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1.4x Teleconverter or D7000?

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bbbinohio

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I own a D700 and would like to get a little extra reach out of my lenses and I am wondering if I am better off buying a 1.4x teleconverter and losing a stop of light, or buying a D7000 with a 1.5x crop sensor?

What I am asking, is if it were you, what would YOU personally chose, and why?

Thanks!
Bob
 
Some lenses render really well on DX, so for serious wildlife/sport shooter the second camera (D90, D300 or D7000) would be the way to go. Macro in some cases renders better too - depends on subject and other factors.

I'd probably grab the 1.4II (at least initially) for reach, especially if combined with a friendly lens like 300/4, 70-200II...and several others. I haven't had a chance to compare images from D7000 vs FF w/1.4 on the lens (blowing them up to 100%), but from what I saw, the FF resullts appear to be v. clean.

Leswick
 
I cannot remember which one, but one of the Nikon teleconverters also give you autofocus on a huge range of Nikon manual focus lenses. Maybe somebody knows.
 
I have been going along the same thought process. I am waiting for the D800, I have mostly FX lenses (including a Sigma 100-300 fd). For the interim I have bought a D7000 (really happy with it) and intend to get a D800 when it is available. D7000 will then be used for walkabout with family with a 18-200 and for long lens duty at airshows, motor racing etc. I am hoping this will work out well. I struggle to believe that you will get better image quality out of a D700 with teleconverter than a D7000 shooting the same lens, plus you also lose a stop of light.
Just my $0.02

good luck
--
Mehdi

Fuji S5pro, Nikon D40x, Panasonic LX3, Panasonic TZ3, Nikon 18-200VR, Sigma 10-20 f4, 18-55 f2.8, 50-150 f2.8, 100-300 f4, SB600, SB50, Olympus XA, Fuji G690BW, Holga
 
There is additional option. Buy DX body (let say D90) AND 1.4TCII, you'll get 1.5 x 1.4 factor and from 300/4 you'll get FOV equivalent of 600/5.6. That's what wildlife photogs do.
 
Miro Bartánus said:
There is additional option. Buy DX body (let say D90) AND 1.4TCII, you'll get 1.5 x 1.4 factor and from 300/4 you'll get FOV equivalent of 600/5.6. That's what wildlife photogs do.
Click to expand...
That's a very good point also. You can always pop a 1.4x on a crop sensor camera and get over 2 times the focal length of an existing lens!

Good Point! :P
Bob
 
I'm probably right along side of you. I am hoping the D800 is what we all have been hoping for and then a nice D400 in a 1.5 crop would make an excellent tag team.

Thanks! :P
Bob
 
bbbinohio said:
I own a D700 and would like to get a little extra reach out of my lenses and I am wondering if I am better off buying a 1.4x teleconverter and losing a stop of light, or buying a D7000 with a 1.5x crop sensor?
Click to expand...
I could post some comparison samples (D3 vs D7000), if you'd like to suggest specific cases that are typical of the photography you want to do with that extra reach.

Anyhow - I have to ask - if you're focal-length limited at times, why don't you already own a TC-14?
 
Alex Booton said:
I cannot remember which one, but one of the Nikon teleconverters also give you autofocus on a huge range of Nikon manual focus lenses. Maybe somebody knows.
Click to expand...
--

The current Nikon Tele converters TC14E , TC17E, TC20E are designed to work on AF-S lenses only.

Many years ago, there was a TC16A from memory, and it would give a LIMITED Autofocus on a manual lens...... That goes way, way , way back and is not in production now

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/teleconverter/tc16a/index.htm

Regards Peter
 
Extra reach without losing quality:

I watched the Davis Cup tennis last weekend, I was so happy with the performance of my 70-200 f2.8VR1 + TC1.4 with D700+Battery Grip, Fast AF with 8fps was on top of its game. I also have with me a D7K cam +16-85mm f3.5VR (24-127.5mm) lens. when the subject is closer to my spot, D7K gets it, when speed is needed, D700+TC1.4 gets it. I realized that at the end of the 3-day event most of shots were taken by D700+70-200+TC1.4 combo. I have tried pairing my 70-200mm with D7K but I like the performance of my D700 with same lens for this type of event. That is 1.4vs1.5 reach factor. Both cams are okey, but D700 is intirely a different kind of animal. Extremely happy with it.
 
Hi -

I may be wrong but (say) a 200mm FX lens is just the same on a D7000 as a D700 ... except on the former you get a lot more (smaller) pixels in that central half-size DX area: so it just magically appears to be bigger.

Why not get the new Nikon 2x teleconverter and save yourself some space and a fair amount of money? Pushes a f2.8 lens to f5.6 but depth-of-field may not be so important as light-sensitivity.

