Olympus WCON080E B28 Wide Angle Lens
by Olympus

List Price: $349.99
Our Price: $149.99
You Save: $200.00 (57%)
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Category: Digital Camera
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Digital Photo Product Details

• Includes B-28 0.8x wide converter lens
• 0.8x magnification
• High-end optical performance
• Compatible with most Olympus digital cameras
• Comes with a 43-55mm step-up ring

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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Olympus WCON080E B28 Wide Angle Lens

Customer Review: Oly WCON-08E Wide Angle with 3040Z: A Short Report
Summary: 5 Stars

In my research after-the-fact, I've seen many say that it's difficult to significantly shorten the focal length without accepting image quality that ranges from poor to just plain awful.

The good news:

Image quality to MY untrained eye seems identical to that provided by that of the camera's onboard lens alone.

The bad news:

Everyone familiar with the lens noted the obvious issues of viewfinder and flash blockage. There's no way to mount anything this big without dealing with those issues.

Other observations:

It's a lens that's aesthetically pleasing to handle and the user certainly gets a sense of the quality of workmanship that went into the lens.

Value observations:

It's not the kind of lens you'd recommend as one of the first purchases on a tight budget. I had at first thought of returning it because of the modest (35->28) improvement offered, but as I evaluated the results and read about other lenses, I decided that a near flawless .8 was probably worth more than shorter focal lengths with obvious problems.

The lens also came with the Oly 43-55mm step up ring, which I needed to buy anyway for the B-300 I'm also getting from B&H, currently on back order.

The Net: I'm keeping the lens. If your camera has an even longer "shortest focal length" then you'll likely appreciate the lens and use it more often.

And a final curiosity:

Indoors, mounted on tripod with a fixed aiming point, the 3040Z would routinely fire the flash with the built in lens, and would NOT use the flash with the wide-angle mounted.

This came as a surprise, since I'd read that adding lenses usually results in LOSS of light to the camera. If anything I might have guessed the opposite result flash wise, even though the lens is advertised as working 'without reducing aperture'.

Description of Olympus WCON080E B28 Wide Angle Lens

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