Teleconverter?

jamism

In the market for a teleconverter and dont really know much about them. any suggestions/helpful info :dunno. thanks much.:D

pathfinder

Here are five links quickly gathered via the search tool here on dgrin, or on Google.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=29604&highlight=teleconverters

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=31741&highlight=teleconverters

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=30140&highlight=teleconverters

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=43529&highlight=teleconverters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleconverter


The short answer is that TCs work better with good prime lenses than they do with cheaper zooms. I think OEM TCs are slightly better than non-OEMs, but I will probably get flamed for this opinion

The 1.4x costs one full f stop of aperture, and the 2x costs 2 f stops of aperture. The result is that the 2x can hardly be used on any lens that is not near f2.8 to start with.

I use the Canon 1.4 and the 2x TCs on great Canon L telephotos and they give good results. Some posters will show that you can use TCs with better zoom lenses also, but I think this does show up in the image quality to a degree.

Tell us what your camera system is, and what you want to do with TCs, and other posters will probably chime in.

jamism

well i was out the other day, with my D70, and saw a few big herds of elk, there were maybe 100+ elk. so i pulled out my camera with the 70-300mm (f/4) and my lens didnt have quite enough "umph". so i thought i would look in to getting a telleconverter but was not sure what all the technical aspects and such were. thanks for your coment by the way.

ballentphoto

jamism wrote:

well i was out the other day, with my D70, and saw a few big herds of elk, there were maybe 100+ elk. so i pulled out my camera with the 70-300mm (f/4) and my lens didnt have quite enough "umph". so i thought i would look in to getting a telleconverter but was not sure what all the technical aspects and such were. thanks for your coment by the way.

Since you are using Nikon there is also a Nikon 1.7x TC that gets you for 1.5 stops. Double check that it is compatible with what ever lens you want to use it with... Some lenses do not play nice with TC.

Hawkwind

jamism wrote:

well i was out the other day, with my D70, and saw a few big herds of elk, there were maybe 100+ elk. so i pulled out my camera with the 70-300mm (f/4) and my lens didnt have quite enough "umph". so i thought i would look in to getting a telleconverter but was not sure what all the technical aspects and such were. thanks for your coment by the way.

70-300mm f4?

Unless it's a Nikon AF-S lens or a Sigma HSM type, you will not be able to use Nikon's own current teleconverters (With a Sigma HSM, you'll need to modify a current Nikon teleconverter to fit).

Best bet is a Kenko Pro300 1.4x, you should get Autofocus with this, albeit a little bit sluggish, in most cases manual focus will be a better option than unreliable AF.

A 2x needs the very best glass in front of it, preferrably a prime lens... and even then, 2x is a bit of an optical compromise. Autofocus will be effectively dead with a 2x on a f5.6 lens.

Remember, with the increased focal length, you will need solid support or faster shutter-speeds (and you will have lost at least one f-stop of light by adding the teleconverter)

cheers,
Andy