Necessity of a Teleconverter

[trapper12]

Hi all just wanted to pick the brains of all you photographers out there,i was just wondering if a teleconverter was a necessary piece to add to my bag,i recently posted about if getting a Nikon 200-500mm lens was still viable today as i have a tamron 150-600mm g1 but wanted to try something else,well i bought the Nikon and absolutely love it so does my d500.Unfortunately the pf lenses are out of my budget but was wondering if a tc would be a worthwhile purchase(always trying to get closer).The nikon works well with my Z6 and the tamron is not getting used as much,i know there are downsides to using tcs but its a direction im thinking of taking cheers

 

[marklangner]

I shoot Canon so cannot comment on mechanical aspects of your Nikon lens, but have some comments that might be helpful. I have a 600mm prime, and that is my go-to but I also have a 100-500. Because I have the prime I rarely use a TC on the zoom, but when I am in situations that I simply cannot lug the big glass, I'll bring the TC with me for use on the zoom. In my case, if I put the TC on, I have to keep the lens in the 300-500 range to keep it from hitting the TC...not a problem, but it's a thing. No matter what I do, with my big prime, I almost always have the TC on to help not have to crop (and I shoot often at greater distances due to my situation or very tiny birds). I'd rather the TC than cropping whenever possible. I don't know about Nikon, but with my Canon 100-500 lens, at the far end (500mm) I'm sitting around F7.1....so add a stop for the TC and I'm sitting at around F8....(think impact on depth of field mainly). I feel a 1.4 TC is an extremely useful tool. When you have your subject, you need to ask if the impact on depth of field/shutter/iso is going to out weigh the benefits of no or little cropping. I'd definitely consider picking one up. I don't leave home without it

 

[Joel N]

Hi all just wanted to pick the brains of all you photographers out there,i was just wondering if a teleconverter was a necessary piece to add to my bag,i recently posted about if getting a Nikon 200-500mm lens was still viable today as i have a tamron 150-600mm g1 but wanted to try something else,well i bought the Nikon and absolutely love it so does my d500.Unfortunately the pf lenses are out of my budget but was wondering if a tc would be a worthwhile purchase(always trying to get closer).The nikon works well with my Z6 and the tamron is not getting used as much,i know there are downsides to using tcs but its a direction im thinking of taking cheers

The thing that suffer the most with mounting a 1.4x tc on 200-500 is the focusing speed, if your usual shoot allow you to make do with slower af acquisition and reach is more important, yes it can be an essential kit, do expect some IQ lost as well. Also in lower light situation, this combo may hunt be prepared.

 

[Steve W]

The Nikon 200 - 500 is a great lens for what it is. Given the price and aperture, don’t expect too much from it. I have used a TC14-III on the 200-500 but have never really been pleased with it. The lens is no speed demon when it comes to focussing, the tc just adds to the woes.

 

[agrumpyoldsod]

Hi all just wanted to pick the brains of all you photographers out there,i was just wondering if a teleconverter was a necessary piece to add to my bag,i recently posted about if getting a Nikon 200-500mm lens was still viable today as i have a tamron 150-600mm g1 but wanted to try something else,well i bought the Nikon and absolutely love it so does my d500.Unfortunately the pf lenses are out of my budget but was wondering if a tc would be a worthwhile purchase(always trying to get closer).The nikon works well with my Z6 and the tamron is not getting used as much,i know there are downsides to using tcs but its a direction im thinking of taking cheers

Necessary - no, essential Yes -- certainly the TC1.4 -- this is all about attempting to ensure your subject fills the frame (or a fair part of it). However -- there is an obvious loss of 1 or more stops of light and some softness -- so I do not use one all the time, just when I want/need extra reach. When sourcing your Teleconverters try a number of each to select "a good one" -- particularly TC17 and TC20 where these has been some variability. Unless I am on safari in Africa, I avoid carrying TC20's -- yes occasionally I need the additional reach, but the loss of light and added softness is troubling.

 

[tclune]

I use a D500 with the 200-500 for my birding. I picked up the TC14-III to get a bit of extra reach when needed. Like Steve W above, I have never really warmed to it. f/8 is too slow and, while it doesn't degrade sharpness too much, it is only very marginally better than a cropped image IME. The few times when it might make a small improvement mean that I don't leave it on the lens by default, and I'm just not agile enough to quickly add it to the setup in the field if it suddenly looks like it would be helpful. And, by not using it routinely, I struggle to find the bird through the viewfinder on those rare occasions that I slap it on. As always, YMMV.