Much as I loved my D300s, I don't miss it now I have a D700. Maybe I'm just sore at the cost of the transition, selling my DX camera & lenses to 'upgrade' !!

rgds

John

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
90% of good photography is just being there
 
Marianne Oelund said:
I could post some comparison samples (D3 vs D7000), if you'd like to suggest specific cases that are typical of the photography you want to do with that extra reach.
Click to expand...
Yes, that would be fantastic. Do you have the new 70-200mm f/2.8 ?

Anything longer?
Marianne Oelund said:
Anyhow - I have to ask - if you're focal-length limited at times, why don't you already own a TC-14?
Click to expand...
I am just too new to all of this and I am on a very tight budget.

Thanks! :P
Bob
 
The point I was trying to make about the teleconverter that gives autofocus on those manual focus lenses, is that you can buy those long lenses very cheaply, and the D700 lowlight capability will make up for the stop or two of light that you lose.
Anybody know which converter it is?
 
I could be wrong, but I have NEVER seen or heard of a Nikon TC (or any brand) that will convert a Manual Focus Lens to A.F. if that is what you are asking. Impossible IMHO.
Alex Booton said:
The point I was trying to make about the teleconverter that gives autofocus on those manual focus lenses, is that you can buy those long lenses very cheaply, and the D700 lowlight capability will make up for the stop or two of light that you lose.
Anybody know which converter it is?
Click to expand...
--



http://www.flickr.com/photos/22388579@N08/
 
Alex Booton said:
The point I was trying to make about the teleconverter that gives autofocus on those manual focus lenses, is that you can buy those long lenses very cheaply, and the D700 lowlight capability will make up for the stop or two of light that you lose.
Anybody know which converter it is?
Click to expand...
You can read about it here:

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/AFNikkor/F3AFlenses/tc16a/index.htm

It was only designed to work with the F3AF, an old film SLR from the 1980's.

Even if it worked on modern SLR's, it has a limited range and would not be very useful with telephoto lenses.

What strikes me as odd, is that Nikon never made any teleconverters that are compatible with "screw-drive" AF lenses. I used to have a Vivitar 1.5x TC with mechanical gear reduction, which worked rather well.
 
bbbinohio said:
Yes, that would be fantastic. Do you have the new 70-200mm f/2.8 ?
Click to expand...
Yes - in fact I use it primarily with the TC-14 on a D3s.
bbbinohio said:
Anything longer?
Click to expand...
400mm. I don't have any 300mm lenses except the Sigma 120-300, and it doesn't work with Nikon TCs.

Also, to make some useful samples for you, I need to know what ISO range, or what lighting level, you will be working with.
 
Alex Booton said:
The point I was trying to make about the teleconverter that gives autofocus on those manual focus lenses, is that you can buy those long lenses very cheaply, and the D700 lowlight capability will make up for the stop or two of light that you lose.
Anybody know which converter it is?
Click to expand...
With a TC-14-E II on a 70-200/2.8 VR II at 200 mm and a D700 you will be at f4 and 280 mm effective reach.

The D7000 with the same lens at 200 mm, f2.8 will have the effective reach of 300 mm x 1.15 (16 MP vs 12 MP) = 345 mm.

The FX combo will lose one stop of light so you are forced to use a one stop higher ISO speed. With the teleconverter you will lose some resolution (fine detail)especially at the edges and some minimal AF capability.
 
I shoot with a D3s on a AFS400/2,8 with a TC17 mostly for birds.

And I bought a D7000 which is awful used on the same combo, but on the AFS400/2,8 with no TC it is pretty ok.

But still I use the D3s-combo most of the times, since I have a better chance of nailing AF properly with that. And the D7000 does not have the same level of detail at 100% for naturephotos that I am used to from the D3s.

On the 70-200VR2 they perform a bit more evenly, but I would still go for the TC14 if I were you.

Unless video is a primary concern, for that the D7000 is amazing.
bbbinohio said:
I own a D700 and would like to get a little extra reach out of my lenses and I am wondering if I am better off buying a 1.4x teleconverter and losing a stop of light, or buying a D7000 with a 1.5x crop sensor?
Click to expand...
 
henne said:
And I bought a D7000 which is awful used on the same combo, but on the AFS400/2,8 with no TC it is pretty ok.

But still I use the D3s-combo most of the times, since I have a better chance of nailing AF properly with that. And the D7000 does not have the same level of detail at 100% for naturephotos that I am used to from the D3s.

On the 70-200VR2 they perform a bit more evenly, but I would still go for the TC14 if I were you.

Unless video is a primary concern, for that the D7000 is amazing.
bbbinohio said:
I own a D700 and would like to get a little extra reach out of my lenses and I am wondering if I am better off buying a 1.4x teleconverter and losing a stop of light, or buying a D7000 with a 1.5x crop sensor?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
If you get "awful" results with the D7000 it´s user error or bad focus accuracy. The D7000 give more not less detail than the D3s. You can not have done any side by side comparisons if you get inferior results with the D7000.

Look at this photographers results with the D7000 and 600/4 VR:

http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=294219
 
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