Posted by Angela McCain on November 20, 2011 at 7:43 PM
Does anyone ever combine their 500mm lens with a 1.7x (or even a 2.0)? I looked through dozens of images on the site, but never saw anything other than the 1.4x combination.
I tried it the first day of the 500mm, but the images were just slightly soft. Maybe with some magical setting changes it can be done? I would love to have 850mm of lens, but possibly that is only a dream.
Posted by Ed Cordes on November 20, 2011 at 8:39 PM
Are you shooting Canon or Nikon? Canon TCs are 1.4 and 2.0 Nikon has a 1.7. I am a Canon shooter and find my 500 F4 with either 1.4 or 2 X TC is excellent. As always expose correctly and AF correctly. BTW I use a 1D MK4 so it will AF at F8 which is needed with my 500 F4 and 2 X TC.
Posted by Angela McCain on November 20, 2011 at 10:55 PM
Nikon. And I have a D3 so speed is not as much an issue as sharpness. I have the newest 2x tc , the 20EIII.
Posted by David Graham on November 21, 2011 at 2:28 AM
When I first started using a 500mm f/8 Tamron mirror lens with a 2x t-extender I had the natural tendency to try to pull in image's from ridiculous distances..( 150 yds) .with justifiably ridiculous results....to call them "soft" would have been a gratuitous kindness. When I finally realized that I was risking severely straining the lens I started using it at much much closer targets...20 to 50 feet with excellent results....horrendous mirror lens Bokeh, but tack sharp eyes and plumage! And when focused on relatively close subjects I swear I can hear the lens utter a soft, relieved, "aaaaahh" !
Angela, I've gotten some sharp images with the Nikon 500mm + TC 2.0, but I can't rely on this combination. Don't know about the TC 20Elll but the ll was known to be a little soft with the 500-600mm lenses, besides slowing it down considerably.
The TC 1.4 is always ok on a 500mm (with decent light), and the TC 1.7 is almost always ok too.
I'd use the TC 1.7 or 2.0 on your 300 and the 1.7 or 1.4 on the 500.
Also, be sure the VR setting is in the "normal" mode for hand-holding, as opposed to the "tripod" mode.
Sandy
Posted by Jim DeWitt on November 21, 2011 at 2:43 AM
Sandy, I use an Olympus Zuiko 300mm (600mm effective) and a 2.0 teleconverter pretty much all the time, with the results you've seen here. I have found it depends on the individual lenses involved. When the 300mm was in the shop for repairs, Olympus gave me a loaner which was much less sharp with the 2.0TC. Really, though, there's no substitute for shooting highly detailed objects at 50-60 feet and seeing what you get.
Posted by Myer Bornstein on December 23, 2011 at 12:18 PM
I find that the 1.7 converter with my Nikon 500 gives excellent sharp pictures.the 2.0 III can be soft in low light
Discussion
6 repliesI tried it the first day of the 500mm, but the images were just slightly soft. Maybe with some magical setting changes it can be done? I would love to have 850mm of lens, but possibly that is only a dream.
Dave Graham
East River, SD
The TC 1.4 is always ok on a 500mm (with decent light), and the TC 1.7 is almost always ok too.
I'd use the TC 1.7 or 2.0 on your 300 and the 1.7 or 1.4 on the 500.
Also, be sure the VR setting is in the "normal" mode for hand-holding, as opposed to the "tripod" mode.
Sandy