Since it fits right over your camera's existing lens system, a wide-angle and telephoto converter affects the full zoom range of your camera's lens. A wide-angle converter increases your angle of view - scenes include more of the landscape, groups include more people, and interiors show more of the room. A .5x wide-angle converter DOUBLES your angle of view, allowing you to get twice as much in the picture (AND your telephoto setting also becomes wider; not zooming in as close). A 2x converter will double your camera's maximum focal length, bringing things twice as close. An Opteka conversion lens can actually improve the image that your digital camera receives, and it's about the only accessory that can. 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 more crisp imagery. Enjoy all of the benefits of the Opteka HD² .5x Wide Angle & 2x Telephoto Professional Lenses, plus you get the Following Brand New Items: Opteka High Definition² Pro Filter Kit (UV, Polarizing, and fluorescent), Opteka Tabletop Tripod, 5 Piece Camera & Lens Cleaning Kit, 53" Deluxe Professional Video/Camera Tripod, and a Deluxe Carry-All Camera Case. Increase your cameras capabilities with this full accessory kit! Opteka lenses and filters are covered by a lifetime warranty.Price: $149.95
Customer Review: Beware HF10 owners - Do Not Buy
This set from Opteka contains the following - 1) Protective film for the LCD (No name brand) 2) A tablestand tripod (Opteka) 3) 54" tripod with one quick-release screw-in (Samsonite - not the same as pictured above). 4) A 2x Telephoto conversion lens (Opteka) 5) A 0.5x Wide Angle conversion lens (Opteka) 6) Set of three filters (Opteka). 7) Shoulder bag/fanny pack (not Samsonite even though that's what is pictured above) 8) Cleaning Kit (Opteka) The protective films are of the "one size fits all" variety. In fact, they're marketed for use with GPS screens. You'll need to cut them to fit the LCD screen on the HF10. Pretty standard. I haven't tried 'em yet (and don't plan to since I intend to ship all of this back to the vendor). The table tripod is barely functional for the HF10. If you have an HF10, you know the screw-in lies about two inches back from the lens. It makes using the table-top tripod a perilous ordeal, since you are constantly worried that it'll tip over. Not Opteka's fault. As for the bag...eh...its ok. It is **not** a Samsonite bag as advertised in the picture above, but rather is from "VidPro". The 54" tripod is OK. For Samsonite, the build quality is pretty poor and looks as though its made an OEM. It doesn't come with a carrying case, but at this price point, I wouldn't expect Manfrotto. I would, however, expect to get the same tripod as pictured above. Like the bag, it wasn't. The filters are fine. They take some coordination to screw in properly, but image quality is **not** diminished with their use. Filters are a must for a camera at this price-point. The only problem is their colour - the HD10 is jet-black and the silver filters draw attention to the front of the camera. The lenses. What can I say about the lenses? The lenses are what suck mostly about this set. The 2x converter lens confuses the HF10's AutoFocus, especially when zoomed in on something "far away". Like, you know, my neighbor's bedroom window(kidding!) Even when manually focused, the image is smeared and is very susceptible to flare. Not a good thing when living in a state like Colorado, where the sun's out 300 days a year. The 0.5x Wide Angle converter is only marginally better. At Wide Zoom, it works like a charm. Image is clean, still has some flare problems. But when you zoom in, you get the same issue as the Telephoto lens - the HF10 simply will not focus unless you go manual. Image quality is ok when zoomed, unlike the Telephoto converter. Oh, and when unzoomed, you can still see the housing of the lens. So you don't gain that much by using this Wide lens, given that you'll need to crop a good 1/5 of your image. EDIT - just tried using the UV filter again. The screw threads were busted. About a week ago, I demo'd the Canon lenses at Mike's Camera in Lone Tree and my HF10 worked like a charm with them. The problem is, Canon's lenses are expensive and so is Mike's (no discount). Getting the full set including filters would have set me back almost $400 without the bag, tripods, and screen protectors. When I saw this set, I figured I was taking a chance on buying it. Opteka isn't a company with a history like Canon, Sigma, Tamron, or what have you. But after spending a couple of hours with it, I've realized (again) that you get what you pay for. Like I said above, I plan to return this set as soon as I can. As I have for my Canon 5D and Rebel XTi, I'll be buying Canon lenses after all. EDIT - I've asked 47th Street Photo to provide an RMA number. We'll see if the misrepresenting the bag and tripod will be enough to waive the restocking fee. Check out the photos I published while using these lenses. They illustrate the issues with these lenses fairly well.
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