Canon LAH-DC20 Conversion Lens Adapter (LA-DC58E) and Hood (LH-DC40) Set for the S5 IS, S3 IS & S2 IS Digital Camera

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

A must have, even without a converter lens.

This inexpensive kit is a must have item. It weighs less than an ounce in total, and allows you to use the full range of available 58 mm filters on your S2. At the very least, any camera owner would benefit from a basic UV filter to improve contrast in hazy conditions, and to protect the camera lens at all times. When you are shooting in super macro mode, the adapter and filter assembly come off of the camera with a push of a button. As the old line goes, if your camera lens never gets dirty, you never have to clean it, and it will never get scratched. The second bonus is that you can buy a quality circular polorizing filter, and be amazed at the improvement in contrast, and the reduction of glare they can make in many typical photos. Just to have the ability of the two above mentioned filters makes this accessory worth owning, but there is more...

The included 58 mm thread lens hood is very effective, and will mount directly on the adaptor, or on the last 58 mm filter you have attached to the adaptor. It is large enough that it makes a real difference in image quality when shooting under contitions likely to cause flare. When using the built in flash, you should remove it, as it is large enough to hide a portion of the flash energy. That's not a problem though, as the two situations are more likely to be mutualy exclusive than not. When you feel the need to have both at the same time, the Canon flash unit offered for the S2 works perfectly with the lens hood.

The last reason to buy this accessory is that Canon offers three converter lenses for the camera, and they require this converter to be in place. So far, I have the tele converter (simply an incredible value. I reviewed it on Amazon today), and the close up adapter that allows you to do macro work at max telephoto lens settings. My next purchase will be the wide angle converter, and if it works as well as the telephoto converter, it too will be a must have, as having a quality 27 mm lens on hand really makes a difference when you try to get a group shot in an indoor setting.

Anyway, the Canon converter lenses extend the useful range of photographic opportunity for the S2 owner, and your goal should be to buy at least the long and the short converter over time. Meanwhile, the adapter/hood combo is very cheap, and will serve you well even if you decide that the standard lens is all you ever need. Buy one for your camera, and buy another for the wide and tele converters when you get around to ordering them. Then, switching lenses is a simple push button operation with no threading involved.

(4 out of 5)

Good, but there is a better alternative.

I must agree with "Jim Krupnik" that your S2 IS needs a converter lens for 3 main reasons:
- Attaching external filters and tele/close-up/wide-angle lenses to your S2
- Protecting your camera lens
- Place that your hand can hold for more stable handheld shoot

However, there are reasons that make this set only a 4-star:
- They are black while the camera is silver (as "mechmonk" pointed out)
- They were made in plastics
- They only come in 58mm type, which means if you have old 52mm lenses, you will need to find an extra step-down ring

Moreover, there is a better alternative which is an adapter by Lensmate (search in google for this term). They offer adapters which do the same job without disadvantages stated above:
- They were made in high quality aluminum which is always better than plastic
- They are silver which matches your camera color
- There come in 2 types, 58mm and 52mm, so you don't need an extra step-down ring if you want to use 52mm lenses

I had hesitated a lot before choosing which one I want because Lensmate seems to make higher quality converter while this set is made by Canon, a big guy in the market. I did a lot of research on the internet and found out that Lensmate is actually a very well-known and reliable converter maker for producing high quality items. Photography-on-the-net (search in google for this term) is the largest community for Canon users and they have to admit that Lensmate converters are better than Canon's ones. Since I still had a feeling to have "everything Canon" is better, I bought 1 of each. And I must say I like the Lensmate's one better.

The bottom line is this set is very good; it serves you perfectly what it supposed to do. But there is a better one which is made by Lensmate.

(3 out of 5)

Sakar version

After reading the reviews here, I decided to instead buy the Sakar lens adapter for the Canon S2 from a local camera shop. It costs $13 and is made of silver-anodized aluminum, but otherwise works exactly the same as Canon's plastic adapter.

If you use filters a lot, you may as well keep the adapter installed on your camera all the time. If you do that, the camera will no longer fit in the Canon or Tamarac camera bags that people usually recommend for the S2. A nice bag that fits the S2 with the adapter installed is the LowePro Rezo TLC 10 which has the perfect width and height for the S2 with the adapter. The bag's depth is about 1 inch bigger, giving you some space for extra batteries or lens filters.

(5 out of 5)

My take on this vs Lens Mate adaptor

After reading the reviews here, I went to the lensmate website and two things became clear...

1) It makes a lot of sense for the adaptor that is going to be on the camera all the time to match the camera plus aluminum seems better than plastic. So I ordered a UV filter and the adaptor from Lensmate. These are very impressive and I can't recommend them enough. Also very fast shipment. I added a lens cap and it stays on the filter nicely.

2) The black Canon adaptor matches all of the lenses even if it doesn't match the camera. It would actually look better for the adaptor to match the lens in this case. From the sample photos on the Lensmate site, the Canon telephoto lens looks better than the others. Since they don't sell the Canon lens, I came back to Amazon and ordered the Canon adaptor and telephoto. Just got these today so haven't taken any pictures but assume they will match the quality from the Lensmate site. About the adaptor, it is plastic but looks well made. I had absolutely no problem mounting the lens to the adaptor or the adaptor to the camera, perfect fits.

In summary, this seems to be the best looking combination, time will tell how the 2 adaptors hold up. As for the lens hood, will probably throw it in a closet with the S2s original lens cap.

(3 out of 5)

Does What it's Supposed to...

You need to remove a ring from the front of the lens to install this. Don't lose the ring. You won't always want this on the camera. The adapter does not hook to the lens. It hooks to the camera and the lense moves inside it. As a result it's longer than the lens and a bit bulky. A standard case will not fit over it. This unit is best when you intend to keep the camera in a camera/gadget bag. It holds lens adapters and filters nicely. If you intend to leave the adapter on the camera, get a 58mm lens cap. The standard one won't fit. By the way, you may want to forgo the wide angle adapter. The camera software does a great job of photo stitching. you can get the equivilent of wide angle without the distortion.