Nikon Tele-converters

bland

@Beso ...... those are actually huge trees about 1/2 mile away, that's why the effect showed that way in the DOF. It was also really hot and humid that day which added to the blurry effect.

Msmoto

I agree about the greenery...I have never seen this with the same combination...an optical artifact as a result of distance is my guess.

framer

I hope I didn't missed this in my reading this thread. The DOF will be less w/70-200+TC2III than with a 400. In close, taking bird photos, can make or break the image.

framer

proudgeek

I'd like to resurrect this to ask a question about using TCs. I'm going out next week and taking a 300mm f/2.8 along with a TC1.7 (which I've never used before), effectively giving me a 510mm f/4.5 if my calculations are correct. My question is this: I tend to shoot in aperture priority. Will the camera know that my maximum aperture is 4.5? Or do I have to open it up to 2.8 in order to achieve an aperture of 4.5? I know that my D90 won't autofocus stopped down further than f/5.6, but if it's bright and I want to shoot at f/8+, I don't have to worry about that right? The camera will open up the aperture to whatever it needs to autofocus, then actually shoot at the chosen aperture. Conversely, if I shoot in shutter priority, will I be somehow prevented from choosing a shutter speed that the aperture cannot open to if I'm using a constant ISO (i.e. If I want to shoot at 1/1000s, but that requires f/2.8, which is available without the TC but not with it, what will happen)?

sevencrossing

The camera will alway focus wide open then stop down to shoot
it "knows " you have added a TC and will automatically compensate
if you set the shutter too high it will underexposed, unless you set auto ISO

haroldp

@Msmoto,
I looked at the image and will concur that the D4 has far better high ISO performance than the D800. The image is quite noisy though and not something I would want to print in any large size. It may be okay in a 4 X 6 print but I think anything larger would show the noise as image degredation. I would expect considerable noise at ISO 10000 and there is quite a bit but the D4 is impressive at that effective film speed. Some of the noise can be removed but noise removal also decreases sharpness. While I have done some reading on noise, pixels, pixel pitch, and pixel density, I do not intend to become a technological expert nor do I want to. My guess is the D4 handles higher ISO values better than the D800 due to pixel density, pitch, size, etc., but it could also have to do with how the light each pixel receives is processed. I only want to be technologically proficient to the degree necessary to properly use the equipment to extract the best image possible under the circumstances. I would rather spend my time concentrating on composition, lighting, framing, and execution.

If you downres the D800 images to 12 mp, you get a noise signature that looks very much like a D3s or D4 up to about ISO 6400 which I use regularly this way. This actually preserves more detail to my eyes than classic' 'noise reduction' techniques.

I trued this based on Thom Hogan's article and decided not to order a D4 since I do not need high frame rates.

... H

blackfox

oops

blackfox

as a wildlife photographer i tend to like being able to shoot on the run as it were ,i don't particuarly like the idea of being in a hide for hours waiting for the target ,i would rather go "walk about" and use my skills to nail a shot that way ,this restricts my gear to allow for weight,useability ,and sharpness so my main gear consists of a d300s body ,a d7000 body (the wife mostly uses that these days) a 300mm f4-afs ,and i couple this lens with a kenko dg300 1.4 t.c and a nikon 1.7tc . this gives me sufficient speed of a/f and lightness to lock on to birds in flight easily ,around 98% of my work is hand held with very little use of a tripod .
this combo gives me 300mm,420mm,500mm in whatever combo i choose and the close focus switch on the lens turns it into a very good 500mm pseudo macro in the summer for insects and butterflies ,you can see lots of my work with this combo here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31671466@N07/

hope this helps

bland

@blackfox ... nice shots using the tc's.

Msmoto

Just a note....when using TC's, if the body has AF Fine Tune, this can improve things greatly IMO.

proudgeek

Yeah, no fine tune on a D90. One more reason to upgrade I guess.