GrahamH
Well-known member
I've been looking for a wideangle adapter to use with my 14-45mm Lumix. I had the opportunity this weekend to do a side-by-side comparison of the Panasonic DMWLWA52 (0.75X, 52mm thread) and the Opteka HD2 .45X AF (~0.72X, 52mm thread).
Here are my thoughts:
- The Opteka says "0.45X" on the box, but in reality is only very slightly wider than the Panasonic ... I would say it is about a 0.72X.
- The Opteka is silver with black rings, the Panasonic is black. Both come with front and back lens caps and draw-string pouch.
- They are similar diameter, but the Panasonic is a little deeper and a little heavier.
- The Opteka has a front 72mm filter thread, the Panasonic has no front thread. However at 14mm, I have not as yet found any filters or hoods that I can use on the Opteka without vignetting.
- With my Lumix lens wide open (f3.5) the Panasonic is very slightly sharper in the center, and much softer in the corners, compared to the Opteka (click on the thumbnails below).
- If you need ND filtration, both adapters can be screwed onto the front of a 52mm ND filter without vignetting. Doing this causes some additional loss of corner sharpness (particularly for the Panasonic)
- The two adapters seem prone to similar mounts of flare.
- Neither adapter is zoom-through. Above ~20mm on my 14-45mm both became unacceptably soft, with the problem showing up sooner with the Panasonic.
- An important difference between the two adapters is that both exhibit curvilinear distortion, however the distortion is much more pronounced with the Opteka.
- The other big difference is price .... the Opteka is ~$40 and the Panasonic is ~$175.
Bottom line - I recommend the Opteka as better value, provided you can tolerate some curvilinear distortion. I decided I can, so I am returning the Panasonic.
Here are my thoughts:
- The Opteka says "0.45X" on the box, but in reality is only very slightly wider than the Panasonic ... I would say it is about a 0.72X.
- The Opteka is silver with black rings, the Panasonic is black. Both come with front and back lens caps and draw-string pouch.
- They are similar diameter, but the Panasonic is a little deeper and a little heavier.
- The Opteka has a front 72mm filter thread, the Panasonic has no front thread. However at 14mm, I have not as yet found any filters or hoods that I can use on the Opteka without vignetting.
- With my Lumix lens wide open (f3.5) the Panasonic is very slightly sharper in the center, and much softer in the corners, compared to the Opteka (click on the thumbnails below).
- If you need ND filtration, both adapters can be screwed onto the front of a 52mm ND filter without vignetting. Doing this causes some additional loss of corner sharpness (particularly for the Panasonic)
- The two adapters seem prone to similar mounts of flare.
- Neither adapter is zoom-through. Above ~20mm on my 14-45mm both became unacceptably soft, with the problem showing up sooner with the Panasonic.
- An important difference between the two adapters is that both exhibit curvilinear distortion, however the distortion is much more pronounced with the Opteka.
- The other big difference is price .... the Opteka is ~$40 and the Panasonic is ~$175.
Bottom line - I recommend the Opteka as better value, provided you can tolerate some curvilinear distortion. I decided I can, so I am returning the Panasonic.
