Teleconverters - Light loss and vignetting comparison

Had a chance today to do a light loss and vignetting test of a bunch
of teleconverters. Just some shots of a well lit white posterboard.
All were shot from the same spot with a tripod.
Apreture Priority f3.5
Spot Metering
I don't have the time right now to post the shutter speeds. This tells
a lot also. I'll post them sometime later.

This just gives a good qiuck look at how they all look under the same
circumstances.
http://www.fototime.com/ {EFDFE7F2-5031-4800-8F09-D969EE281C86} picture.JPG

dvt43 said:

Had a chance today to do a light loss and vignetting test of a bunch
of teleconverters. Just some shots of a well lit white posterboard.
All were shot from the same spot with a tripod.
Apreture Priority f3.5
Spot Metering
I don't have the time right now to post the shutter speeds. This tells
a lot also. I'll post them sometime later.

This just gives a good qiuck look at how they all look under the same
circumstances.
http://www.fototime.com/ {EFDFE7F2-5031-4800-8F09-D969EE281C86} picture.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry you didn't have a B-300 for the test. All of these were shot at the same full tele mode of the camera's lens. Some of them are terrible. --21oo, B-3oo3o4oJuli

Very interesting Dave. No surprises but nice to view and compare.
How about the b-300 alone? I didn't see it.

BTW , I think you are doing an extremely good job with your various lens testing. I really enjoy your posts,
JD

dvt43 said:

Had a chance today to do a light loss and vignetting test of a bunch
of teleconverters. Just some shots of a well lit white posterboard.
All were shot from the same spot with a tripod.
Apreture Priority f3.5
Spot Metering
I don't have the time right now to post the shutter speeds. This tells
a lot also. I'll post them sometime later.

This just gives a good qiuck look at how they all look under the same
circumstances.
http://www.fototime.com/ {EFDFE7F2-5031-4800-8F09-D969EE281C86} picture.JPG

Click to expand...

Great post!
It really demonsrates what vignetting is and how the lens perform.
Thanks.

The B-300 is there - scroll to the right.

Juli Valley said:

I'm sorry you didn't have a B-300 for the test. All of these were
shot at the same full tele mode of the camera's lens. Some of them
are terrible.

Click to expand...

Actually, it appears that he did have a B300 (the 8th and 11th samples were done with B300 and something else), but he didn't post any samples of the B300 alone. That would be interesting to see.

Juli Valley said:

I'm sorry you didn't have a B-300 for the test. All of these were
shot at the same full tele mode of the camera's lens. Some of them
are terrible.
--
21oo, B-3oo
3o4o
Juli

Click to expand...

--Mary

john D1 said:

Very interesting Dave. No surprises but nice to view and compare.
How about the b-300 alone? I didn't see it.
BTW , I think you are doing an extremely good job with your various
lens testing. I really enjoy your posts,
JD

Click to expand...

Open image in new window or scroll to see fourth column.

Toby

...for all your experimenting and posting results here...very informative...

...I believe the 300 alone is the shot in the 2nd row...last (4th) to the right...

...anyways...much appreciated...--...Happy Holidays to All!...and remember...'you may be a mile away, and have their shoes...but they won't like you very much'...newby

mwarner said:

Actually, it appears that he did have a B300 (the 8th and 11th
samples were done with B300 and something else), but he didn't post
any samples of the B300 alone. That would be interesting to see.

Click to expand...

I think he did after all. I keep my favorites posted at the left of the forum and missed it in the right hand column. It looked great alone. --21oo, B-3oo3o4oJuli

It seems some people might not see all the thumbnails depending
on their monitor resolution. It's 16 total in a grid 4x4 - you might have
to scroll around to see them all. The B300 is in there.

Anyway... The shutter speeds the camera chose tell a good bit too.

The E100 with no lenses attached was 1/400

The TL, TCON, and A-200 were 1/400 too.

All the C-series lenses dropped to 1/320.

The supprise was the B300 went to 1/320 also! This was just one
trial, and that might just be a glitch. I'll check some more on it.

The A-200 and B-300 stacked on the TL bouth stayed at 1/320.

All the C-Series stacked combinations dropped again to 1/250 -
except for the A-200 on the C-210 which got 1/320. That might
be another glitch.

It seems we just can't push much beyind the 1.7x of the B-300 without
paying a price in image quality. My favorite combo by far is the TL- B300

stack. It gies a good increase in power with a pretty tolerable hit in light loss.
Still not powerful enough for those far off bird shots, but I know I'll get
a lot of use for sports.

I know the longer combos will be getting used too. It seems pretty
easy to forgive the degrading image for the thrill of being able to see that
far at all.

I also got to do a series of shots outside today with all the combo's. I'll try to post
them here later.

Dave

Dave,

This is great stuff! And I know it's not easy work. Thanks.

Darrell

Dave,

Nicely done and very comprehensive! These projects tend to take on a life of their own, don't they? Oh, and I don't get quite the light loss with the C180/B300 that you did. I've also found that pumping in -EV gets the speed up in poor light and detail is easily recoverable in post processing.

