The question is: what is the technical difference between a telephoto lens, a teleconverter, and a monocular?

I'm just about to upgrade to a CoolPix 990 (From a CoolPix 950) and I've decided while I'm at it I'd like to get some better magnification. Unfortunately, I'm a photography nit-wit, just moving from the "auto-everything" habit to playing with shutter/aperature priority etc.. I've only the most tenuous grasp on how magnification is actually expressed (in mm rather than a magnification factor). I've seen various promising options, a Kenko 8x32 monocular (looks like the most mag for the money), the Nikon 2x and 3x teleconverters, and some others.

I'd like to be a little more informed before I buy a lens. Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

//Thomas

-- Thomas K. Burkholder (burkhold@bossanova.com), May 05, 2000

Answers

A telephoto refers to a camera that has interchangeable lenses like an SLR, the telephoto is a lens with a higher magnifing power. A teleconverter is an add on lens that adds magnification to your lens. This is the case with most consumer digital cameras. A monocular is one half of a binocular. Sometimes these can be added with an adapter to your lens. You will get the best quality pictures with a teleconverter made specifically for your camera because the optics are designed to work together.

-- Ralph (REObert@aol.com), May 05, 2000.

For some reviews of monoculars complete with photos see www.steves-digicams.com The Eagle Eye looks very interesting, but the pricing looks like it should have Nikon optics... :-) I think Imaging Resource is/was going to do a review of it, as well. I'd enjoy seeing their reaction and typically exhaustive testing results before I bought one. Also check out the CKCpowers links for Kenko and other monocular related products.

The main things too look at, as far as I can tell, are lens distortion (barrel or pincushion), and image quality near the periphery of the images.

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@francomm.com), May 05, 2000.