80-200AFS + 1.7TC or 70-300VR?

I'm going on a trip next week and I was wanting to bring something that can get me near 300mm. I have both the 80-200AFS and the 70-300VR, but I don't have a TC for the 80-200 that can do better than the 70-300. I just tried out the 80-200 + kenko 1.4xTC (latest version) and at f/5.6 the 70-300 is better while at f/8 the 80-200+1.4Kenko TC is slightly better. At f/4 the 80-200+1.4xTC is pretty blurry at 100%.

I was wondering if I splurged for the Nikon 1.4xTC or 1.7xTC if the IQ would improve enough over the Kenko 1.4x to beat the 70-300VR AND how well the IQ would be wide open with either?

Anyone tried the 80-200AFS with either the 1.4x or 1.7x Nikon TCs? And if you have, do you have the 70-300VR and have compared the two?

Thanks -

John

For what it's worth I have an 80-200 AF-S and use it often with a TC-17E II. For me, the IQ of this combination is very good. It is a tad soft wide open, so I usually try to stop down by one-half to one stop.

I don't have any Kenko TCs or a 70-300VR so I can't give a direct comparison.

The disadvantage of the 80-200 + TC is clearly size and weight. I can and do hand hold it, but prefer a monopod or bean bag when shooting for any length of time.

Pouncer said:

For what it's worth I have an 80-200 AF-S and use it often with a TC-17E II. For me, the IQ of this combination is very good. It is a tad soft wide open, so I usually try to stop down by one-half to one stop.

I don't have any Kenko TCs or a 70-300VR so I can't give a direct comparison.

The disadvantage of the 80-200 + TC is clearly size and weight. I can and do hand hold it, but prefer a monopod or bean bag when shooting for any length of time.

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Thanks - Don't get me wrong - I love my 70-300VR in the 70-250 range and sometimes VR does come in handy. But when I want to shoot at f/4 I can't and for some reason some times 300mm gets really poor, other times it's pretty good and I can't figure out why (this seems to have happened in the last couple of months or so).

So I've been thinking of taking the 80-200AFS and throwing a 1.4 or 1.7 TC on it for when I need to have something longer on a week-long trip next week, but still have my f/2.8 capability if I need it - the sacrifice will be the weight.

Otherwise, if I bring the 70-300VR I'll probably want to bring the 180/2.8 and the 85/1.8 along as well and then my camera bag will start to get a bit full with my 16/3.5 AI and 50/1.8AF-D

I think I'll try one out tomorrow afternoon and perhaps rent a 1.4x or 1.7xTC for this trip ($10/day so it will cost me about $100 to rent it for my vacation).

Any other people with this lens + TC combo?

Thanks - John

I'm suprised you didn't like the Kenko 1.4x. I use that with a 70~200 VR and I prefered it to the 70~300 VR (now sold) and the Nikon 1.7x t.c. unless I really need the reach.

--
http://www.andrewsandersphotography.co.uk

jhinkey said:

So I've been thinking of taking the 80-200AFS and throwing a 1.4 or 1.7 TC on it for when I need to have something longer on a week-long trip next week, but still have my f/2.8 capability if I need it - the sacrifice will be the weight.

Otherwise, if I bring the 70-300VR I'll probably want to bring the 180/2.8 and the 85/1.8 along as well and then my camera bag will start to get a bit full with my 16/3.5 AI and 50/1.8AF-D

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I'm with you there. Last trip I took my 80-200 with a 1.7TC plus a 17-35 f/2.8 and a D300. I left at home several lenses including a 70-300ED, 35-70 f/2.8, 50 f/1.8, and 85 f/1.8. The weight was a bit much, but manageable with only two lenses and a TC. I've found with a DX body I can get away without any lens in the 35-70 range, when necessary.

I did a quick (and poor) test today while at the camera store for something else and I tried both the 1.4 and 1.7xTC from Nikon - I also tried my 1.4x Kenko and my 70-300VR.

I really needed a tripod as it was too gray of a day for hand-holding, but I was able to get some very acceptable images:

• The 1.7TC at 340mm f/8 was very usable - f/5.6 or lower was too dreamy.
• The 1.7TC at 310mm f/8 was much better
• The 1.7TC at 270mm f/8 was just as good as the 1.4TC at 280mm f/8

• The 1.4 TC at 280mm f/5.6 was very good and extremely good at f/8. F/4 was useable, but a bit dreamy.

• The 1.4 Kenko TC at 280mm f/5.6 was essentially tied with the Nikkor, but the Nikkor was better at f/8 AND the Nikkor was a bit better away from the center. At f/4 the Kenko was noticeably worse than the Nikkor at f/4.

Was any of these combinations better than just shooting the 70-300VR at 300mm: yes it was, although it appears my 70-300VR was back focusing for some reason.

To be more thorough, I'll go rent the TC1.4 and TC1.7 for an afternoon and lock everything down on my tripod, do remote release, CDAF, and mirror up.

Right now the 70-300VR looks like it only has the VR advantage (plus size/weight) when considering how to get to 300mm.

I'll probably be bringing the 70-300VR plus my 180/2.8 and 85/1.8 if I need low light capability.

Thanks for looking - John

Don't put a t.c. on the 70~300 VR. Horrible combination. Poor focus, poor IQ, very slow max aperture. Yuk.
--
http://www.andrewsandersphotography.co.uk

slimandy said:

Don't put a t.c. on the 70~300 VR. Horrible combination. Poor focus, poor IQ, very slow max aperture. Yuk.
--

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Uh, never suggested such a thing in this thread - I've tried it myself and it's just baaaad.

John

It's also a matter of the camera probably. I have the 80-200AFS and use it with the 1.4x Kenko, but on a Fuji S5@6MP. Wide open with the TC at f/4.0 it is only slightly dreamy, stopping down to f/4.8 pretty much removes the dreamyness and at f/5.6, it is very, very sharp. Stopping down to f/8 does not add much to detail if any at all. Performance at f/5.6 pretty much matches that of the lens without TC at f/4. If one is not going to crop afterwards and is targeting a 50% resize, wideopen with TC vs. stopped down is only visible by microcontrast, detail then is pretty much the same.

But this is at 6MP, so the sensor demand plays a role here as well.

Chris