Comment on Digital 0.45X Professional Wide Angle Lens 58 MM with Macro High Definition Reviews by shep.
Gives excellent results with a simple Photoshop adjustment,
Two tricks make this adapter really useful and versatile: a step-down converter ring, and one simple Photoshop adjustment.
It converts my 28mm equivalent lens to what I roughly estimate is a 21mm lens–a big increase in angle of view.
I got one of these adapters for my Olympus micro 4/3 camera, to try out as an alternative to a $600 true wideangle.
The big problem is substantial barrel distortion. Also, there is chromatic aberration in the corners and some vignetting (darkening in those corners). Now, here’s the trick: Photoshop Elements (and, no doubt, other photo management programs) can eliminate the barrel distortion in: Filter/Correct Camera Distortion/Remove Distortion (try +20 to +30%). This has the huge additional benefit of pulling the corners out of the picture without reducing the wide angle of view–the very corners where both the chromatic aberration and vignetting occur! Crop to make the picture rectangular, and you have reduced all 3 problems significantly with this one adjustment.
Now, you still are not getting top quality. But for the ridiculously low price of this lens you are getting 50% or more of the quality at a twentieth of the price of a “real” ultrawide.
FItting the adapter to your lens: I use a Digital Concepts adapter on my micro 4/3 14-42mm lens (28 mm equivalent at wide angle). I have to say that the lens’ focus mechanism struggled to work–the motors on this tiny lens must be too weak to move the added weight of this adapter–and I therefore found it best to use manual focus. Other cameras may not have this issue. I actually used Digital Concepts’ “0.45X Professional 43mm Wide Angle HD Lens with Macro” which has a 43mm screwthread, closer to my specific need, and I had to also buy a 43 to 40.5mm stepdown ring. The adapter on this page, for the “Olympus Evolt”, has a 58mm screwthread, which fits the 4/3 (not micro 4/3) lens. The same Digital Concepts lens adapter is sold on Amazon fitted with a variety of other screwthread sizes.)
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