Should I be weary of cheap Amazon lens attachments?

[feg94]

I was perusing Amazon for lenses and other equipment, when I came across a supplier that made very cheap lens attachments. Being the relatively poor college student that I am, they immediately looked appealing. I'm not looking for anything super fancy, just something to experiment with, since I currently only own two lenses (one being the lens that my camera came with). The ratings are very high from users, but I have never heard of the company and I've always assumed DSLR equipment had to be at least moderately expensive. Here's the link...

Amazon.com : 58MM 0.43x Altura Photo Professional HD Wide Angle Lens (w/ Macro Portion) for CANON Rebel (T5i T4i T3i T3 T2 T2i T1i XT XTi XSi XS SL1), CANON EOS (1100D 700D 650D 600D 550D 500D 450D 400D 350D 300D 100D 60D 7D) + MagicFiber Microfiber Lens Cleaning Cloth : Camera Lens Hoods : Camera & Photo

And the company:
Home Page | Altura Photo

 

[D-B-J]

They're cheap. Likely all plastic or poorly made glass. I'd be leery... but hey. For a few bucks? Might be a fun thing to play with I guess..

Jake

 

[vintagesnaps]

Yes, you should.

Might be better to look for something good quality that's used, I've done well buying from KEH, or try Adorama or B&H or other camera stores that sell used.

 

[Rick50]

I think Amazon will sell anything from anybody if they can make a dollar. I always wonder....

 

[Derrel]

I used a fisheye adapter back in the 1980's, a screw-in cheapie that created a rounded, pseudo-fisheye look with TONS of color fringing....reallllly crappy optics, but kind of fun as a gimmick for a week or two. Some of these ultra-cheap 0.7x wide-angle adapters are seen in pawn shops, pulled out of old 1990's era camcorder kits. I would pay about $5 for a used one, not more. These things were, for the most part, cheapies. Oh, there have been a few good ones, but 99% of these things were cheap, junker-grade accessories, designed to "pad" what were, at one time, $899 to $1499 video camera kits, as part of say a ,"15-piece accessory kit!". There were a LOT of wide-angle adapters sold in the 1990's.

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Today, in 2014, there are a few SCAM-bait stores in the USA, located where large numbers of foreign tourists come in on cruise ships, and these things are sold at simply outrageous prices,and by outrageous, I mean sold at walk-in retail, with on-line smart phone searches leading directly to of a web site, maintained by the distributor, with posted on-line specifications and photographs and model numbers, with prices in the $700 range, and then the scam is the customers are offered huge "discounts" of $200 to $250, ending up with them walking out with a receipt, and a $499 bargain "lens", worth perhaps $19 brand-new. NOT kidding you--these things are sold as "lenses" in this scam, which has been reported here twice that I know of. I used to sell these things for $19.99 in the late 1980's. Twenty bucks! Today, these same old ones are $5 at my local pawn shop.

I see now a search result talking about a $1,329 lens of this type, being offered for sale at an 83% "discount". Again....these things are CHEAP--worth around $20, brand new!

 

[weepete]

Just completely ignore them mate. If you want to go wider shoot a panorama. If you want to go macro extension tubes can cost all of £10 or so and won't trash your optical quality.

 

[bratkinson]

I tried a telephoto and macro screw on lens pair some years back. My EF-S 18-135 couldn't achieve focus and the results on manual were very poor. Trying to unscrew the telephoto screw on, the tele itself disassembled, dropping the 2 lenses and spacers on the floor. Both immediately went to the trash. The vinyl case they came in is used to protect my travel alarm clock and to keep its batteries in the same place when traveling.

 

[Braineack]

weary, no. wary, yes.

 

[manaheim]

Standard rule: If you're asking a question that obviously implies you're hoping for answer B, the answer is A.

 

[dannylightning]

I had something similar to that once for macro, lots of ghosting and what not when used for anything but macro., I got some nice macro pictures with it and allot of bad ones. you moved the camera slightly, and i do mean slightly you lost your focus so you had the snap the macro shot at just the perfect time to get one that was in focus.

someone else I know bought a wide angle attachment like this and well, lets just say they wre not able to get many good photos with it.

I had allot of fun playing with the macro one I had so i guess it was worth the money. eventually I got rid of it, it was not expensive so I was not upset that it was junk, If you do not mind possibly throwing away 25 bucks it might be worth a shot. there is a chance it might workout alright for you but I probably would not expect that much out of it.