Adding telephoto converter onto 16 IS II
 

Hello,

I am new to this forum and just starting to plant my feet into the xl1s.

My question is regarding adding a telephoto converter to the 16 IS II lens. The lens I purchased is a 2x telephoto converter made by Digital Optics. It's a 62mm converter, so naturally it is made for a 62mm ring adapter which allows it to screw onto the 72 mm 16 IS II.

The problem I am having is that after I screw the telephoto converter into the 62mm ring (which is made by Bower) and then screw the lens/ring onto the 16 IS II and look through the viewfinder, I no longer am able to see the full field of vision that I should be able to; it becomes like looking through a telescope, where there is a black ring surrounding the image, or as if I closed the iris down. I don't know if I am explaning myself correctly; the best example I can give is that it looks like the end of a Looney Toons episode where the image is slowly swallowed out-to-in by a black circle and there is only a hole of in the middle where Porky Pig sticks his head out and says "That's all folks!" (wow...I just destroyed my future credibility on this forum =/)

Anyway, I would appreciate it if someone coudl tell me if I am simply attaching the converter on wrong, or if maybe the converter I bought simply isn't compatible with the 16 IS II (which shouldn't be the case...).

Also, I am wondering if, since zooming in changes the focal length of a lens, if zooming in with the 16 II IS would be the same thing as using a telephoto lens (i.e. if I would have the same picture quality if I adjusted the focal length of my lens by zooming in as opposed to actually adding a telephoto converter).

You can expect mechanical vignetting (the darkened corners you discribed) when you are attaching smaller adapters to your lens; get a 72mm and toss the step ring.

Th-th-th-that's All, Folks!

Thanks for responding...

So, do you mean I have to get a 72mm lens in order not to have the mechanical vignetting and that I can't use the 62mm converter to get the full picture?

Or, do you mean I need a 72mm ring that's compatible with the telephoto converter?

even just matching the thread size on the lenses won't guarantee against vignetting, but the 72MM telephoto from digital optics will work with the standard xl1s lens.