On Wed, 12 Jan 2000 10:37:52 -0500, Wallace Vaughn wrote:
>In article <387be430.39124676@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu>,
>d_ruether@hotmail.com wrote:
>> On Tue, 11 Jan 2000 13:41:43 -0600, Subramanyam Kasibhat
>> wrote:

>> >Gurus of TRV900,
>> >I am a new bee! Trying to play with TRV900.
>> >Could some one point me to few shops on net where
>> >in I could buy Lens for my trv900. I am looking for lens
>> >which helps me take small insects and very small objects.
>> >
>> >I have a Sony 2X Tele photo and Sony wide Angle. Am
>> >not satsified by the 2X Tele Photo. Could some one suggest
>> >me a way to increase the Zoom Range. I am a regular
>> >Jungle Trekker and Love to take Wild Life Photos. The
>> >2X Tele would not be sufficient )-:
>> >
>> >Please bear in mind that I am a total newcommer for Video
>> >Photography or any Photography!

>> For close-ups, try a cheap set of three close-up lenses in
>> 52mm size. With the tele range of the zoom, you will be
>> surprised by the results! For a bit higher quality image,
>> the Nikkor 3T and 4T close-up lenses are better-corrected
>> achromats - but I've had excellent results with the simple
>> close-up lenses. My tastes tend toward the wide end, so
>> I don't know what to recommend in 2X+ converters - Kenko,
>> Raynox, and some others make some good converters...

>In general you don't use telephoto lenses to shoot small objects, you
>use telephoto to shoot objects far away. The Sony comes with the
>equivalent of a 492 mm lens (35mm) so a 2x brings that to 984 mm. That
>is longer than most people ever use except for Bird wtchers and Photog's
>trying to get shots of famous people. As stated above, close up lens
>used in the camcorders wider zoom range would work best. I don't know if
>the TRV900 has a macro mode, but those generally use the wide angle end
>of the zoom range. See for sony's lens specs:
>http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/ss5/home/camcorder/dvcamerasandprodu
>cts/dcr-trv900_specs.shtml [...]

Perhaps you should have tried the recommended close-up
lens with the camcorder zoom set in the tele range before
making the above comments... It works VERY well, and it
would not work well with the zoom range set at the wide
end. Close-up attachments (simple one or two element
lenses) work by shortening the effective FL without
shortening the lens mount distance, resulting in closer
focus (as if a shorter FL lens had been mounted on an
extension tube). They are less effective on short FL lenses
than on long, and on long lenses, adequate front space is
preserved. I have shot a lot with these, on many different
camcorders (and on still cameras - see the bug set of
photos on my web page [the highest-magnification photos
were taken with very long lenses with close-up attachments
added...]). BTW, a neat byproduct of the way camcorder
zoom lenses are focused is that an extreme close-up
(with the lens set in the tele range) can be smoothly
shifted to a wide view (with infinity-focus) in one shot
by just zooming back toward the short end of the zoom
range...