A95/A80 add-on wide angle lens?

I just picked up an A95 ($309 at Best Buy) and love it so far. Now I want to
buy a wide angle lens for panoramic/scenic shotsl. Canon sells the WC-DC52 lens
(about 24mm), but I noticed that there are many no-name lenses on sale on Ebay
for much less. There are even 180 deg. fisheye lenses available (which Canon
does not make).

Has anyone tried either? Should I even consider one of the non-Canon lenses?

Also, is the dispersion angle of the internal flash wide enough to cover the
"field of vision" for shots taken with such a wide angle lens?

Maw888 wrote:

I just picked up an A95 ($309 at Best Buy) and love it so far. Now I want to
buy a wide angle lens for panoramic/scenic shotsl. Canon sells the WC-DC52 lens
(about 24mm), but I noticed that there are many no-name lenses on sale on Ebay
for much less. There are even 180 deg. fisheye lenses available (which Canon
does not make).

Has anyone tried either? Should I even consider one of the non-Canon lenses?




Also, is the dispersion angle of the internal flash wide enough to cover the
"field of vision" for shots taken with such a wide angle lens?



Doofing around with my sister's A95, the little built-in flash barely
covers it's native wide side, so I imagine anything significantly wider
would put your answer in the "not even" category.

--
jer email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Maw888 wrote:

I just picked up an A95 ($309 at Best Buy) and love it so far. Now I want to
buy a wide angle lens for panoramic/scenic shotsl. Canon sells the WC-DC52 lens
(about 24mm), but I noticed that there are many no-name lenses on sale on Ebay
for much less. There are even 180 deg. fisheye lenses available (which Canon
does not make).

Has anyone tried either? Should I even consider one of the non-Canon lenses?




Also, is the dispersion angle of the internal flash wide enough to cover the
"field of vision" for shots taken with such a wide angle lens?



Doofing around with my sister's A95, the little built-in flash barely
covers it's native wide side, so I imagine anything significantly wider
would put your answer in the "not even" category.

--
jer email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Maw888 wrote:

I just picked up an A95 ($309 at Best Buy) and love it so far. Now I want to
buy a wide angle lens for panoramic/scenic shotsl. Canon sells the WC-DC52 lens
(about 24mm), but I noticed that there are many no-name lenses on sale on Ebay
for much less. There are even 180 deg. fisheye lenses available (which Canon
does not make).

Has anyone tried either? Should I even consider one of the non-Canon lenses?




Also, is the dispersion angle of the internal flash wide enough to cover the
"field of vision" for shots taken with such a wide angle lens?



Doofing around with my sister's A95, the little built-in flash barely
covers it's native wide side, so I imagine anything significantly wider
would put your answer in the "not even" category.

--
jer email reply - I am not a 'ten'

ospam (Maw888) wrote in
:

I just picked up an A95 ($309 at Best Buy) and love it so far. Now I
want to buy a wide angle lens for panoramic/scenic shotsl. Canon sells
the WC-DC52 lens (about 24mm), but I noticed that there are many
no-name lenses on sale on Ebay for much less. There are even 180 deg.
fisheye lenses available (which Canon does not make).

Has anyone tried either? Should I even consider one of the non-Canon
lenses?

Also, is the dispersion angle of the internal flash wide enough to
cover the "field of vision" for shots taken with such a wide angle
lens?

One would hope not! If the flash DID work with wide angle adapters then
that would indicate a very poor design with a lot of wasted light, tighter
focus of the light improves the flash range.

For wide angle flash shots that neither the lens nor the flash are designed
for you probably have the wrong camera.

The G series Canon cameras can take lens adapters and also have a hot shoe
for attaching an external flash. That might be more suitable for what you
want to do.


--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at www.gigatech.co.nz (last updated 12-Nov-04)
"There are 10 types of people, those that
understand binary and those that don't"

ospam (Maw888) wrote in
:

I just picked up an A95 ($309 at Best Buy) and love it so far. Now I
want to buy a wide angle lens for panoramic/scenic shotsl. Canon sells
the WC-DC52 lens (about 24mm), but I noticed that there are many
no-name lenses on sale on Ebay for much less. There are even 180 deg.
fisheye lenses available (which Canon does not make).

Has anyone tried either? Should I even consider one of the non-Canon
lenses?

Also, is the dispersion angle of the internal flash wide enough to
cover the "field of vision" for shots taken with such a wide angle
lens?

One would hope not! If the flash DID work with wide angle adapters then
that would indicate a very poor design with a lot of wasted light, tighter
focus of the light improves the flash range.

For wide angle flash shots that neither the lens nor the flash are designed
for you probably have the wrong camera.

The G series Canon cameras can take lens adapters and also have a hot shoe
for attaching an external flash. That might be more suitable for what you
want to do.


