Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR II - Focusing

WillNicholls

WillNicholls

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Hi,

I've just got the amazing Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR II with a 1.7x Nikon teleconverter.

It's an amazing lens and I'm very pleased with it.
There was one thing I was wondering though. I have Nikon D700 with it, and when I focus at the top end with the converter (so 680mm) the focus is much slower and going to infinity and back takes a lot longer than on the lower focal lengths.

I was just wondering the reason for this, it's not really much of a problem.

Thanks!
Will :D
 
Yep, TCs slow focus down. On the 200-400, being a zoom, it's more succeptable to slow focus than a prime like the 600 VR. I have all three of the Nikon TCs and they all take a hit on the focus speed of the 200-400. 1.4 is ok, 1.7 is pretty slow and 2x makes AF pretty much unusable!
 
Yep, when the focus only needs to shift small amounts it will be ok as it's already 'in the ball park' area of where it needs to focus. It's when it then has to shift a huge amount to find a subject nowhere near it's current focus area that you'll notice the speed decrease as the TCs reduce the amount of light the camera/focus has to work with.

:)
 
Richard Peters said:
Yep, when the focus only needs to shift small amounts it will be ok as it's already 'in the ball park' area of where it needs to focus. It's when it then has to shift a huge amounts to find a subject nowhere near it's current focus area that you'll notice the speed decrease as the TCs reduce the amount of light the camera/focus has to work with.
Click to expand...

Ah okay that makes sense.
A reasonable sacrifice you think?
 
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