Michael Meissner's page on wide angle lenses for the Olympus C-2100UZ camera

This page is an attempt to list the various wide angle lenses that are available for the Olympus C-2100UZ camera (and presumably other cameras that have filter threads near to the size of the C-2100UZ (49mm). I have listed the manufacturer's suggested adapter for 49mm threads as well. Please send any mail regarding these pages to olympus@the-meissner.org.

I have a few other pages people might be interested in:

One problem with some of the tele-extender lenses out there is that they were designed for video cameras, which tend to not have the resolution requirements of the still cameras. This means that a lens that produces acceptable quality video might not produce an acceptable shot for a still camera.

As a disclaimer, I did not own a wide angle tele-extender for my C-2100UZ when I wrote this list originally, so I can't make any pronouncement about the quality of the tele-extender lens. I am providing this page in an attempt to help others who are looking at wide angle lenses. All of this information was compiled from the Olympus Forum of dpreview.com. Please consider supporting that site.

Since I wrote this FAQ, I bought a Tiffen wide angle lens from Circuit City, but it did not say Megaplus on the packaging. I don't know if this is the same lens as the lens described below, but it has the same specs (0.75x magnification, 43mm rear thread, 67mm front thread). I am unhappy with this lens, considering the positive reviews I had read, particularly in comparisons against the Raynox lenses. My lens has softness around the edges at full wide angle (but it doesn't appear to vignette, even with the 49->43mm step down ring). However, as soon as you zoom in, the distortion around the edges becomes more pronounced and larger, until the whole picture is obscured. Another note, none of the camera stores in my area carried 49-43mm step down rings, so you will need to order it from the internet from places like: The Filter Connection.

Hunts Camera store in Melrose, MA. had their annual sale recently, and I went in, and they had Kenko KNW-075 wide angle tele-extenders available for 20% off. I brought in my camera to try it in the store after having a bad experience with the Tiffen, and this lens is much better. You can use most of the zoom of the camera, which allows for better framing without having to chop off pixels afterwards. Also, the lens claims to be a rectilinear lens, in that it doesn't have the barrel effect you see in other wide angle lenses.

Here is a simple album that compares the two wide angle lenses.

One option that can be used instead of buying a wide angle tele-extender is to take several shots at the same exposure level, and stitch them together as a panorama, either using the Olympus smartmedia cards and the Camedia software, or some other program. Also note that 28mm is a typical minimum focal length for external flashes, so care might be needed to use a flash if you are using a tele-extender with a lower magnification than 0.75x.

My general home page is at http://www.the-meissners.org, my Renaissance Faire links are at http://www.the-meissners.org/ren.html, and my digital camera links are at http://www.the-meissners.org/camera.html.

Two vendors that have a broad range of stock include B & H Photo-Video-Pro Audio, or Adorama - The Photography People.

The one minor complaint I have about B & H is that they will not mail to places like Mailboxes, etc. due to being the targets of fraud. I on the other hand live on a private road that did not get mail delivery until very recently, and also have had problems with the local delivery people's creative attempts at delivering packages when people aren't home, and prefer to have all deliveries go to Mailboxes, etc.

Summary

The following table summarizes the wide angle tele-extender lenses that I'm aware of.

Vendor Model
number 		Multiplication
Factor 		Rear
Thread 		Front
Thread 		49mm
Adapter 		B&H Adorama Notes
Olympus America WCON-07 (#200864) 0.7x 55mm none SUR4955 B&H Adorama none
Olympus America WCON-08E B-28 (#200549) 0.8x 55mm none SUR4955 B&H Adorama none
Olympus America WCON-08B (#200693) 0.8x 62mm 102mm N/A B&H Adorama Made for E10/E20
Olympus America A-28 (#103870) 0.8x 49mm none none B&H N/A This is discontinued and hard to find
Raynox DCR-5000 0.5x 52mm none RA5249 N/A N/A Designed to be used in "macro" mode.
Raynox DCR-6600PRO 0.66x 52mm 72mm RA5249 N/A N/A none
Raynox HD-6600PRO 49 0.66x 49mm 72mm none B&H Adorama Designed for high end camcorders
Raynox HD-6600PRO 52 0.66x 52mm 72mm RA5249 B&H Adorama Designed for high end camcorders
Raynox DCR-720 0.72x 52mm 62mm RA5249 N/A N/A none
Raynox DCR-770 0.77x 52mm 62mm RA5249 N/A Adorama Built-in lens hood
Tiffen 43 Megawide 0.75x 43mm 67mm 4943AD B&H Adorma Step down ring might vignette at widest angle
Canon USA WC-DC52 0.7x 52mm none ??? B&H Adorama Made for the Canon Powershot A10, and A20 cameras.
Canon USA WC-DC58 0.8x 58mm none ??? B&H Adorama Made for the Canon Powershot G1, G2, and Pro90 cameras.
Fujifilm WL-FX9 0.79x 55mm none ??? B&H Adorama Made for the Fujifilm 4900, 6900, and S602 cameras.
Sony VCL-MHG07A 0.7x 58mm none ??? B&H N/A Made for the Sony 707 camera. Need to be in "macro" mode.
Promaster 8396 0.77x 52mm 62mm ??? N/A N/A Has a builtin lens shade.
Kenko KNW-075 0.75x 52mm 67mm ??? B&H Adorama Rectilinear lens (no barrel effect)

Other web pages

Ray Cooper and Darrell Spreen created a web page that compares some wide angle lenses on the C-2100UZ. The winner was the Tiffen Megaplus lens, which had no vignetting at full wide angle even though it needed a step-down adapter, was sharp corner to corner, and added no significant chromatic aberrations, color fringing, or barrel distortion. The new line of Raynox lenses were not compared in this test. The web page is:

http://members.aol.com/pixbydg/waweb/wa.html.

Here is a page that shows pictures from the Raynox HD-6600PRO lens:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=4341315.

Michael Meissner, olympus@the-meissners.org