Olympus Stylus 1 Adapter Tube and Macro Conversion Lens

In this post, I'd like to discuss two accessories for the Olympus Stylus 1 (reviewed here): a clone of the CLA-13 adapter tube and a macro conversion lens.

CLA-13 Adapter Tube Clone

The Stylus 1 lens doesn't have threads for filters or other accessories.  However, it does have a threaded mount on the body, to which the supplied lens cap is attached.  You can also screw accessories onto the body mount, but because the lens protrudes during use, you need to have a tube to effectively extend the body mount out to the same length as the lens.  Olympus has two such adapter tubes: the CLA-13 for use with the TCON-17X teleconverter, and the CLA-14, for use with the WCON-08X wide angle converter.

Stylus 1 with adapter tube mounted

I don't have either the TCON-17X or WCON-08X but I did get a clone of the CLA-13 tube.  Other than being used with the TCON-17X, the CLA-13 is useful for attaching filters or accessories that have a 55mm size.

The clone I got is by Kiwi and is made of solid metal.  I attached it to the Stylus 1 without any issues. With the tube, I was able to mount a 55mm accessory without any issues either.  The tube itself does not result in any vignetting at any focal length, even 28mm.  At the opposite end, it is just slightly longer than the fully extended lens.



with lens fully extended

If you are looking for the CLA-13 adapture tube, and you want to save some money, you may want to consider the Kiwi adapter tube.  I'm pleased with mine.

Raynox Macro Conversion Lens DCR-250

One of the accessories that you can use with the Stylus 1 when you have an adapter tube is a macro conversion lens.  I got a 2.5x macro conversion lens from Raynox, the DCR-250.

The DCR-250 lens can fit on any lens with 43mm filter.  However, it also includes a snap-on mount that can fit the DCR-250 to a lens with a diameter anywhere from 52mm to 67mm.

The snap-on mount has spring loaded buttons that allow it to be clipped where filters would otherwise be attached.

The DCR-250 lens can also use filters itself, with a 49mm size.

When the DCR-250 is attached to the CLA-13 tube, the sides of the tube will be visible up to 100mm equivalent (3.6x zoom).  The DCR-250 shows maximum magnification at the longest focal length.  I don't know the exact macro ratio, but here are a couple of images of a $20 bill with and without the DCR-250.  The actual size of text shown is about 10 mm long.  Macro photography is not an area that I know a lot about, so I could be wrong but I estimate that without the DCR-250, the macro ratio of the Stylus 1 would be around 1:7.8 but because of the crop factor, it is similar to a full frame lens with a macro ratio of about 1:1.6.  With the DCR-250, the Stylus 1 macro ratio is around 1:2.17, although due to the crop factor, it is similar to a full frame lens with a ratio of 2.15:1.

Stylus 1 maximum macro ratio with Super Macro Mode; 9mm (42mm equivalent)

Stylus 1 with DCR-250; 64.3mm (300mm equivalent)

Here are some sample images, at "100mm" and at "300mm".  I only got these shots handheld without flash, so they are not fair for evaluating resolution per se (the $20 bill shot above is probably a fairer indication of the resolution).

100mm

300mm

100mm

300mm

100mm

300mm