Advice for teleconverter with 28-300mm on D800e

Photo Geezer · Nov 17, 2013

Has anyone tried a teleconverter with this lens? Which one is recommended (if any). I was hoping to do some wildlife images at the local zoo and would like some extra reach.

Thanks for the help.

Bill G

Photo Geezer

KennyXL · Nov 17, 2013

Photo Geezer said:
Has anyone tried a teleconverter with this lens? Which one is recommended (if any). I was hoping to do some wildlife images at the local zoo and would like some extra reach.

Thanks for the help.

Bill G

Photo Geezer

It's soft at 300 without a tc and more so with a tc. 1.4 is noticeable; 2.0 is awful. You're better off just cropping.

slimandy · Nov 17, 2013

I wouldn't use a t.c. on any slow variable aperture zoom (not again anyway). The compromise on focussing and IQ is a step too far.

wornish · Nov 18, 2013

I don't think any Nikon teleconverter is officially supported on the 28-300mm there is a danger of damage to the rear lens.

InTheMist · Nov 18, 2013

It won't work with any official teleconverters.

I'm an enthusiastic user of the 28-300, but it's already marginal at 300, I wouldn't want any more loss in quality when using non-Nikon TCs.

Photo Geezer · Nov 18, 2013

Thanks for the great advice. I am going to take the TCs off of my Xmas list and start looking for a good prime. Are there any affordable choices for shooting at the zoo that you have used?

Thanks

Bill G

InTheMist · Nov 19, 2013

Photo Geezer said:
Thanks for the great advice. I am going to take the TCs off of my Xmas list and start looking for a good prime. Are there any affordable choices for shooting at the zoo that you have used?

Well, I got the 300 f2.8 and a couple TCs but it's overkill for me.

If I had to do it all over again, I would take the 80-400 and just enjoy.

paulski66 · Nov 19, 2013

Good luck with that...

joejack951 · Nov 19, 2013

paulski66 said:
Good luck with that...

Yeah, you might want to look at some of the long Sigma zooms like the 150-500 and the 50-500, depending on your budget. I'm guessing that the new Nikon 80-400 is more than you want to spend at around $2700. A 300/4 plus 1.4X TC gets you to 400mm f/5.6 and good quality for not too much money (~$1500), but you'll likely want at least a monopod to steady the camera with that combination.

KennyXL · Nov 19, 2013

Photo Geezer said:
Thanks for the great advice. I am going to take the TCs off of my Xmas list and start looking for a good prime. Are there any affordable choices for shooting at the zoo that you have used?

Thanks

Bill G

Photo Geezer · Nov 19, 2013

KennyXL said:
You could get the Nikon 85mm f/1.8 G AF-S lens and crop to taste. It is generally regarded to be exceedingly sharp, but if you absolutely cannot stand any chromatic aberration, you'll probably have to take it out in Lightroom (which is a truly trivial thing to do if you are into post-processing). It's not the fastest focusing lens, but it's not the slowest either. The best part is you can get it used for about the the same cost as a new Nikon-branded teleconverter. I have one and I'm in the process of selling it since I bought the Sigma 85mm f/1.4. The Nikon is sharper at f/1.8 than the Sigma at f/1.8, but I have the flexibility of that extra light if I really need it.

RE Kenny's suggestion, I went out and tried my 135mm F2 DC lens today and compared 100% crops to the 28-300mm shot at various zoomed focal lengths. I "peeped" at comparisons of 135mm, 200mm and 300mm and I was shocked at the quality of the prime over the zoom. The 135mm is blazingly sharp when stopped down to 2.8 or smaller and maybe it could stand up to a TC and cropping as Kenny suggested even without the TC. I will post these results if you like.

The new Nikon is a bit rich for me at $2700, but if that is the correct tool that I need I will save up for it for next year. I bought my D800e from BH and they included a monopod as a freebee and I am using it a lot.

Tourlou · Nov 19, 2013

You can get a Reflex Nikkor C for $350 on e-bay and they are very capable lenses. Elce, you can get a MTO 3M-5CA which is very sharp and cheaper (but slower). If you're ready to spend more, there's the Tamron 200-600 and the Sigma 50-500 or 150-500. If you got for the 50-500, be sure to purchase the last version as the original one was not a very good lens.

KennyXL · Nov 20, 2013

Tourlou said:
You can get a Reflex Nikkor C for $350 on e-bay and they are very capable lenses. Elce, you can get a MTO 3M-5CA which is very sharp and cheaper (but slower). If you're ready to spend more, there's the Tamron 200-600 and the Sigma 50-500 or 150-500. If you got for the 50-500, be sure to purchase the last version as the original one was not a very good lens.

