Is this a stupid question.

[soma2002]

ok i just bought a minolta dimage z3. i see that there are lens adapter tubes and kits but here is my question. first: with a tube adapter can you put ANY lens that will fit the mm on the end of the tube adapter or does it have to made specifically for the z3. also can someone plese recomend some quality lenses that will fit my camera. thanks. or some good resource web sites.
thanks
james

[John_Reed]

As a matter of fact, that was one of my big reservations about that camera - I couldn't see how you could mount anything on the front. It doesn't seem to have even filter threads. I know Konica Minolta sells a wideangle adapter and lens for the camera; maybe there's a clue there? Some owner may know the answer? :confused:

[jbalcius]

I picked up a barrel addapter for my Z3. This is what I got:

http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=SAKLAZ352

It was pretty cheap. $12. I ordered it Tuesday and had it in my door Christmas Eve day.

I got it for using filters, but, I can get 52mm Wide angle and teleconverters for it. Honestly, I really don't see me getting anything but a wide angle adapter. The 35 to 420mm zoom will cover 99% of my needs.

I actually recommend getting one, even of you have no plans to using many filters or addapters. It does a great job of protecting the camera lense system. The barrel and a UV filter will go a long way to protecting the lense and the moving parts.

I got the barrel for using a Polarizing filter, I'm glad I did.

[Puck]

ok i just bought a minolta dimage z3. i see that there are lens adapter tubes and kits but here is my question. first: with a tube adapter can you put ANY lens that will fit the mm on the end of the tube adapter or does it have to made specifically for the z3. also can someone plese recomend some quality lenses that will fit my camera. thanks. or some good resource web sites.
thanks
james

First question - YES you can screw any adapter lens that will fit the adapter tube. They don't have to be Minolta or specifically made for the Z3.

Second question - There are many cheap lens out there whose performance equals their price. If you find a deal that seems to good to be true it probably is.

I have the Minolta .75 converter lens for my Z1. The one they sell for the Z3 is most likely the same with a different adapter tube. I find it to be a fairly good lens. It takes sharp pictures overall and causes no vinyetting (sp?). It does tend to magnify the barrel distortion in the camera's lens and seems just a wee bit soft at the corners. The other quirk about it is that due to its size it causes a shadow at the bottom center of the frame if you try to take a flash picture with the inbuilt flash. You need a external flash if you want to take indoor flash pictures with it. It comes in handy for those times you need a wider angle of view and can't physically back up enough to get what you want.

As for tele-converter lens, there isn't really much need for them with your Z3's 400+ mm (35 MM equiv) focal length. If you need a really long lens there are 2x tele converters out there. Olympus makes a dandy one which I used on my old 3X optical zoom camera. You my need an additional adapter ring to make it fit the Z-3's adapter tube though.

[dwig]

One caution, avoid attachments where the rear optics protrude past the filter threads and into the adapter tube without first checking very, very, very carefully that the front of the camera's will not touch them at all zoom settings and at the closest focus settings. Contact could be fatal to the zoom and/or focus mechinism.

Very few attachments will pose this problem but over the years I've seem some that could. In general, the best quality is achieved by designing the attachment for a particular camera lens and having it fit closely to that lens. This results in some designs where the rear portions of the attachment sticks out behind the threads. Generic attachements made to fit a range of cameras generally avoid doing this to aviod problems. Camera specific attachments used on cameras other than their designed target should be carefully checked before use.