Nikon Coolpix 5700 lens question

[ed61115]

Nikon Coolpix 5700 lens question-
Retired guy needs advice. I bought Raynox Digital DCR-5000 0.5x Super Wide Angle lens from Abe's of Maine for $99.- but with NO threaded front element for a UV filter.
And I bought a Vision Optics Titanium 0.48 Wide Angle with Macro from www.mydigitalgear.com also for $99. and it has a threaded front element for a UV filter.
Has anyone had experience with these? Or am I better with the Nikon Lens for $150.? I appreciate advice. Thanks. ed61115@gmail.com

 

[lnbolch]

> Has anyone had experience with these? Or am I better with the Nikon > Lens for $150.? I appreciate advice. Thanks. ed61115@gmail.com

These lenses have been sold under an endless variety of brand names. They were first produced for camcorders in the early 1980s. People would buy on the cheap and discover that the zoom lenses were minimal. A set of these lenses with a wide-angle and telephoto component sold for $40 - $70US, usually sold in discount stores - often under a store-brand name.

In the late '90s camcorders had developed into DV units with fine lenses and the market for these paperweights dried up - only to be saved by the digital still camera. The factories rebadged the lenses as "Digital" and hiked the price to whatever traffic would bear. I heard about one Brooklyn camera scam store selling these turkeys for $499, claiming they were far superior to Nikons - ten times the price a pair of them originally sold for.

If you really love barrel distortion and soft-focus, these lenses will put you in heaven. The goal of the optics was to put a picture on home TV sets built in the 70s - so only needed resoltion adequate for analogue pictures - roughly equivalent to 320 x 240 or slightly more. The camcorders theu were used on were generally very low-end as well. Currently DV demands 720 x 480 actual pixels for NTSC for comparison, so optical quality only needed to be minimal.

Nikon designs their lens components to become an integral part of the optical system. If you want optical performace as well as the built in lens, go Nikon. If you want to play with special soft focus effects buy one of these.

larry! http://www.larry-bolch.com/ ICQ 76620504

 

[mlieber]

Try this web site for Nikon 5700 filter alternatives for non-threaded lenses. It worked for me: http://www.nextphoto.net

Good Luck.