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Marianne Hare		Camera Accessories Hi Can someone give me some advice. As my camera is a discontinued item(Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5), local camera shops have not been helpful. I was wondering if anyone had any advice about the available accessories. In the manual for the Z5 they only mention a wide angle kit ZCW-300 52mm 0.75x. (what does the 0.75x mean), I have found said kit on the web and was wondering if it has any extra benefit to the Z5. Likewise in the same search I came across a "DiMAGE Z6 Z5 Z3 Digital HD2 Professional Accessory Kit" (from Opteka). Since the manual has no mention of a telephoto lens, how do I know (or believe the advert) that it will actually fit and work on my camera. Regards Marianne To love this question, log in above February 08, 2007

Jon Close		The Z5's lens has an extremely long zoom range (5.83mm - 69.9mm), equivalent to 35mm-420mm on a 35mm film camera. The short end is not particularly wide angle, giving 54° wide view at the "35mm" setting. Thus the ZCW-300 accessory lens. .75x is the factor by which it shortens the focal length ==> .75 x 35mm = 26mm equivalent, ~68° wide view. The accessory lens cannot fit directly on the Z5. An accessory lens adapter is needed (ZCA-300). This is a hollow tube that fits over the Z5's lens and screws into the body. The accessory lens screws onto the end of this adapter. The outter diameter of the adapter tube has 52mm diameter screw threads, so any accessory lens or filters made in that diameter can be used. The ZCW-300 kit comes with this adapter tube. The Z5's 420mm equivalent is plenty long. You generally do not need a teleconverter (1.7x, 2x etc.) to make it longer, but if you like you can. A tripod will be necessary to combat blur from camera shake at such super telephoto lenghts. Is this the Opteka kit you're considering? LINK to Amazon.com. This Opteka kit will will work with your camera, however - It does not appear to include the necessary ZCA-300 (or equivalent) lens adapter tube. It is sold separately in a link at the lower right. The polarizer filter in the kit is very useful, the UV less so but some people like to use them to protect the camera's lens, but the FL-D filter is completely useless. It is a color correction filter used when shooting daylight film under fluorescent lighting. With a digital camera the white balance control is far more effective. To love this comment, log in above February 08, 2007

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