Olympus WCON-08B 0.8X Wide Extension Lens for E-10

Wide-angle Lens Extension Corresponding to 28 mm on a 35 mm camera, this 0.8x wide-angle lens extension delivers a wider-field of coverage. Thanks to multi-coated elements, flare and ghost images are significantly reduced.

1 Get an external flash first !!!
The 0.8x may not sound like much, but it is significant. I find myself using this teleconverter more often than not, especially for indoors. Unlike the 1.45x and 3.0x teleconverters, you can actually use most of the main lense zoom adjustment with this teleconverter lense still on the camera (the 1.45x and 3.0x teleconverter will give you a vignette effect unless you are at maximum zoom).

As the picure shows, the buisness end of this lens is a lot wider than the built in lense on the E10 or E20N. It will block the built-in flash to some extent, and this will be more pronounced on close work. I have the FL40 external flash and it has worked beautifully in concert with the WCON-08B. The FL40 has been replace by the FL50 which I assume is at least on the same par.

My only gripe with the WCON-08B is the cheap lense cap that comes with it. It is sort of rubber and fits on over the lense barrel rather than clipping to the filter threads on the inside of the barrel. It is not tight enough to stay on.

2 Great glass, fast, but...
Olympus really did good with the atached lens for the E-10: fast, distortion-free, low-dispersion glass makes for great pictures. They do a pretty good job with this .8x wide-angle converter -- but just one gripe (later).

This converter is made for the E-10, and screws into the permanently-attached lens. It's another inpressive chunk of glass (like the attached lens, and the tele converters), using fully-coated low-dispersion elements to keep it fast and distortion-free. It looks heavier than it is, and it really doesn't unblance the camera with the converter attached.

So, my one gripe? This is a .8x converter, meaning that the E-10 lens's widest angle (35mm equiv) is converted to 28mm equivalent. This is not Earth-shattering; in fact, it's quite unimpressive. I wonder, since there are third-party manufacturers who make 62mm .7x and .6x converters, why Olympus didn't think this one a little further through and make a truly "wide angle" converter.

Still, 28mm is wider than 35mm, and it's a very good value for the quality you get in this converter. I recommend adding it to your stable of stuff for your E-10 [but I do hope Olympus is listening/reading, and thinking about coming out with a wider-angle converter].

3 Very nice stuff.
I believe this lens is made specifically for the Camedia E-10. It's threads have a 62mm diameter that attaches to the E-10 without an adapter. This is really an impressive piece of glass for the money - and it's fully coated. So large, it hardly reduces the speed of the base lens, and yet not so heavy that it disturbs the overall balance of the camera while it's on. I've used many extension lenses with other cameras and this rates among the best. Most extenders are really not worth bothering with because of the distortions they add. Using this extender with the E-10 is like using a 28mm lens on a 35mm format camera.

Oly comes through, again!