 

[Patrick M]

I have the z 2x TC coupled to the z70-200mm f2.8 as my temp long solution until the fabled z 200-600 arrives in a year or two. i have a need for a long zoom, while a long prime per se doesn’t suit my generalist shooting needs.

overall I’m pretty pleased with this 2x. I have read all the negative reports, but my own testing and a great deal of use, shows almost no degradation in IQ.

 

[Joel N]

the fabled z 200-600 arrives in a year or two.

maybe 3

 

[Palmor]

Hi all just wanted to pick the brains of all you photographers out there,i was just wondering if a teleconverter was a necessary piece to add to my bag,i recently posted about if getting a Nikon 200-500mm lens was still viable today as i have a tamron 150-600mm g1 but wanted to try something else,well i bought the Nikon and absolutely love it so does my d500.Unfortunately the pf lenses are out of my budget but was wondering if a tc would be a worthwhile purchase(always trying to get closer).The nikon works well with my Z6 and the tamron is not getting used as much,i know there are downsides to using tcs but its a direction im thinking of taking cheers

The TC works much better with the Z bodies so I believe it's well worth it (even though you'll be at F8). You may find it too slow to focus for fast moving subjects (not that it won't, it will just be frustrating) but I think you'll be pleased with the IQ as long as you don't rely on it to get you more reach over long distances. TCs are beset used to fill the frame of something that is already relatively close.

 

[Abinoone]

Hi all just wanted to pick the brains of all you photographers out there,i was just wondering if a teleconverter was a necessary piece to add to my bag,i recently posted about if getting a Nikon 200-500mm lens was still viable today as i have a tamron 150-600mm g1 but wanted to try something else,well i bought the Nikon and absolutely love it so does my d500.Unfortunately the pf lenses are out of my budget but was wondering if a tc would be a worthwhile purchase(always trying to get closer).The nikon works well with my Z6 and the tamron is not getting used as much,i know there are downsides to using tcs but its a direction im thinking of taking cheers

A TC works well enough with the 200-500, as long as you’re in good light and shooting stationary or slow moving subjects. For things like birds in flight, forget it - the AF is just too slow to acquire and keep focus. Just remember that with a 1.4 TC, you’ll lose a stop of light, which gives you f8 on the 200-500, which may be less than ideal in some situations. Bottom line, a TC will work on the 200-500, but you‘ll probably be frustrated with the slower AF speed. I rarely use mine when shooting with my 200-500.

 

[EricBowles]

I've used the 1.4 TC and 200-500 on the D850 and was not happy with it. It's in the category that it technically works, but needs to be stopped down a little and focused carefully for a static subject to be useful.

I do highly recommend the 1.4 teleconverter - ideally a used copy for F-mount at this point. There are two versions of the F-mount 1.4 teleconverter and I have both. The newer TC114e III is very slightly sharper with more micro-contrast, but I can only see the difference on the best lenses. But the TC14E III has one less electrical contact and does not work on some older lenses like the 300 f/4 AFS. The TC14E II is near the same optically and is available used for a good bit less.

The 200-500 with either TC works much better on the Z cameras with the FTZ adapter. Focus is more accurate on mirrorless and it's a reasonably good solution. Again - it's better in good light, but it's a reasonably good combination.

My personal recommendation is to skip the 200-500 with TC on the D500. It's just not good enough to be worth it. If you are planning to add a Z camera in the next year or so, you might add the TC now and use it until you are ready - but understand you may not like it. The other consideration is Nikon has a 200-600mm lens on the Z roadmap, and teleconverters work very well with the Z lenses - even slower lenses. So you might wait for a Z camera, lens, and TC at that time and hold off for now.

 

[Ivan Rothman]

Hi all just wanted to pick the brains of all you photographers out there,i was just wondering if a teleconverter was a necessary piece to add to my bag,i recently posted about if getting a Nikon 200-500mm lens was still viable today as i have a tamron 150-600mm g1 but wanted to try something else,well i bought the Nikon and absolutely love it so does my d500.Unfortunately the pf lenses are out of my budget but was wondering if a tc would be a worthwhile purchase(always trying to get closer).The nikon works well with my Z6 and the tamron is not getting used as much,i know there are downsides to using tcs but its a direction im thinking of taking cheers

I've always been a big fan of using TCs, but they do have their downsides or limitations. A TC will bring the subject closer (essentially cropping the image) without changing minimal focus distance or depth of field. But they do it at the expense of losing light (1 stop for a 1.4X TC and 2 stops for a 2X TC) and they will to a greater or lesser extent affect image quality - loss of quality may be quite minimal or negligible with better quality lens (especially a prime lens) and better quality TC preferably of same brand. There may be some effects on speed of autofocus or even the ability to autofocus if effective f-stop is below 5.6. But with new mirrorless cameras, especially the Z9, autofocus remains very fast and accurate even with quite small effective f-stops even below f9.
So my practice is to use TC only if needed. With a 45MP camera, I can always do some cropping in post production. But for anything more than a small crop, I prefer to use a TC. Using a 1.4X TC usually causes very little problem with image quality. But even the 2X can work well when necessary, especially with Z camera and Z lenses.
So it all depends on whether you are using DSLR or Mirrorless camera or lens. TCs can work well with DSLR. Work better with new mirrorless cameras.

