Beginner Teleconverters?

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Lee
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Hi all. I've educated myself on a lot of photography techniques and gear. But I'm not knowledgeable yet on teleconverters. Just wondering if it's worth getting one to extend the reach of my 300mm Tamron lens.

I think they come as x1.4 and x2. I've read that it can soften focus, you lose some f/stops, can slow down autofocus and at x2 might not even focus.

So are they a waste of time and money and I'll need to buy a longer telephoto lens?


Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Hi all. I've educated myself on a lot of photography techniques and gear. But I'm not knowledgeable yet on teleconverters. Just wondering if it's worth getting one to extend the reach of my 300mm Tamron lens.

I think they come as x1.4 and x2. I've read that it can soften focus, you lose some f/stops, can slow down autofocus and at x2 might not even focus.

So are they a waste of time and money and I'll need to buy a longer telephoto lens?


Thanks.


Hi Le, f your lens is a 70-300mm I wouldn't bother to be honest :( better look at buying a longer lens, as in my opinion the 70-300mm is always soft at the long end

TC's are best placed on a dedicated prime lens like 300mm- 400mm - 500mm or 600mm ie: not a small 70-300mm zoom in my humble opinion

I use the Sony 200-600mm and it is a superb lens a close long len, that may suit is
this: https://www.wexphotovideo.com/sigma-150-600mm-f5-63-contemporary-dg-os-hsm-lens-canon-fit-1560208/

I had a Sony fit version and it performs very well for not a lot of £££

I opted for the Sony 200-600mm against a 150-600mm as the Sony does not extend as you zoom the Sigma and Tamron do


Les :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi all. I've educated myself on a lot of photography techniques and gear. But I'm not knowledgeable yet on teleconverters. Just wondering if it's worth getting one to extend the reach of my 300mm Tamron lens.

I think they come as x1.4 and x2. I've read that it can soften focus, you lose some f/stops, can slow down autofocus and at x2 might not even focus.

So are they a waste of time and money and I'll need to buy a longer telephoto lens?


Thanks.

No free lunch unfortunately.

Teleconverters/extenders simply magnify the centre of the image, inevitably making it less sharp. So unless you have a very sharp lens to start with you may be disappointed.

Telecons also raise the f/number, so for example an f/4 lens becomes f/5.6 with 1.4x, or f/8 with 2x. Most DSLRs will not autofocus at higher than f/5.6.
 
Thanks Les and Hoppy for that advice. Pity, I quite like free lunches. :p
Les, it's great your Sony lens doesn't extend. I wanted a compact lens. I've been considering the Sigma 150-600 for a while, I think it's the only lens to get. Seems to be about the same weight as yours. How do you find the weught for handheld photos, not too heavy? There's a Canon RF600 lens (because I'm thinking of buying a mirrorless R6) which is slim and half the weight and similar price range but unfortunately no good to me as it's a fixed 600mm.

Going back to teleconverters, if I put a 1.4x on a Sigma 150-600, and I'm assuming the Sigma is a sharp lens, would that work well or also be disappointing?
 
Thanks Les and Hoppy for that advice. Pity, I quite like free lunches. :p
Les, it's great your Sony lens doesn't extend. I wanted a compact lens. I've been considering the Sigma 150-600 for a while, I think it's the only lens to get. Seems to be about the same weight as yours. How do you find the weught for handheld photos, not too heavy? There's a Canon RF600 lens (because I'm thinking of buying a mirrorless R6) which is slim and half the weight and similar price range but unfortunately no good to me as it's a fixed 600mm.

Going back to teleconverters, if I put a 1.4x on a Sigma 150-600, and I'm assuming the Sigma is a sharp lens, would that work well or also be disappointing?


I do use a 1.4x TC on one of my lenses the Sony 100-400mm G lens ( quite an expensive lens) and manage to shoot things like this :)

DSC00077 Painted Lady - feeding 2020 by Les Moxon, on Flickr

Its all about the quality of the glass - the 200-60mm is quite heavy but I manage hand held with no issues so far :) and I shoot with Sony a7Riii and Sony a7Riv both mirrorless full frame bodies. I do have a Manfrotto tripod with a Gimbal head and a monopod ( which I don't really use ) I do have a 1/4TC of course and seldom put it on the 200-600mm as I can get similar benefit from switching the camera body into crop mode gives me 900mm

I had for s time a dedicated 300mm f.28 and used a x2TC got some nice images too

Good luck with whatever you choose

Les :)
 
I do use a 1.4x TC on one of my lenses the Sony 100-400mm G lens ( quite an expensive lens) and manage to shoot things like this :)

DSC00077 Painted Lady - feeding 2020 by Les Moxon, on Flickr

Its all about the quality of the glass - the 200-60mm is quite heavy but I manage hand held with no issues so far :) and I shoot with Sony a7Riii and Sony a7Riv both mirrorless full frame bodies. I do have a Manfrotto tripod with a Gimbal head and a monopod ( which I don't really use ) I do have a 1/4TC of course and seldom put it on the 200-600mm as I can get similar benefit from switching the camera body into crop mode gives me 900mm

I had for s time a dedicated 300mm f.28 and used a x2TC got some nice images too

Good luck with whatever you choose

Les :)

Thanks Les. Great photo :) I'm going to make a thread about crop mode.
 
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