I just bought a new super-macro lens (Raynox DCR250) to go with my Panasonic FZ20 digicam. What a great lens -- great price too. This is my first shot with it -- a two dollar coin. The shot wasn't taken at full zoom; this add-on lens is so powerful you can see the hairs on an ant. I'll be experimenting with my new toy this evening, more to come...
The DCR250 lens and the adapter came to about $130 after tax. Quite reasonable. This is an extremely powerful lens when combined with the 12x zoom on my camera. The DOF is only a couple of millimetres, even with an aperture setting of f8. Depending on your subject matter, getting good shots can be tricky. The DCR150 model is a bit less powerful than the 250, and easier to use. Gonna experiment a bit more before I hit the sack tonight.
Check the Raynox website to see if they have a lens that's compatible with your camera; they have decent compatability lists online. You can probably order a lens through any good camera store that carries this brand. I ordered my DCR250 in person at Simon's Cameras in MTL last Thursday, and it arrived today. Simon's is a great store -- a bit rundown looking when you walk in the door -- but absolutely chock full of goodies, with extremely knowledgeable and helpful staff.
N.B. I edited this post in order to link to a more effective image than I'd posted originally.
Last edited by The Doug; May 30th, 2006 at 09:26 PM.
The DOF is only a couple of millimetres, even with an aperture setting of f8. Depending on your subject matter, getting good shots can be tricky.
That couple of mm is helpful though. I made a close up adapter for my Nikon D50 using an fixed 50mm lense inverted and mounted to the front of my Nikon telephoto lense with some lense adapter plates glued back to back. It's very difficult to use and has absolutely zero DOF. It works well when magnifying flat objects (bills, paper, etc.) but is nearly impossible to use on objects with any depth. You can get some interesting effects when shooting flowers...
As you can see, besides from the limited DOF you get significant vignetting in some cases.
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