I've heard some less-than-complimentary things about reflex lenses. Among the criticisms that seem to be universal are their lack of sharpness, difficult to focus accurately, and lack of contrast. Post-processing helps, I'm sure, but since those are the most glaring of even more criticisms, I think he might want to avoid that lens especially since zoo animals don't tend to stay in one place for long unless they're sleeping. Focus with a tricky reflex lens would be a hair-pulling chore in that situation.

Tourlou · Nov 20, 2013

You said you heard things about catadioptric lenses... Fine, I owned 6 and still got 3. Actually, still got the 3 last ones in the folloiwng list:

- Soligor 300 f/5.6: overpriced piece of junk.

- Samyang 500 F/8: cheap, very hard to focus and low contrast and very slow. Better for macro work.

- Samyang 500 f/6.3: cheap, very hard to focus, low contrast but capable of achiving good results.

- LZOS MTO 3M-5CA 500 f/8: available on e-bay, very sharp, good focus, good contrast.

- Reflex Nikkor 500 f/8: available on e-bay, very sharp, good focus, good contrast, more a T/8 than a f/8 (faster)

- LZOS MTO 11 1000 f/10: available on e-bay, sharp, good focus, OK contrast but a monster to use, very limited use.

It's true though that catadioptrics are not for the average happy snapper. You must learn to use them and be ready to have a 25% keeper rate. On the other hand, they're very handy. They are light, less expensive and they focus at very close distance (for long lenses). Plus, chromatic aberrations are totally absent. Depth of field is very shallow and you have donut bokeh... that I like a lot! If you want a high keeper rate, get a Sigma 50-500. The latest version is very capable.

Leonard Shepherd · Nov 21, 2013

I would have thought the main reason for owning a D800e is to get top optical quality.

While the 28-300 is a good all round lens for the money it would definitely not be my first choice for top optical quality at 300mm on a D800e, and less so with a converter.

That said if it is all your budget currently allows my experience is, with good long lens technique you should get less loss of quality with a converter than cropping the D800e file size to 9 MP - which is the cropping equivalent of using a 2x converter.

http://www.naturephotographers.net/ejp0801-1.html

Nikon AF converters do not fit so you are restricted to Kenko which, although good for the money, are generally accepted as not quite the equal of Nikon.

Nikon's MTF show the recent 80-400 AF-s at 400mm as slightly ahead of the 70-300 VR at 300 mm. My 80-400 AF-s at 400 mm without a converter gives better image quality compared to the 70-300 with Kenko 1.4.

The 80-400 AF-s has better VR and focusses faster - but with the 14e to get 560 mm equivalent costs about 10 times more than a Kenko 2x for 600mm equivalent your current zoom.

--
Leonard Shepherd
Many problems turn out to be a lack of intimate knowledge as to how to get the best out of modern and often complex camera equipment.

Photo Geezer · Nov 21, 2013

Leonard Shepherd said:
I would have thought the main reason for owning a D800e is to get top optical quality.

While the 28-300 is a good all round lens for the money it would definitely not be my first choice for top optical quality at 300mm on a D800e, and less so with a converter.

That said if it is all your budget currently allows my experience is, with good long lens technique you should get less loss of quality with a converter than cropping the D800e file size to 9 MP - which is the cropping equivalent of using a 2x converter.

http://www.naturephotographers.net/ejp0801-1.html

Nikon AF converters do not fit so you are restricted to Kenko which, although good for the money, are generally accepted as not quite the equal of Nikon.

Nikon's MTF show the recent 80-400 AF-s at 400mm as slightly ahead of the 70-300 VR at 300 mm. My 80-400 AF-s at 400 mm without a converter gives better image quality compared to the 70-300 with Kenko 1.4.

The 80-400 AF-s has better VR and focusses faster - but with the 14e to get 560 mm equivalent costs about 10 times more than a Kenko 2x for 600mm equivalent your current zoom.

Search

Advice for teleconverter with 28-300mm on D800e

Photo Geezer

Leading Member

KennyXL

Leading Member

slimandy

Forum Pro

wornish

Well-known member

InTheMist

Senior Member

Photo Geezer

Leading Member

InTheMist

Senior Member

paulski66

Senior Member

joejack951

Senior Member

KennyXL

Leading Member

Photo Geezer

Leading Member

Tourlou

Senior Member

KennyXL

Leading Member

Tourlou

Senior Member

Leonard Shepherd

Forum Pro

Photo Geezer

Leading Member

Similar threads

Keyboard shortcuts