Nikon Teleconverter let-down

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I have an old Nikon AF Nikkor ED 300mm f/4 IF Ai-S lens. It's good, if a bit slow to focus and suffers a bit from OOF fringing wide open. I have a D800, and I use the lens for occasional nature photography, often in DX Crop mode.

Yesterday, I had the bright idea of buying a 1.4x teleconverter. The lens manual said that it works with a TC-14B and I found one at LCE. It arrived today.

First thing I noticed was the sound of something loose inside. This was mostly explained by two sliding lugs, but when holding these, there was still something moving. Not a good start.

Plugging everything in, I soon realised that the lens focus drive and electronic aperture control didn't work. Setting Non-CPU Lens data in the D800 at least meant that I could use the aperture ring on the 300mm, but focus was well and truly manual. Gutted.

Is this all to be expected? Could I have used a different teleconverter, or am I knackered?
 
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The TC-14B is manual focus only, so I suppose the lens manual is, strictly speaking, correct in that the 300mm will work with it but your D800 will only be able to expose in A or M mode with manual focus.

According to the web, no AF teleconvertors were made by Nikon for this lens. Perhaps a Kenko 1.4x might work though?
 
My Nikon expertise isn't huge, but isn't the TC-14B an old manual focus teleconverter, so no electronic contacts to pass on AF/aperture data.

Suspect what you want is the TC-14E mk1 or mk2
 
stumeech said:
According to the web, no AF teleconvertors were made by Nikon for this lens. Perhaps a Kenko 1.4x might work though?
Click to expand...

Hmm. I wish I'd asked before buying. I've heard about this Kenko 1.4x before. Looking at the website, there are two of them, and it looks like the difference is down to price/quality (as far as I can see). My only reservation is buying another TC which might not work with the gear.
 
Awesome. Thanks, Stu. That pretty much confirms it'll be fine, and I found a few candidates on ebay.
 
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