Advice please for Canon A40 telephoto lens

Hi everyone. I'd like to buy a 2x-3x lens for my Canon A40. On Ebay there
are a few non-Canon brands for cheapish prices. Some are:

Opteka
Digital Optics
and Bower

these run about 40-50 bucks for for 2 or 2.5x . Would any of these lenses
provide good photo quality, or would I be wasting my money if I'm concerned
about good pictures.

Also, Kendo and Canon lenses run about $100-$120. Do these snap-on lenses
work very well, or do they degrade quality also? BTW, I won't be able to
afford a digital SLR for quite a while, so I'll need to improvise until
then.

Thanks VERY much. Brian.

 

Brian,
can't speak about the quality of the other bards but you generally
get what you pay for when it comes to optics.

I have the Canon 2.4x teleconverter & have used it several times on both
my A40 & A70 cameras with no complaints at all. This lens does not "snap
on" it screws onto a plastic 52mm lens adapter that Canon also makes & will
cost between $15 to $20 USD. This adapter has the added benefits of
allowing you to use 52mm filters & it adds physical protection for the lens
which protrudes when in operation.

As for the optical quality, I can't imagine a cheaper lens converter
would work as well as the Canon 2.4x teleconverter does. If the Ebay price
you mentioned for the Canon lens is for the 2.4x teleconverter, I would pass
& because it can be had new from reputable on-line merchants such as B&H for
less than $100 USD:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=248561&is=REG

Respectfully, DHB

 

Wow, thank you very much for the info and link DHB... couldn't ask for more.
I'll go ahead and pic that lens up from B&H. Brian.