52MM WIDEANGLE+TELEPHOTO Lens FR NIKON, Advice

[northantsboy]

Hi.

Has anyone ever used these type of lens and do they work?

I have just came across them on ebay, and was wondering they where any good.

Thanks in advance

[ianpinion]

Hi northantsboy and welcome to the forums.

Firstly, a lens with a 52mm focal length is neither regarded as a wide-angle or telephoto lens. Plus, if it's focal length is fixed at only 52mm then it is classed as a 'prime' lens that is usually used for portrait work or it could double as macro lens for close-up work if it will focus within a couple of centimeters.

Can you tell us exactly what this lens is, i.e. give us the focal length range and the f numbers too, like 18-105mm f/3.5-f/5.6 for instance.

[chris-p]

I think it's one of THESE?

If so it's not a lens for the camera, it's a couple of adaptors that you screw onto the lens that you already have (the 52mm refers to the thread size of the 18-55mm kit lens).

They do work, they're not great but they are only £20. Regardless of the eBay advert they will affect image quality and they will distort but what do you expect for £20?

There's no real reason not to buy one, you can get some interesting effects. Just be aware of what you're buying and whatever you do don't over tighten them onto the lens thread - I've seen that ruin a kit lens before...

[TedFoster]

I think this item is the same (apart from the size) as the 58 mm. set I bought from Amazon a couple of weeks ago , the price was under £15 . plus postage and I would report as follows :-
There are two attachments , one for tele and one for wide angle , the maker's name is shown as "Neewer" , the instruction leaflet is headed "Digital Concepts" . They both appear to be quite well made , nicely presented in a box (each) and with a pouch type case for each, and with screw on caps front and rear , As a previous reply said , they screw into the filter thread on your lens , carefully (!).
I tried the tele unit on a Canon 55 - 250 lens , at 250 mm ( no point in a shorter length of course ) the results were poor, a lot of flare , poor definition , and colour fringing .to the extent that the image was unacceptable even on the camera screen . I then tried it on the 18 - 55 mm kit lens , at 55 mm . this was very much better , giving quite a useable image , though not as good as you would get from cropping a picture taken without the attachment . I assume from this that the individual lens used as the "prime" lens has a great influence on the results and that the more complex zooms do not all react the same way , it may be that on a prime ( i.e.non-zoom ) lens the results would be much better .
The wide angle attachment fits the same way , and I tried on the 18 - 55 lens , t he results were very much better than the tele . at 18 mm there was some cut-off at the corners , but this disappeared at about 20 mm., and I then got a reasonably useable image , some distortion , of course , (inevitable with an effecive 10 mm lens ) . I don't say you would get a real exhibition print from it , burt I found it perfectly acceptable on an A4 print .
Altogether a good buy for the wide angle attachment , I intend to give the tele attachment away at the next camera club sale . then what do you expect for the money .