Are telephoto lenses worth it?

I'm ready to finally purchase the Optura 400 this week and would like to buy Canon's 1.7x telephoto lens as well. Has anyone used a telephoto lens attachment? If so, to what extent does the video quality suffer? Any other issues? Are there any other brands that offer a better/bigger lens?

Thanks,

Ed

Congrats on your 400, don't forget to post your review after you've had time to play. I haven't used the telephoto lens on this cam, but I can tell you that in general the only way a telephoto lens would degrade the image is if the optics on the telephoto aren't as good as the original lenses. But since you're getting the Cannon, that should not be an issue.

I'm saving my nickles to buy the wide angle lense one of these days.

...but have a lot of experience with 35mm cameras.

Every 2X attachment I've ever used degraded the picture -- both color and sharpness. Some 2X concerters were really bad. A 2X Ricoh that I compared to a 2X Vivatar comes to mind. The Canon 2X converter was better, but cost almost as much as a 30-90 lens. I returned all three and bought Canon zoom lenses.

In fact, even the Canon telephoto lenses degrade the picture, but far less than the 2X converters. I own a Canon EF with a 1.4 50mm lens. I also have a Canon 30-90 mm and a Canon 100-200 mm zoom lens. I can tell the difference in color and sharpness between the zoom lens and the normal 50 mm lens.

Thanks for the responses, guys. I'm getting ready to place my order next Tuesday!