Steve has 2 videos which may be helpful to you.

First video is all about using teleconverters:

Second video is about Crop to DX mode vs using 1.4X TC.

If cropped mode gives more than 20 MPs then quality with TC is good. If cropped mode gives less than 20MP then probably better off with TC.
When I was using DSLR, with my D5 20MP camera, I would definitely choose TC over cropping to perhaps 12MP. With my D850 45MP camera, cropping would still give me a 20MP image.

 

[Rassie]

I never owned a teleconverter when I was using my 200-500mm lens on the D7500. I had enough reach for most of my needs. This changed when I jumped to the Z6II. Suddenly I was shooting at a true 500mm instead of the 750mm equivalent I had with the DX sensor.

I purchased a TC-14E III and I used it regularly on the 200-500mm/Z6II combo. Focus was slowish because it's a slower-focusing lens anyway. BUT - there was very little degradation in IO with the teleconverter versus the bare lens. I would use the mirrorless combo with the TC all day long when needed and make peace with spotty focus tracking on fast-moving animals.

Many folks have reported that a TC on the 200-500mm lens is not good in terms of focusing and IQ, but that applies to DSLR cameras. The same is not true when using the lens/tc combo on mirrorless. The focus accuracy of the mirrorless cameras is better than on a DSLR and that results in better IO when using the combo on a mirrorless camera.

 

[jadewolf]

I have the 200-500mm and the 1.4TC and... I've never really been happy with the results. Used it on my D500, D850, and now on the Z9. The AF was notably worse with both the D500 and D850. The AF does perform better with the Z9, but I still feel like enough was lost in image quality to not make it worthwhile. Plus shooting a f/8 is limiting in a lot of conditions. In practice, unless I was planning on using the TC on other lenses, I don't think I'd buy one just to use on the 200-500mm.

 

[Turberticus]

I've used the 1.4 TCe with my 200-500 with mixed results. I usually stop down to F/9 or even F/10. It works pretty well in good light for perched birds, but struggles to keep up with birds in flight though I've had some success with larger slower moving birds.

Here are some examples at 700mm in good light with subjects that were already fairly close to begin with, which is a must to get the full benefit of a TC.

https://flic.kr/p/2nr9oaP

https://flic.kr/p/2nrbKE6

https://flic.kr/p/2mWWTGV

https://flic.kr/p/2n2ij4F

https://flic.kr/p/2nV8jyZ

 

[Rassie]

Here's why I said IQ of the 200-500mm with TC-14E III is very similar to the bare lens. Images below were shot at full extension (700mm) mounted on Z6II. Fast focus speed obviously not required in these cases. I gifted the 200-500mm to a friend recently when I purchased a 500mm PF lens, and I have great results with the same TC paired with the 500mm PF on the Z6II as well.

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And then here's a very challenging case of BIF that turned out successfully. Green heron shot with the same rig at virtually full extension early morning, high shutter speed, very high ISO, cropped by easily 50%, then run through Topaz Denoise.

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[Joel N]

I see a lot of teleconverter experts here

 

[trapper12]

Thanks to all that replied i really appreciate your thoughts and opinions obviously i have other lenses that i would use it on i have a Z6 i didn't realize that it worked better on the Z cameras so that is good food for thought thanks so much

 

[Roy]

Hi all just wanted to pick the brains of all you photographers out there,i was just wondering if a teleconverter was a necessary piece to add to my bag,i recently posted about if getting a Nikon 200-500mm lens was still viable today as i have a tamron 150-600mm g1 but wanted to try something else,well i bought the Nikon and absolutely love it so does my d500.Unfortunately the pf lenses are out of my budget but was wondering if a tc would be a worthwhile purchase(always trying to get closer).The nikon works well with my Z6 and the tamron is not getting used as much,i know there are downsides to using tcs but its a direction im thinking of taking cheers

Most AFS lenses work well on a Z6 although with a fairly slow autofocus.
A Teleconverter will slow AF even more.
But it will give you more reach in an emergency.
Over the years I've gathered over a dozen TCs but I dont use them much...