Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've chosen my camera, Canon S3:

www.lensmateonline.com/newsite/S2.html

Now that the hard part is out of the way, I've started looking at attachment lenses. My first (perhaps only) purchase will be a wide angle lens. Other than a wider photo at the native 36mm focal length, is there a reason to use the wide angle lens with zoom?? The reason I ask is because of this site's example photos:

www.lensmateonline.com/newsite/S2wide.html

Some of the lenses have very poor performance at full zoom, while image quality among most looks "similar" at full wide (albeit varying amounts of distortion). Would that be an indicator of glass quality, or are there other variables that would explain the "cloudiness" that some produce with zoom?

At this point, I have a feeling that I will probably walk around in the field / day roadcruise with the wide angle attachment on, being ready for interesting "in situ" shots (I love wide, "on the road" pics). Once I catch the animal, I can of course do whatever is necessary for the desired photos.

Is the main factor with a wide attachment's zoom quality just one of circumstance........no time to take off the attachment, but still a need for zoom?

Any info would be appreciated, especially things that I haven't considered.

These guys, as well as the birds will be getting plenty of attention when my camera arrives........at least until herp season kicks off:

Thanks,

Shane
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With a fixed lens camera, the only reason to buy a wide angle adaptor is to take photos in the wide angle paramater - that's from 26-36mm on a 0.7x WA lens. Why would you use zoom with a WA adaptor screwed on? What would be the point in taking a photo that is possible with just the native lens? In addition, a lot of fixed lens cameras will actually bump into the WA adaptor if zoomed in.
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Erik Williams

fattailed geckos, western hognoses, and a bunch of postage stamps.
Contact me
www.chicagoherp.org
Chicago Herpetological Society

The only thing that I can think of is using it when there is no time to take the lens off....which could well be a factor in my case. I was just curious to know if there are other things to consider when using zoom with a wide attachment (photo effect?).

Shane
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