So I'm trying to keep my packing light for flying to car shows. I love my little Panasonic Lumix FX07 but it needs a wider angle lens. I don't want to go full-blown DSLR just for the few times I can't get car in the shot. I tripped across these:
http://www.magneticlenses.com/wide_angle
It uses a metal ring that sticks to the camera and adds a small wide angle lens to it. Anyone know anything about these? The idea seems brilliant to me, and for pretty small money I can keep from buying another camera.
Worked for my cheap Aiptek mini-camcorder, stayed on through an entire season of autocrossing.
I'd be a little concerned about the quality of the lens and what it does to the optical quality of your camera's built in lens. Might still be worth to try it out but then again you might find out you could've put $40 towards a DSLR or other compact with a wider lens...
Don't do it, image quality will suffer in a big way and low light shooting will do the same.
Advertise your old camera for an absurd price, if someone goes for it pat yourself on the back and pick up another point&shoot with a wider lens.
The panasonic LX3 is pretty much exactly what you need; f2.0 24mm raw capable and it does 720p video.
car39
Reader
1/8/10 3:33 p.m.
Tried it on my aiptek, and all I got was video burn from a white balance problem. The focus switch got ficked and was set on close rather than far, and that may have caused the problem. Going to try it again, because I did like the in car with the wider lens