Note: Your vignette fix definitely works. I should have mentioned that when I added to your post. I was urging you to experiment with the invert function on the subject too. Inverting a white layer does one thing, a black one another. I found it can even be used to precisely brush away magenta and green CA in color blend mode.
--Daff

Just another set of thumbnails to give an idea of the relative
magnification levels -

The same series of lenses and lens combinations with the
addition of a full wide angle shot to begin with, and a triple combo
shot at the end.
http://www.fototime.com/ {8212FB9F-F45F-4547-8AA6-D1BB0B8D7E8F} picture.JPG

dvt43 said:

Just another set of thumbnails to give an idea of the relative
magnification levels -

The same series of lenses and lens combinations with the
addition of a full wide angle shot to begin with, and a triple combo
shot at the end.
http://www.fototime.com/ {8212FB9F-F45F-4547-8AA6-D1BB0B8D7E8F} picture.JPG

Click to expand...

I'm glad I ordered the B-300. Thanks for these tests. --21oo, B-3oo3o4oJuli

Thanks for taking time to make those pictures.

I orderd just a C-210 to make a "killercombo" with my B-300 and now i know what to expect in matter of vignetting.

Best regards
M.Loren

dvt43 said:

Just another set of thumbnails to give an idea of the relative
magnification levels -

The same series of lenses and lens combinations with the
addition of a full wide angle shot to begin with, and a triple combo
shot at the end.
http://www.fototime.com/ {8212FB9F-F45F-4547-8AA6-D1BB0B8D7E8F} picture.JPG

Click to expand...

--M.Loren

Juli Valley said:

I'm glad I ordered the B-300. Thanks for these tests.
--
21oo, B-3oo
3o4o
Juli

Click to expand...

The B300 is the king of clear, fairly high power magnification.
I just wish someone would make a 2.5X that would work as
good. I just need more than the 1.7x sometimes. The TL
stack works quite well, so it aint all that bad.

Dave

WOW!

This is a spectacular set of comparison samples. I'm sure it has not
been done better anywhere. The cost in $$$ and time must have been
substantial, and we appreciate it.

I noticed the c-210, TL-46 and B-300 combo -- where will it all end??
That's one I'd also like to see a picture of. Does that take 2 to handle
the camera and the lens?

Great work.
Darrell

Dave,

No one, and I do mean no one, has ever put together this much info on stacking teleconverters! You've covered just about every combo imaginable and done it all at your own expense, both in money and time. I gotta say it, when it comes to T.C.'s: "You da man!"

I sincerely believe that you have the material for one heck of a magazine article. Add your "vignette fix" solution to the mix with some samples, and you'd have a very complete and marketable bit of work.

--Daff

Great job!

On the bare E100RS photo (nice of you to provide a benchmark!), do I see vignetting with nothing in front of the lens?

I think I now know why Canon's Pro90-IS, which uses the same lens as our E-100RS and C-2100 UZ, has a 55mm filter thread instead of a 49mm filter thread.

This also means that any filter is going to cause further vignetting. OK, so who makes an ultra-thin step up ring that will minimize further vignetting, say 49mm-55mm (so the Canon LH-DC58 lens hood for the Pro90-IS can be used).

Thanks again, and happy holidays,--- ArvedKF4UCQOly UZi Newbie

That is one super job Dave. It had to take a while and lots of $$$ for the collection of lenses. I think it is a pretty close call between the A-200 and TL46 and the A-200 and B-300 combos. Those two combinations seem to be very good. Like Daff said, you might try to sell an article from this to one of the photo magazines and let them pay for your lenses and trouble.
Thanks
The Smokester--www.pbase.com/smoke24/galleries

Daff said:

Dave,

Nicely done and very comprehensive! These projects tend to take on
a life of their own, don't they? Oh, and I don't get quite the
light loss with the C180/B300 that you did. I've also found that
pumping in -EV gets the speed up in poor light and detail is easily
recoverable in post processing.

Click to expand...

It is turning into more than I ever thought it would!
I doubt that the actual light loss you get would be any different than mine. I
think it just affects shots quite differently depending on the amount of light
you're working with. More is better. Outdoor shots with bright sunlight, and

the vignetting can really fade away. I think the actual light loss and vignetting

remains the same - it just not as apparent in the shot. Plus, of course, aperture
and focusing distance influence it too.
This is the first I have tried these lenses with spot metering. This also shows
the vignetting at it's worst. The further to the sides the metering extends, the
more it will try to brighten the shot. This can be good, but risk blowing out
the center of the shot. It wiil take a lot of experimenting to find the best way
to use these lenses in different conditions - keep all ideas and experiences
coming. The vignetting fix greatly changes the way we can use them too.
Lots of stuff to play around with!
And also, the thumbnail size also compresses and makes the vignetting
look more apparent.

Daff said:

Note: Your vignette fix definitely works. I should have mentioned
that when I added to your post. I was urging you to experiment with
the invert function on the subject too. Inverting a white layer
does one thing, a black one another. I found it can even be used to
precisely brush away magenta and green CA in color blend mode.

Click to expand...

I really appreciated your airbrushing ideas!
It does offer an amazing degree of controll with varying the shade of grey
you select.
Just had a few minutes to try out your CA fix, That works great too!

Thanks,

Dave

Daff said:

--
Daff

Click to expand...