More zoom please!

Zoom Raider · May 9, 2005

Hey everyone!

I'm having a hard time finding a camera-scope for my Kodak DX7590, and it's just as hard to find a lens for it, too. I bought my Kodak at Staples. It was one of the few that had a 10x optical lens with 3x digital. 30x all together, but I don't want to use the last 20x at all,`cos of its blurriness.

It's a nice camera with a German lens by Schneider-Kreuznach. So I would think any lens or scope can adapt to it when I've seen digital cameras with smaller lenses than mine get connected to 45x scopes.

When I was about to buy it, they said I can buy an adapter for it and connect up to a 20x lens which of course will give me 200x optical. Well, I give up,`cos I cannot find anything higher than 3.0x, and I can only find that small power on Ebay.

I went back and told them that they must be referring to a 2.0x. They said no, that they assure me that there are manufacturers that make 20x if not higher. They told me to go to the local camera shops, like Wolf Camera, and they should have them. I went there and they knew nothing about any kind of lens or scope that would fit on mine.

Well, here we are in the middle of 2005 and I know the technology is out there, and if I have the money, the lens should be availiable.......somewhere. So if anyone here can tell me where I can get a fairly powerful camera-scope or lens for my Kodak, I'd truly appreciate it. At least a 10x lens for now which would give me 100x optical total.:):

Thanks!

~ZR~

Red Bull · May 9, 2005

I've never seen any sort of accessory lens for a camera like that higher than 2 or 3x. If it were me, I wouldn't trust any of those high school dropout employees at Staples. About 98% of the time they have no idea what they are talking about. The zoom you have right now is actually very good (for a point and shoot) There aren't that many of those kind of cameras out there that have higher than 10X zoom.

bkriete · May 9, 2005

Maybe they meant a 2x would double the 10x and give you 20x? Red Bull is right about 10x being a pretty wide range for a p&s; assuming that your camera is from ~38-380mm equivalent range (as listed on dpreview.com), I don't think you'll be multiplying that by 20x to get the 7600mm zoom you apparently want. Am I understanding you correctly, that that is what you're hoping for?

If a 2x add-on lens doubles the 380 you'll have 760, which is a heck of a long lens by pretty much anyone's standards.

You're right about digital zoom being crap. All that does is crop the pixels off the edge of picture, essentially turning your 5 megapixel camera into a 2 megapixel camera. It makes the picture bigger in your viewfinder, that's about it.

To put all this in perspective, Canon offers an $800 10-22mm lens at the short end. Combine that with the 1.6 crop factor of the cameras it works on, and the shortest you can go with a Canon dSLR is 16mm. The longest you can go with a $10K 600mm lens, plus the focal length multiplier is 960mm. That's a 60x zoom factor, and you can have it for around $13000.

Zoom Raider · May 10, 2005

Thanks, RedBull-Bkriete!

I just had to ask to see what you guys in here thought about it,`cos I knew that when the people at Staples were talking about the 20x, they were actually talking about a 2.0x. They may not have seen the decimal when they were looking. But at least they sold the DX7590 cheaper than anyone, ($349). MSRP $498.

But I have good news...(I think...`cos I'm not quite sure if it will adapt). I came home tonight from work and continued hunting for a higher than 3.0x lens for my Kodak. They call it a lens, but it looks more like a scope. It's just an 8x, but 10x8 is 80, so I will be quite happy with that compared with just 10x or even 30x.:):

If you two wanna see this lens/scope or anyone that has a Kodak DX7590, Z7590, Z740 or the DX6490, go here... http://www.bugeyedigital.com/product_main/ckc-cvlx8.html. I also have to buy an adapter for it, which I can get at BugEye or Kodak. The lens cost $189, but it's worth it to me if that is the strongest lens I can get for now. Maybe this fall they'll have a 10x.

I've seen where someone connected a 12x scope to his 3x camera and he was ontop of a ridge and he zoomed in through the tree tops about a mile away and spotted a car parked next to a house and street lights. I couldn't even see it with zero zoom. It was awesome.

He had a 36x and got that amazing shot. Imagine what 80x will do.:): Then someone else hooked up his 3x to a 45x scope, but I didn't see any of his shots. Bet it could take a shot of a car tag 2 miles away...lol But I'm wanting to take pictures of the moon, stars and satellites, (if stars and satellites will show up), zoom closely in on birds, cats, dogs; etc. that are a quarter mile or more away.

Well, if this 8x lens will adapt to my Kodak, I'll be happy, but if you guys find something else more powerful, lemme know.:):

Thanks!

~ZR~

dragon300zx · May 10, 2005

Hmmm more zoom. I got it. You need to buy a Mazda "Zoom-Zoom-Zoom"

. Sorry but I had to.

Zoom Raider · May 12, 2005

dragon300zx wrote:

Hmmm more zoom. I got it. You need to buy a Mazda "Zoom-Zoom-Zoom" . Sorry but I had to.

lol

ziggy53 · June 2, 2005

Sigma 5x "Video" teleconverter
Here is the link to some tests I ran recently (Feb 2005) showing how a 5x video teleconverter works with a Minolta A2. Notice the rather strong color distortion and softness of the images. On very high contrast targets, it could have use for surveillance documentation. Other that that, it's pretty useless and low quality.

http://www.pbase.com/ziggy53/sigma5x

ziggy53

gsgary · June 3, 2005

I've just bought the Raynox teleconverter it boosts mine upto 388mm but in the instructions it is not for use on cameras over 6x optical zoom have a look here
http://www.raynox.com/
Regards
Gary

More zoom please!

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