Samples of iZoom and Oly 1.7x teleconverter on nx300, 50-200mm lens

I am a birder, and though I love my nx300, the 200mm lens doesn't get me close enough. I sold my lumix fz150 (superzoom bridge) to get the nx300, as I wanted higher quality landscapes, which I am now getting, but I miss the zoom. I have toyed with the idea of getting a converter mount and a 400mm vintage lens (such as a soligor 400m F6.3 with tmount) but am assuming they can't be used handheld (is that correct?) because, realistically, as I go traipsing around in the woods, I just can't see me carrying a tripod.

I am not interested in magazine cover shots, just bird identification shots, and it was to this end that I did this little experiment. I am an amateur, so I hope I have done this correctly. I wanted to test whether or not it was worthwhile carrying around (and taking off and on) the little lightweight olympus c-180 1.7x teleconverter that I paid less than 10.00 for from ebay. This is the kind that screws on the front of the 200mm lens (and conveniently has a 52mm thread)

I don't have a stuffed bird, so I took my trusty monkey outside 60 feet from a tripod (that's about how close a warbler will let you get, without wearing camouflage (you, not the warbler))

All shots where AWB, f 5.6, 100 iso. With the exception of the first shot, they were all cropped to 1000 by 1000 pixels.

For better comparison if you are in to that, the originals are at https://www.dropbox.com/sc/srjjhpmhi937qp3/SfloH_x5qQ

I realize that these are kind of ugly shots, noon on an overcast winter day, with little color and a faded monkey, but hey, that's what I have right now.

The first shot is with the full 200mm zoom (see how far away little monkey is at 60 feet?)

60ft, 200mm AWB, F 5.6, iso 100, 1/320 sec

Below is the above photo cropped to 1000 x 1000 pixels, as will be the rest of the photos in my little monkey test.

original cropped

Next is the izoom at 2x

iZoom 2x 60ft, 200mm AWB, F 5.6, iso 100, 1/320 sec

Interestingly, if you pixel peep, you will see that the iZoom (which everyone agrees is just a crop) is actually (in my imagination?) a wee bit sharper than the manual crop of the full shot, and shows a bit more detail. I have repeated this numerous times, and each time this seems to be the case, I don't exactly understand why, but if you are after a bird in the distant bush, you are probably going to crop anyway, and you might as well use the izoom, because it allows you to see a bigger and better image of what you are shooting at, as it it will be enlarged in the viewfinder, and that can make a big difference in getting a distant shot, or waiting on the right pose.

olympus c180 1.7x converter F 5.6, iso 100, 1/125 sec

Next up is the olympus c-180 1.7x teleconverter (screwed on to the end of the 50-200mm lens) You can see that you have gained some distance, and added a bit of chromatic aberration, and lost a bit of shutter speed, but not bad, and can be really helpful for details on birds, and seeing what you are shooting at.

1.7x converter AND 2x iZoom F 5.6, iso 100, 1/125 sec

And lastly,  and most interesting to me of all, here is the crop of the 1.7x converter combined with the 2x izoom. I am not sure why the izoom clears things up in combination with the teleconverter, but it does, and certainly makes it easier to focus on the bird and get necessary details you need for identification purposes.

I hope this is helpful to someone, but mostly, I hope that samsung comes out with a longer nx lens!!