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When I saw the listing for a 2.5x tele-extender Titanium lens for the CP4500 for $55 including a step up adapter, it seemed too good to be true. Still at 1/4th the price of a Nikon tele-converter and the promise of a 387mm focal length I had to try it. The brand was a Bower 2.5x tele-extender.

I learned photography reading lens charts and never could adapt the test details to real life photography. So this test was to be only from use. All the posted images are very small intentionally. They are reduced to 360x480 pixels and compressed to a level 7 (of 10) JPEG in Photoshop. This results in a small 50-100k file for emails and web displays without slow download speeds.

I took the lens out for a day and tried to see what it could do.



This first shot forced me to back up from the birds. I could have gotten considerably closer. It was made at about 50 feet away. It is straight from the camera un-retouched.



This close up of the wing detail was my first positive impression of the lens. The CP4500 produces a 4mp image that would be approximately 24x33 inches on a computer screen. This wing detail is a 400% enlargement from that size. It is about 48x66 inches, at screen quality (72dpi). This image is un-retouched and could be improved considerably with Photoshop’s unsharp mask.



This is an un-retouched image of the head alone without any interpolation (re-sampling). It is a 1 ˝ x 2-inch section of the original 24x33 image. The staircase edge (alaising) is very noticeable. To show the ability of interpolation software to improve this image I enlarged it to 4x6 with re-sampling in Photoshop. The alaising is much less pronounced and the image is softer. The contrast and sharpness could be brightened with unsharp mask, but I wanted to display un-retouched images for comparisons.




The 1 ˝ x 2 image would be 72x99 inches for the full photo if displayed on your screen at 4 1/2x6.

I wanted to test the range of detail the lens was able to capture so I shot this picture of our cat in open shade. That is a very difficult lighting situation for an image without much of a contrast range.




This image I took into Photoshop to see what might be hidden in the details. I used the dodge tool to lighten the face and body of the cat selectively. I was impressed in the amount of hair detail was captured. As I lightened the hair became distinct, rather than blurred as I expected. I used unsharp mask at 30 60 1 settings to bring out the hair detail. I like thee settings in that it sharpens the image in a subtle manner without the obvious sharpening that can be overdone. The hair became very distinct and well separated. It was considerably more than I expected.



This orchid tested the ability of the lens to handle highlights without blowout. This picture was taken about 8-10 feet from the orchid at the American Orchid Society greenhouse. The lens allowed me to get up close and personal with the orchid when the greenhouse rules were to stay on the walk paths and not move any orchids. A spot meter reading was taken centered totally on the white pedals. The picture is straight from the camera with no retouching of any kind. The soft range of light over the range of white pedals retain a considerable amount of detail.

A few additional comments. The lens is very small and lightweight. It does not block the viewfinder nor does it block the internal flash. This frog is less than 2 inches long and shot at a distance of about 1 ˝ feet with the internal flash set at –1.7 EV on the Speed light setting (not exposure EV).



Conclusion - I was very happy and impressed. The lens handled the range from light to dark better than I could expect. The resolution also exceeded my expectations. In all I found the CP4500 and Bower 2.5x tele-converter with its 387mm focal length to outperform (wow) my Nikon F and 300mm Nikon lens. It is much easier to carry and hold steady and the images did not suffer.

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jerry

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Very well done Jerry ... thank you ....

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Best Regards
Paul

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