Consolidating Zoom Lenses

[kjohnson125]

I recently purchased a Nikon 80-200 (2.8) and a Tamron 200-500 (5-6.3). I like both lenses (and the range they give me) but I've been thinking about shedding the Tamron in place of a 1.4 or 2X teleconverter to use with the Nikon. If I understand teleconverters correctly, I will be in the same ballpark aperature with the Nikon plus a TC as I am with the Tamron. My main question has to do with image quality suffered by using the teleconverter. In general it seems that the popular opinion is to avoid the 2X teleconverters, but the 1.4 may be a good option. I'm not a pro, and am currently shooting a wide variety of styles while I try to learn about the hobby. Any opinions?

Thanks in advance!
Kevin

[Tom]

The 1.4x is going to give you a 112-280mm F4 lens.

Depends what you are trying to shoot so far away. One idea would be to rent a 1.4x, see how you like it and decide from there.

[ClintDMc]

if you use the Nikon teleconverter your image quality should not change to drastically, it will change because you are adding just more glass for the light to pass through, but not so much as to make the picture useless. the main issue with the converters is that you lose about a full stop of light with every 1x magnification. so a 2x will knock you down from a 5.6 to somewhere in the ball park of f/8ish or possibly even as much as f/11 depending on which lens you add it to.

[ualymerej]

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like the bokeh is not as attractive when I used a nikon 1.4x tc on my 70-200 vrII. That could just be the fact that the effective aperture went down to f/4, but my subject just didn't seem to pop as much. As for sharpness, it definitely has a slight softening, but I don't think it would be as soft as what you get from the tamron lens. which 80-200 f/2.8 did you get? AF may not work with a tc depending on which version of the lens you got.

[brewercm]

Originally Posted by ualymerej

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like the bokeh is not as attractive when I used a nikon 1.4x tc on my 70-200 vrII. That could just be the fact that the effective aperture went down to f/4, but my subject just didn't seem to pop as much. As for sharpness, it definitely has a slight softening, but I don't think it would be as soft as what you get from the tamron lens. which 80-200 f/2.8 did you get? AF may not work with a tc depending on which version of the lens you got.

Yep, just found this info out myself when looking at the lens. If you are using the AF-S version of the 80-200 the TC will work since the focus motor is in the lens. If you are using the AF ED it will not work in AF, you will only be able to use it with manual focus since that model uses the camera's AF screw.

[ualymerej]

are there any TC's that can do screw-driven AF? Pretty sure the only AF that can pass through TC's is AF-S.

[kjohnson125]

Yeas, I just found out the Nikon TC will only work on an AF-S, not the AF-D, which is what I have. I picked up a Kenko 2X today and tried it out. So far so good. Hard to tell, as I haven't tried it out in daylight much. It does meter and autofocus. I even threw it on the Tamron 200-500 for kicks and it autofocuses as well.

Kevin

[brewercm]

So the Kenko tubes have some sort of pass through AF mechanical screw for the 80-200 then? Just curious as I have the same lens on order.

[ualymerej]

Originally Posted by kjohnson125

Yeas, I just found out the Nikon TC will only work on an AF-S, not the AF-D, which is what I have. I picked up a Kenko 2X today and tried it out. So far so good. Hard to tell, as I haven't tried it out in daylight much. It does meter and autofocus. I even threw it on the Tamron 200-500 for kicks and it autofocuses as well.

Kevin

I stand corrected, guess it's just the current nikon TCs that only have AF-S. Now for a follow-up, can the Kenko TCs do AF-S? :P

[kjohnson125]

Yes, at least with my Tamron lens it does autofocus (in good light, that is...)

[brewercm]

Originally Posted by kjohnson125

Yes, at least with my Tamron lens it does autofocus (in good light, that is...)

So is it this little piece that I circled work as a pass through autofocus screw then?

[ClintDMc]

Yes that is the autofocus screw for a non cpu lens.

[brewercm]

Thanks, good info to know. I just bought the 80-200 2.8 AF-D model so if I ever decide I need anything further out than that will go I might have an option be it with restrictions. Of course I also have the Tamron 18-270 f3.5-6.3 blah blah blah, man they make their lens names long. Definiately not the same quality as the 80-200 but by the time I add the tube on they probably aren't much different other than a 1/3 of stop and who knows on IQ unless tested.

[kjohnson125]

If I get a chance tomorrow (in the daylight) I'll do my best attempt at some comparison shots of the 80-200 with the TC and the Tamron at 400mm.

KJ