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(More customer reviews)Based upon the excellent results that I got with the Opteka macro lens for my Canon A590IS camera (I gave the lens a 5-star rating), I purchased both the Opteka .45x HD2 wide-angle lens and this 2.2x HD2 telephoto lens. The macro lens is superb. The wide-angle lens is a real disappointment. This telephoto lens is good, but not superb.
This telephoto lens comes with front and back friction-fit lens caps, an adaptor that allows the lens to be mounted on the camera, and a little drawstring bag in which to store the lens when it is not mounted on the camera. To use this lens on the A590 camera, you first remove a decorative metal ring (a bezel) from around the camera's built-in lens. The Opteka adaptor is clicked into place on the camera where the bezel was removed by means of a twist and click bayonet mount. The telephoto lens is then screwed onto the front of the adaptor. The front of the telephoto lens is threaded to permit the use of filters, if desired.
As I discovered with the macro and wide-angle lenses, the adaptor seems to be a weak link. All three lenses use the same adaptor (labeled "for Canon A570 52mm"). As with the adaptor that came with the wide-angle lens, the one that came with the telephoto lens is loose when mounted onto the camera (the adaptor that came with the macro lens fits snugly). This looseness allows the lens to move around a bit on the camera body, making the camera-adaptor-lens assembly feel flimsy. Since this adaptor was the same part number as the other two adaptors, I compared all three. It seems that the flanges on the adaptor which couple into the camera's bayonet mount were thinner on the ones supplied with the wide-angle lens and this telephoto lens; this explained the loose fit. This also means that quality control of the adaptors is lacking. And it means that if you purchase an Opteka lens, the adaptor you receive may not fit snugly onto the camera body. This is not a defect of the lenses per se, but warrants calling 47st Photo for a replacement adaptor if the one you receive is loose. On the positive side, the loose adaptor does not seem to affect picture quality, and it does make changing lenses easier. For me, I just don't like the lens moving around on the camera when I'm trying to compose a picture.
As other reviewers and the camera documentation have mentioned, the Opteka adaptor sticks out a little less than two inches from the camera body, which partially blocks the camera's viewfinder, flash, and autofocus sensor. This is not the fault of the lens (the Canon adaptor and lenses do this, too), but rather is due to the compact design of this small camera. You'll want to use the LCD screen instead of the viewfinder and turn the flash off.
Also mentioned by other reviewers and by the camera documentation is that, when the camera is turned on, it defaults to "normal" zoom. With the telephoto lens mounted, this produces a circular vignette not unlike taking a picture down one of the open ends of a sewer pipe. To eliminate the circular vignette and to get the full effect of the telephoto lens, it is necessary to manually zoom the camera's built-in lens to telephoto. Since the Canon telephoto lens is reported to produce the same vignette effect, this cannot be considered a defect of this Opteka telephoto lens. Still, it is an annoyance to have to zoom each time after turning the camera on in order to make the vignette go away.
Turning to the performance of this lens, with the exception of two issues, this lens takes fairly decent photos. The two issues are additional magnification produced by the lens and chromatic aberration.
Regarding additional magnification produced by the lens: This lens is labeled as a 2.2x telephoto; however, it is not clear to what the "2.2x" refers. The camera's built-in lens already zooms to 4x, so 2.2x of normal would be less of a telephoto than what the built-in lens already delivers. Is this supposed to be 2.2x the maximum zoom that the built-in lens produces? My measurements say no. I zoomed the camera's built-in lens to maximum zoom, then took photos of the same subjects with the same camera settings, with and without this 2.2x telephoto lens mounted on the camera. Under those conditions, this lens performed at the 1.35x level, sadly much less than what "2.2x" would imply (and what I expected). For this, I subtracted one-half a star from my rating.
Regarding chromatic aberration: This is the undesirable presence of color fringes in the images, typically near the edges of the frame. Try photographing a grid of black lines on white paper (like a crossword puzzle), then examine the black lines near the edge of the frame. If you see a bluish fringe of one side of the line and an orange fringe on the other side of the line, you've got chromatic aberration. This can make your photos look really bad. The Opteka macro lens is notable for its absence of chromatic aberration -- it's a superb lens. The Opteka .45x wide-angle lens has *very* noticeable chromatic aberration -- it's a horrible lens. This Opteka telephoto lens produces a small amount of chromatic aberration. If you print your photos 8x10, you will probably notice some of the color fringes; but it could be worse (as the .45x wide-angle lens demonstrates). For this, I subtracted another one-half star from my rating.
There are a few mild annoyances with regard to this lens; but none for which I subtracted anything in my rating. First, unless you need the adaptor for use with another lens, there is no need ever to remove it from the telephoto lens. Unfortunately, with the adaptor attached, the adaptor-lens assembly will not fit into the little drawstring bag, rendering the bag useless. Second, although a lens cap is provided for the back of the lens, none is provided for the back of the adaptor (they're different sizes so you can't use the back lens cap on the adaptor). This means that when you remove the lens from the camera you either have to buy another lens cap to seal the back of the adaptor-lens assembly or you have to remove the adaptor from the lens and cover the back of the lens with the supplied cap. Third, the front lens cap is shallow and falls off the lens easily. Annoyances, but no biggies.
Lastly, just to prove that it's not all facts and figures, I have to admit that the nearly 3-inch diameter expanse of glass at the front of this lens makes my Canon A590IS camera look really cool. So, not a bad lens for $30; but not one I would use for really serious photography.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Opteka 2.2x High Definition² Telephoto Lens for Canon PowerShot A570 A590 IS Digital Camera
An Opteka conversion lens can actually improve the image that your digital camera receives. By eliminating flare and ghosting, the ugly cousins of reflection and refraction, before they get to your camera's original lens system, your camera gets a much cleaner image to digitize. Plus, an Opteka converter allows you to use a more optimal part of your original lens system, resulting in crisper imagery.
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