Teleconverter

rueboy

rueboy

Messages
200
Name
kev
Edit My Images
Yes
Been looking into teleconverters, I see there are 2 main ones a 1.4 and a 2x

I have heard that the 2x can loose alot of sharpness and the 1.4 remains sharper plus there is the fact that you loose a stop or two.

I have a Tamron 70-300 and am looking at extending the length, obviously 2x would be great giving me a 600mm lens.
 
A teleconverter on any lens has the ability to degrade the resultant image.
On some lenses a 1.4x TC hardly appears to have much negative impact but you'll usually find that these are the fast prime telephoto lenses, in other words the expensive ones!

When applied to a zoom lens the image degradation becomes more noticeable but some zooms that are very sharp to begin with can still produce excellent images with a 1.4x TC, such as a Canon 70-200 lens.

While you may be able to get satisfactory shots from your existing body/lens combination zoom lenses such as yours (dare I say "budget" lenses) will naturally have a sharpness fall-off at the long end i.e. the 300mm end.
Putting a TC on those lenses will usually yield poor results.

Maybe you can borrow one from someone who lives near you so you can see for yourself, who knows, you may be happy with the results.
 
rueboy said:
Been looking into teleconverters, I see there are 2 main ones a 1.4 and a 2x

I have heard that the 2x can loose alot of sharpness and the 1.4 remains sharper plus there is the fact that you loose a stop or two.

I have a Tamron 70-300 and am looking at extending the length, obviously 2x would be great giving me a 600mm lens.
Click to expand...

Teleconverters are designed to be used with fast (f/2.8 and up) lenses, put one on your Tamron, which I believe is wide open at f/5.6 at 300mm then you'll have no autofocus, find yourself up at 1600-3200 iso to even get any sort of image, or more likely a viewfinder image so dark as to render the whole exercise totally futile.
 
Without sounding harsh it would be a waste of money buying a TC for your lens

No AF and the image quality would be seriously degraded too
 
I use an old Tamron 1.4 Tc on my Tamron 70-300 VC lens, it still retains autofocus and VC,I've had some good results and not noticed any degradation of sharpness but I do need plenty of light, in an ideal world we would all have fast expensive lenses but on a budget compromises have to be made.
 
ok Ill have a longer think.......I know the Tamron is not the most expensive lens It was bought when I got the camera I will prob upgrade eventually, I find it limiting being 70-300, I will prob invest in a Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and the 1.4 converter maybe, as I seem to end up with my 18-55mm on all the time and then pop the 70-300 when I need it but it annoys me keep swapping.
 
rueboy said:
ok Ill have a longer think.......I know the Tamron is not the most expensive lens It was bought when I got the camera I will prob upgrade eventually, I find it limiting being 70-300, I will prob invest in a Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and the 1.4 converter maybe, as I seem to end up with my 18-55mm on all the time and then pop the 70-300 when I need it but it annoys me keep swapping.
Click to expand...

There are no teleconverters that will fit an EFS lens.
 
I use an old Tamron 1.4 Tc on my Tamron 70-300 VC lens
Click to expand...

Your modern version is far superior to the one mentioned by the OP (assuming its the older non VC lens)
 
You are obviously trying to get more focal length, presumably for wildlife, there's no cheap solution I'm afraid, and considering perhaps a Sigma 150-500 is going to be the cheapest way to go longer. Having said that I can confirm that TC's don't work with cheap consumer teles in your sort of focal range, but work quite well with better lenses. I use a 2X on my Sigma 120-300, but that lens isn't cheap, as I said look at the 150-500 for the best option.
 
I've got a Kenko Pro300 DGX 1.4x TC and that works very well with my 70-200 2.8 IS L. There's not a great deal of image degradation from it and the AF speed is still good too. It'll cost you one stop making the 70-300 making it MF only, but for distant still shots like the moon (OK, I know it moves but not too fast and only 1 way) it's fine. It works with all of my lenses but my Sigma 150-500 OS is only MF with it attached.
I bought my Sigma off www.panamoz.com for just under £600 new and is a great lens for birds, wildlife and aircraft. It's sharp, fast AF and the OS system is excellent and well worth buying if it's within your budget.
 
Thanks for the advise guys, I've decided to ditch my Tamron 70-300 for hand held as it has no IS and as I'm suffering from essential tremors, plus I have never really been happy with it except on a tripod or mono pod, so today I decided to get the canon 55-250 IS II and save up for something longer and better quality, especially if a TC wont fit any of my current canon lens' I'm in no rush anyway, I'm happy playing with my macro for now, I did also get the manfroto 190xprob and ball &socket head.

I've probably done wrong, but I did what I felt was best for me atm......now if this rain would just stop I can go out and play.........oh well maybe tomorrow the sun pop out for a bit, not direct light but some nice bright defused light please.
 
Sounds like a good plan there Kev, think you will notice the difference between your old and new lens
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top