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TCON-17 vs DMW-LT55 telecon lens (1 Viewer)

Buddhist Vegan Birder

wrong place, wrong time
Hiya,

does anyone know if there is any difference between using the TCON-17 and Panasonics own DMW-LT55 telecon lens? Reading through earlier threads it appears that both can be used with the FZ18 and are compatible with the DMW-LA3 adapter. Just wondering if anyone is able to make comparisons or knows of any links that may help?

thanks,
Lisa x
 
I have found this link for DMW-LT55 which says it is 263g and has focal length equivalent to 35mm camera of 714mm...

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Panasonic_DMW_LT55_Converter__6876489

...but unsure what the focal length means in practical terms.

I haven't yet been able to find details of the focal length of the TCON-17 , just the weight of 259g and the lens construction of 3 group(s) / 5 element(s). Also that it 'increases the existing focal length by a factor of 1.7 without changing the aperture'... which in my (very) basic understanding would mean that you can use the FZ18 as normal without making any specific adjustments to settings when using the TCON17 (apart from changing the setting under CONVERSION on the menu to TELE). Does that sound right?

Lisa
 
does anyone know if there is any difference between using the TCON-17 and Panasonics own DMW-LT55 telecon lens? Reading through earlier threads it appears that both can be used with the FZ18 and are compatible with the DMW-LA3 adapter. Just wondering if anyone is able to make comparisons or knows of any links that may help?

Hi Lisa,

They are both 1.7x teleconverters, so both should provide the same level of magnification. The Olympus TCON-17 is about half the price of the Panasonic, and seems to work well, so I think pretty much everybody opts for it. I do not know anything else about the Panasonic teleconverter though.

[EDIT: Posting at the same time as Norm Jackson].

which in my (very) basic understanding would mean that you can use the FZ18 as normal without making any specific adjustments to settings when using the TCON17 (apart from changing the setting under CONVERSION on the menu to TELE). Does that sound right?

You are correct. In fact, I have been using the Olympus teleconverter for about a month, and was not even aware of the "conversion" setting until I read your post! It seems to work fine without changing the conversion setting. The only difference I have noticed is that when you change the conversion setting you can only zoom out to 15x, while if the conversion setting is set to "off" you can zoom out much further, though I get vignetting at less than 5x. The Panasonic manual cryptically says only that if you leave the conversion setting to "off" the "performance of the tele conversion lens... will not be optimal". So at this point I am not really sure what the purpose of the setting is.

Hope this helps,
Jim
 
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They are both 1.7x teleconverters, so both should provide the same level of magnification. The Olympus TCON-17 is about half the price of the Panasonic, and seems to work well, so I think pretty much everybody opts for it.

With the TCON-17 being half the price... and even cheaper on eBay, lol... it's likely that I'll go for that. Does the lens construction make any difference between the two lenses?

You are correct. In fact, I have been using the Olympus teleconverter for about a month, and was not even aware of the "conversion" setting until I read your post! It seems to work fine without changing the conversion setting. The only difference I have noticed is that when you change the conversion setting you can only zoom out to 15x, while if the conversion setting is set to "off" you can zoom out much further, though I get vignetting at less than 5x. The Panasonic manual cryptically says only that if you leave the conversion setting to "off" the "performance of the tele conversion lens... will not be optimal". So at this point I am not really sure what the purpose of the setting is.

It's good to know that you have been able to use the TCON-17 with the FZ18 without adjusting the CONVERSION setting at all. The manual also says that "if you set CONVERSION to TELE or CLOSE you cannot use the built-in flash or AF assist lamp" ... that's if you needed to use either of them I guess. 18x optical with TCON-17 equals 30.6x optical if my maths is right? ...do you get on well with TCON-17 well hand held or do you find you need to rest the camera at all to steady it? (I tend to use Stabiliser Mode 2 rather than 1).

Lisa
 
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Also, is there a setting on the FZ18 so that you can store the camera settings used with the image taken? Is this known as EXIF?

thanks,
Lisa

Edit: think I have found a way to get that information... reading through a thread, I downloaded PhotoMe application and that seems to be what I was looking for!
 
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...do you get on well with TCON-17 well hand held or do you find you need to rest the camera at all to steady it? (I tend to use Stabiliser Mode 2 rather than 1).

It seems to work fine handheld, and have gotten some excellent photos with it that way. Though I suppose it is possible a few of my photos that turn out slightly blurry might have been sharper with the tripod.

Also, is there a setting on the FZ18 so that you can store the camera settings used with the image taken? Is this known as EXIF?

