Buying different lenses for your Powershot.

[sublime]

I see that the Powershot a70 allows you three different lenses, but they're all over 100 bucks. Is the a70 too low end to be worth upgrading with different lenses - meaning would it just be better to buy a better camera instead, or is it good enough to justify purchasing different lenses?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

The add-on lenses aren't upgrades. They merely extend the capabilities of the built-in lens.

[sublime]

The add-on lenses aren't upgrades. They merely extend the capabilities of the built-in lens.

That's considered an upgrade in my book. But the question still remains whether it would be practical to extend the capabilities of this built in lens or simply buy another camera that already does that.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Well, the convertors do a decent job, so it's just a matter of you needing the upgrade, and if the upgrade is good enough.

[backpackerx]

Even an "upgraded" camera usually won't have all the features that a specialty lens has. To date I know of no lens that is great for wide angle and decent telephoto. In my book that would have to be the equivelent to a 19mm to 200mm zoom lens and you won't find that. That's the reason nearly every decent camera has several lens options.

If you only need telephoto then either a new camera with a better built in zoom or your current A70 with a better zoom would be about the same if the upgraded camera was also 3 Megapixels. Image quality is about 2 things, the image sensor (size and quality) and even more important, the lens. The only way a new camera might be better than the canon with an accessory lens would be if it had more megapixels.

But, if you want true wide angle then you almost always have to have 2 lenses.