Massa 0.45x Wide Angle / Macro Lens Adapter Review

(If you can't see the video, please click here.)

I've always been skeptical about this sort of lens adapter that claims to give you great macro and wide-angle shots simply by screwing onto the front of your existing lens.

I am however on a tight budget, so when I saw the wide angle / macro and telephoto adapters going cheap (around £15) on eBay, I had to give them a go.

Before we go any further I will say that the telephoto lens was rubbish, so don't bother getting one, but the 0.45x 58mm Massa Wide Angle / Macro converter was worth every penny.

You will get vignetting, or darkening of the corners, on the Canon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS lens at its widest setting, but simply dial the lens to around 20mm and everything is nice and clear. You will obviously get some distortion of subjects, and this isn't the sharpest glass right into the corners, but it fits nicely into most camera bags without taking up much room and will get you out of a fix if you find you can't back up enough to get all of your subject(s) in.

The macro capabilities of this lens were very good too, making this type of lens adapter / filter a viable alternative to extension tubes or a true macro lens, and at a fraction of the price.

True, I won't have this piece of glass screwed onto my 18-55 all the time, but having a small, light, and very cheap filter in my bag for specific situations, both wide and macro, is very useful indeed.

 

So before you go out splashing hundreds of pounds on a true wide angle or macro lens, get yourself over to eBay and have a look for "wide angle lens adapters" in your filter size, and give them a go. You might find you like them, and can spend the cash on something else entirely!

Cheers, Rob.

Turning Your Canon dSLR into a B&W Film Camera... Sort Of

(If you can't see the video, please click here.)

The great advantages of digital photography can also be a weakness - we can instantly review our photographs and adjust them to the nth degree in post processing, but this means we spend too much time chimping at the back of our cameras and sitting editing our photographs when we could be out shooting more.

The problem is that film is just too expensive to shoot everyday, for me anyway. By switching to black and white .jpgs and turning off the image preview, my Canon 350d / Rebel XT dSLR kind of emulates the behaviour of a film camera  and I spend more time looking for the next photo than reviewing the ones I've already taken.

Thanks, Rob.

Tethering Your Android 2.2 Smartphone To Your Windows XP Laptop For Internet Sharing

(If you can't see the video, please click here.)

 If, like me, you're not on the cutting edge of PC technology, being able to hook up your laptop to the internet wherever you like is a little bit of magic.

With the Android update to Froyo 2.2, most Android phones can now share their data connection via a USB lead or as a wireless hotspot. I choose to use the lead method because it seems to give faster speeds.

If you're still on XP (like me!) you'll need to download an additional file, tetherxp.inf, which you can download here.

Make sure you check your mobile / cell contract details to see if you'll be charged extra for tethering, and also keep an eye on your data allowance, laptops can chew through an awful lot of megabytes!

Thanks, Rob.

SCL Photography Podcast 175 - Turn Your Digital Camera Into Film

Not really, but kind of!

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My Weston inspired vegetable shots:

A couple of "wide" shots from my 350d and the Massa converter:

Please check out the new Photo Assignment for Jan / Feb, "Winter Where You Live".

Here's the thread for more ideas for our photo-assignments.

If you'd like to contribute a little something to SCL, please Donate!

Come on over and join the Flickr group.

Cheers, Rob.

Rowner Married Quarters Redevelopment Photowalk

(Watch a slideshow of all the photographs by clicking here.)

Gosport is a town of contrasts. There are marinas with hundreds of very expensive yachts and housing estates that look like areas of Beirut. The good news is that some of these areas are being re-developed, and one such area is in Rowner, around St. Nicholas Avenue.

Former Naval Married Quarters are being renovated and improved, bringing some better quality much needed housing stock to the area. While this is happening the houses offer an interesting photo subject, so last Sunday I took a short walk to take photographs of anything that caught my eye.

I took some wide shots to set the scene, then concentrated on looking for details that added depth to the story. Of course the obvious missing element is people. There was one security guard walking around, but I didn't want to try and take a photo of him!

I hope you enjoy the photographs!

 Thanks, Rob.