Digital cameras 101

[randaaf]

Hi I have a sony dsc-v1 5 mega pixel digtal camera and am looking to get lenses for it wide anle ones I have found with numbers of .35 to .7 X and was wondering which is better the lower numbers or the higher numbers? Sony's lens is .7 and other brands are all over...anyone with thoughts please help thank you P.S. on the tele lenses out there how can I find out how they compare to the Sony lenses

[Deb]

Hi Randaaf and welcome to the Q&A Board!

As far as I can tell, your model camera is compatible with the Sony VCL-DEH07V Hi-grade Wide End Conversion Lens. This is a .7x magnification lens. What that means is that if you multiply .7 times 35mm you get the effective range of view of this adapter. So, .7x35mm=24.5mm, therefore the range of view in this case is comparable to a 24.5mm lens. That's pretty cool! The smaller the magnification number, the wider the range of view of the conversion lens.

As for quality of lens comparisons, I'd suggest doing a reviews search. Your particular camera has very good glass (very good built-in lens). The optics are swell so I'd go for a good conversion lens to compliment it.

Hope this helps,
Cheers.