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General discussion

Fuji S5000 Telephoto Question

Apr 27, 2005 5:13AM PDT

I take a lot of kids activity pictures, soccer, football, baseball and stuff like that. Someone suggested I get a telephoto lens. I mentioned the picture quality is better on the optical lens than it is with the digital. Well, I checked around Fuji wants ton of money for just a 1.5x, and Ebay has deals fro much less. Then the help started rolling in, one person says to just get a 2x off Ebay all telephoto lenses are the same. Another person said buy the Ebay package deal, you get filters, Telephoto and wide angle along with other stuff. One person said all you need are the filters (even though I haven't noticed a problem with glare or indoor shots whiting out) One said Telephoto lens with the S5000's 10x optical would make it impossible to shoot a decent picture because of hand shake, I would have to always use the tripod, which is not feasible all the time.

So my question is, for an amateur, is a package off Ebay with filter and lenses ok? Should I just get filters? Are all Telephoto lenses pretty much the same?
Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Excellent doubt
Apr 27, 2005 5:36AM PDT

We cannot always take a tripod with us. So, I am getting strong with the opinion that Image stabilization is a must for point and shoot cameras, especially for sports use. I'm expecting that within 1-2 years every camera will have that system, be it 3x or 10x. My guess is without that system, there is no future camera.

The guys who use SLRs will have to carry bulky cameras anyways. So, tripod is not a heavy addition to their carrying list. But, how about guys like us who want to use point and shoots? The answer is Image stabilization!!! (May not help 100 % but atleast 75-85 % of the times).

Can anyone add any better? Moderators?

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S5000 telephoto
Apr 27, 2005 6:18AM PDT

There is a difference in quality of telephoto converter lenses.

Many people hold the Olympus 1.7X TCON as the gold standard in telephoto converter lenses.
People with Canon, Nikon, etc use the TCON.
The TCON has a 55mm thread so you usually have to have a mounting adapter for your camera.
The TCON can be found for about $99.

I have looked at the eBay ads about the lens kits and most do not furnish enough information to determine how well the kit will work with a particular camera.
If you go that route, check to see what it takes to return the kit.

Note: if you use a correct size wide-angle converter lens, you will find that it is rather large (diameter). You may not be able to take flash pictures because the lens may block part of the flash coverage.

Any telephoto converter lens is intended to increase the maximum setting of your camera lens.
If you mess around and set the camera to no zoom, the telephoto converter lens will cause vignetting (darkening or clipping of the corners of the photo).
This is not a flaw, it is reality.

So use the telephoto converter lens to go beyond 10X if that is the maximum your camera will do.

Camera shake can be a big problem with you reach out to 17X. A tripod is recommended.

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S5000 telephoto
Apr 27, 2005 6:55AM PDT

So a simple $90 set from Ebay that has a couple of lenses and a few filters, provided they have the correct mounting rings or adaptors, could work out ok, granted not a professional "gold standard" but might ok for a weekend amateur?

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Yes - But we want a report back on the results.
Apr 27, 2005 9:50AM PDT

How about a review of the kit.

Lots of people will be interested.

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