--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at www.gigatech.co.nz (last updated 12-Nov-04)
"There are 10 types of people, those that
understand binary and those that don't"

ospam (Maw888) wrote in
:

I just picked up an A95 ($309 at Best Buy) and love it so far. Now I
want to buy a wide angle lens for panoramic/scenic shotsl. Canon sells
the WC-DC52 lens (about 24mm), but I noticed that there are many
no-name lenses on sale on Ebay for much less. There are even 180 deg.
fisheye lenses available (which Canon does not make).

Has anyone tried either? Should I even consider one of the non-Canon
lenses?

Also, is the dispersion angle of the internal flash wide enough to
cover the "field of vision" for shots taken with such a wide angle
lens?

One would hope not! If the flash DID work with wide angle adapters then
that would indicate a very poor design with a lot of wasted light, tighter
focus of the light improves the flash range.

For wide angle flash shots that neither the lens nor the flash are designed
for you probably have the wrong camera.

The G series Canon cameras can take lens adapters and also have a hot shoe
for attaching an external flash. That might be more suitable for what you
want to do.


--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at www.gigatech.co.nz (last updated 12-Nov-04)
"There are 10 types of people, those that
understand binary and those that don't"

Troyka Makes everyone a cup of Earl Grey tea while we hear what MarkH
has to say
(Maw888) wrote in
:

I just picked up an A95 ($309 at Best Buy) and love it so far. Now I
want to buy a wide angle lens for panoramic/scenic shotsl. Canon sells
the WC-DC52 lens (about 24mm), but I noticed that there are many
no-name lenses on sale on Ebay for much less. There are even 180 deg.
fisheye lenses available (which Canon does not make).

Has anyone tried either? Should I even consider one of the non-Canon
lenses?

Also, is the dispersion angle of the internal flash wide enough to
cover the "field of vision" for shots taken with such a wide angle
lens?

One would hope not! If the flash DID work with wide angle adapters then
that would indicate a very poor design with a lot of wasted light, tighter
focus of the light improves the flash range.

For wide angle flash shots that neither the lens nor the flash are designed
for you probably have the wrong camera.

The G series Canon cameras can take lens adapters and also have a hot shoe
for attaching an external flash. That might be more suitable for what you
want to do.


clearly that's Not the camera he has! he's asking about the A80/A95


---------------------
Become a mime. Nothing is more annoying than a mime.

"Ian Hurst (Troyka)" wrote in
:

Troyka Makes everyone a cup of Earl Grey tea while we hear what MarkH
has to say
(Maw888) wrote in
:

I just picked up an A95 ($309 at Best Buy) and love it so far. Now I
want to buy a wide angle lens for panoramic/scenic shotsl. Canon
sells the WC-DC52 lens (about 24mm), but I noticed that there are
many no-name lenses on sale on Ebay for much less. There are even
180 deg. fisheye lenses available (which Canon does not make).

Has anyone tried either? Should I even consider one of the non-Canon
lenses?

Also, is the dispersion angle of the internal flash wide enough to
cover the "field of vision" for shots taken with such a wide angle
lens?

One would hope not! If the flash DID work with wide angle adapters
then that would indicate a very poor design with a lot of wasted
light, tighter focus of the light improves the flash range.

For wide angle flash shots that neither the lens nor the flash are
designed for you probably have the wrong camera.

The G series Canon cameras can take lens adapters and also have a hot
shoe for attaching an external flash. That might be more suitable for
what you want to do.


clearly that's Not the camera he has! he's asking about the A80/A95

That's right, and I was pointing out that he is asking about something
that the camera is poorly suited to. The built in flash, as I
explained, is designed for optimum performance with the built in lens,
not for the lens with wide angle adapter. The A80/A95/Axx cameras do
not feature a flash hotshoe, so there is no easy way of using the flash
with the wide angle adapter. Actually the WA adapter will probably block
a good portion of the light from the flash, so my guess is that the
flash is not usable at all with the WA adapter.

My point was that the G Series cameras have a flash hotshoe and are a
more suitable choice for using a wide angle adapter for flash
photography. Maybe the OP could look at exchanging his camera, or maybe
not. My point is still valid and any other reader who is thinking about
doing the same thing would do well to bear it in mind.

Please try to understand that the OP is not the only one reading the
replies, if the replies were always for the exclusive benefit of the OP
and no one else then they would be better by E-Mail.

So the lesson for anyone interested is this:
The A80/A95 can take wide angle and Teleconverter lens adapters, but you
would not be able to use the flash with them. If you require flash with
a lens adapter then you should consider paying more for a G5/G6 or buy a
second hand G2/G3, then you could buy an external flash like the Canon
420EX to do the job.


--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at www.gigatech.co.nz (last updated 12-Nov-04)
"There are 10 types of people, those that
understand binary and those that don't"

So the lesson for anyone interested is this:
The A80/A95 can take wide angle and Teleconverter lens adapters, but you
would not be able to use the flash with them. If you require flash with
a lens adapter then you should consider paying more for a G5/G6

I'll just use a slave unit on an external flash with my A95 when using the WA
lens. I was thinking of getting the G6 originally due to the hot shoe (among
other things), but think I can live without it.