What is the best way to Get to 500mm plus+

Mark53 said:

puddleduck said:

Nikkor 300mm f/4 AF-S + Kenko 1.4x TC.

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With any great Nikkor, why would you resort to a Kenko TC?

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Yeah, and the Kenko 1.4x would only get you to 420mm anyway

Use a Nikon TC-17EII on the 300 f/4 AF-S.

Cheers

Mike

No one mentioning the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 plus 2x?

You are worrying me - I had just decided to get this set up to achieve the plus 500mm....

Rick
--

Is it better to capture the moment imperfectly than not to capture it all? Hope so because most of mine are imperfect!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivertay/

Sigma 300 F/2.8 + DG 1.4 TC, a bit soft wide open (F/4 with TC) but pick sharpness soon @ F5.6+

El Taino said:

Sigma 300 F/2.8 + DG 1.4 TC, a bit soft wide open (F/4 with TC) but
pick sharpness soon @ F5.6+

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How did you get that "bizarre" bokeh in the first shot. It's very interesting. That's not the way the lens captured it originally, was it?

From someone who has in the past taped a £10 8x monocular to the front of a Canon Powershot A80 and taken pictures with it, I would tend to go with the concensus of 300/2.8 and 1.7xTC.
However, I was impressed with those pics of the 300/4 and TC.

The 300/2.8 Nikkor has the straightest flattest MTF's I've ever seen, but I'm still not convinced that counts for much.

There is also the Bigma, but with your "impressive" starter kit and apparent wallet size, I may be inclined to sell your 17-55, buy an 18-70, sell the 70-200, take your 2-3k and put it all towards the 400/2.8.
On DX, what have you got?
600mm f/2.8
840mm f/4
1020mm f/4.8
1200mm f/5.6
And all with AF.
And remember, Canon used to sell a 1200mm f/5.6. $110,000 as I recall!

I have the same problem and am now looking at the Canon 500 or 600 with IS. Of course it means getting a 30D or better :-(. Wish Nikon would bring out a 600VR!

I currently use a 200-400VR with 1.4TC. The 1.7 softens the image too much. I also have a 80-400VR as a walkaround lens for when the 200-400VR is just too heavy.

My wife uses a Sigma 50-500 which can be plenty sharp. Better than the 80-400, but not as good as the 200-400/1.4 combo. Lacks VR though.

If you are looking at always using a beanbag or tripod, the 50-500 can be pretty sharp. Even handheld it can perform:

Have you tried one?

Its as good as a Nikkor 1.4x and 1/3 the price here in the UK.

--
-Andy

Yes, the 1.7x TC works well, which I also have!







Not sure why I mentioned the Kenko 1.4x (its an excellent TC) but only goes to 420!

(The Kenko is very good though!)

--
-Andy

A Tamron 200-500
--
Nikon D80, 18-200 VR, Tamron 200-500, Nikon 50mm1.8, Nikon 6T, SB600

Mark53 said:

El Taino said:

Sigma 300 F/2.8 + DG 1.4 TC, a bit soft wide open (F/4 with TC) but
pick sharpness soon @ F5.6+

Click to expand...

How did you get that "bizarre" bokeh in the first shot. It's very
interesting. That's not the way the lens captured it originally,
was it?

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Thanks Mark, I took that picture a few days ago with the 300 + 1.4 TC. It looks very weird indeed. Because there where so many twigs (even barb wire) in the foreground and background, I believe that by telephoto compression looks that way. It is straight from the camera in RAW, just a few color corrections in NX and CS2.