I believe that information is stored automatically. You can access it in windows XP. Just right-click on the image, select properties, and then click on the "summary" tab.

Best,
Jim
 
I bought a 2X Teleconvertor lens from ebay for my Lumix FZ18

It was one of the cheap ones from Hong Kong. It is absolutly useless. It wont focus, even on a tripod and timer, the saturation is ridiculously high, as is the noise level.

It seems like pot luck as others have been very happy with them.

I have now ordered a TCON-17 for £84 thats including VAT and postage. Thanks for this thread and all of your answers, I just could'nt afford the silly money Panasonic wanted for their lens.

The prices for the TCON-17 and the DMW-LT55 can vary by as much as £40.

I see there is a TCON-17 up for bid on ebay, unfortunatly there are a couple of people trying to outbid each other allready with still 2daysto go, so it's not going to be far off the price I'm paying when the auction finishes.

The others on ebay are from Taiwan, and quite a lot cheaper. Needless to say I wouldnt go any where near them.
 
I use the Oly TCON-17 with my FZ18. It works a treat. The only Teleconverters that I know of that are supposed to outperform the Oly are the more expensive Nikon T17-ED (and T15-ED) But I believe they are also a lot heavier/bulkier too! Don't forget you will need the DMW LA3 adapter or the similar Pemaraal one. :t:
 
I use the Oly TCON-17 with my FZ18. It works a treat. The only Teleconverters that I know of that are supposed to outperform the Oly are the more expensive Nikon T17-ED (and T15-ED) But I believe they are also a lot heavier/bulkier too! Don't forget you will need the DMW LA3 adapter or the similar Pemaraal one. :t:


I've got one allready, I needed it for the Raynox macro lens, I was hoping the telecon was going to give me as much pleasure, and expand the use of the FZ18 as the macro had.

If this one works I don't doubt it will |=)|
 
Got it last week, and I've been experimenting with it.

The weathers been attrocious, light very poor as well as thunderstorms and constant rain. So it took a while to work out the best settings.

Hopefully tomorrow is going to be a decent day so I can start to fine tune everything.

I've had some very positive results so far as well as a thousand or more shots for the bin.
 
It seems like this threads dead, or I've forgotten to wash for the last couple of years |:D|

Any way I've put 3 photos in my gallery of chaffinches, taken while I was using the Olympus TCON-17

Shame they have to be so small, but they should give an idea of the quality of the TCON
 
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Hi all,
Just stumbled on this thread and it's just the info I required. I tried to get a Panasonic 1.7X for my FZ18 but prices and delivery were a problem.
I see the Olympus converter and Panasonic DMW-LA3 adapter are on Amazon at reasonable prices, so I'll be following your advice.
Thanks again
atb
Moricambe
 
I've now had the TCON-17 a few days and I'm really pleased with it. I picked one up second-hand on eBay and bought the DMW-LA3 adapter new online. I have a few pics on my BF gallery of Cormorant and Lapwing (lighting conditions weren't great for the Lapwing so I have had to tweak it a bit, which is a little noticeable) using the TCON-17 as examples.

Lisa
 
Hi All,

Just a quick note to thank all the posters on this thread for all the advice. I decided to go with the TCON-17 for my FZ18 which has just been delivered.

I have taken a few test photos and am really happy with them, the real test will come next week as I am off to spend a few week in the bush in Zimbabwe. I hope to get loads of wildlife as well as bird photos and will post my results when I get back.
 
Because of some of the excellent advice that I found on this forum regarding telephoto lenses for the Panasonic DMC-FZ18 camera, I took the plunge and purchased a Olympus TCON-17 1.7x Tele Conversion lens (TCON-17)

Having recently returned from a trip to Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, where I had plenty of opportunities to try out the TCON-17 and thought that the photos may be useful as examples for anyone else thinking of buying it.

Check out my:
Olympus TCON-17 & Panasonic DMC-FZ18 Safari Photo Gallery

Or take a look at my latest Photos on Flickr

Once again many thanks to all those on this forum who so freely give their advice.
 
I'm planning to buy the TCON-17 1.7x to use with my FZ28 but would like to know a couple of things first.

I read an Amazon review that said that a ring of black background is added to the image is this true as I intend to take several panoramic shots and edit them together.

If I lower the megapixels will I be able to zoom in any further than 18X. Without a teleconverter I can get 25X zoom by lowering to 5 mp and 32X at 3mp so if I use the TCON-17 1.7x will that give me 42.5x zoom at 5mp

Regards
Scott
 
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