards a Nikon 55-200mm AFS (maybe even the VR version- it's a useful feature) if you value good quality output from the camera-lens system.

Then, if you don't feel like revising your budget upwards a bit to accommodate a used Tamron 11-18mm or Tokina 12-24mm or Sigma 10-20mm, all of which would dramatically change your landscape options for between $350 and $425, only then would I suggest you buy the absolute best quality wide converter you can find.