I have a Tamron 150-600 could I have some feedback on pros and cons of a 2x converter. Mostly birds or and wild life would be my efforts
SENG wrote:
I have a Tamron 150-600 could I have some feedback on pros and cons of a 2x converter. Mostly birds or and wild life would be my efforts
Results are usually better with the 1.4x, also more likely to still have AF, it depends on your camera body. Some bodies & lenses do work well with a high quality 2x, but they tend to be the ones that cost about the same as a used car.
SENG wrote:
I have a Tamron 150-600 could I have some feedback on pros and cons of a 2x converter. Mostly birds or and wild life would be my efforts
Would not recommend using a 2X teleconvertor with this lens. Your maximum aperture will go from f/6.3 to f/12.6 and will probably make it difficult, if not impossible to autofocus. It may work with a 1.4X teleconvertor, but with any teleconvertor there will be some image degradation.
You didn't state whether you are using a full frame or cropped sensor camera. If you are using a cropped sensor camera you are already at an effective angle of view of a 900mm lens (Nikon) or 960mm (Canon) with the crop factors. If so, do you really need more?
The 1.4 isn't too bad, but I would not attempt more than that. I've used the 1.4 on a D500 and D850.
DaveO wrote:
The 1.4 isn't too bad, but I would not attempt more than that. I've used the 1.4 on a D500 and D850.
I should have mentioned I have a D500. Thank you all for you thoughts
SENG wrote:
I should have mentioned I have a D500. Thank you all for you thoughts
No matter how long a lens is, for many of us it's never long enough!
Go nuts...the 600 F4 with the 1.7 is great!
Gene51
Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
SENG wrote:
I have a Tamron 150-600 could I have some feedback on pros and cons of a 2x converter. Mostly birds or and wild life would be my efforts
The original 150-600 will not do that well with a 1.4X TC - and will only focus with cameras that support F8 as the widest aperture. The images will be soft and lacking contrast, focusing will be slow and there will be a lot of hunting, and manual focus will be difficult. I would never put a 2X TC on any lens other than the Nikon 200mm F2, or in a pinch, the 300mm F2.8 or the 400mm F2.8. For acceptable performance with any TC the lens should be a fast (F2 or F2.8), sharp prime. Unless you are ok with dark viewfinders, bad AF performance and lower sharpness.
Just supposing you still decide to get the 2x TC - what camera and tripod will you be using with it?
I have the 150-600 I use on D500 . sometimes when light is good I will use the 1.4TC with it. Poor contrast scene will cause hunting and slow focus. Same in low light. Very frustrating, I don't believe you will get any AF with the 2x. The other issue is with that tight a field of view any motion will be magnified so you'll need very good support and stablization. The image will have some softness so you need to be spot on focus and no cropping. You won't be happy with the 2x. Stick to a 1.4 if really needed. I find I use the 1.4 less and less.
Arthur Morris has some videos on YouTube about using Extenders with Canon lenses. They are worth watching. Steve Perry has some videos about using Nikon TCs on YouTube also. Neither of these will address your lens. You will want to maintain autofocus unless you are shooting stationary objects. That will limit how much TC you can use with your already slow lens.
I use a 2x Extender with my Canon 70-200 f/2.8 II and largely get results that satisfy.
But I am also using it on a 1Dx mkII body which has excellent autofocus system and high iso capabilities.
My advice would be to watch the videos and rent or borrow a 1.4TC to do your own testing.
billnikon
Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
SENG wrote:
I have a Tamron 150-600 could I have some feedback on pros and cons of a 2x converter. Mostly birds or and wild life would be my efforts
Pros, NONE.
Cons,
Dark viewfinder.
You loose auto focus.
Images are not sharp.
Hard to manual focus on moving birds, let alone birds sitting still.
Because your lens will be so slow, you will need a very high ISO to get fast enough exposure, this will increase noise on your already poor images. Double whammy.
See if you can borrow or rent the TC before buying it. My experience with a Tamron 1.4 TC and the Tamron 100-400 on a D500 was that pictures taken without the TC and cropped were superior to those taken with the TC. You are talking a different combination, but the effectiveness of any TC/ lens combination is worth testing, if possible, before spending the money.
DaveO wrote:
The 1.4 isn't too bad, but I would not attempt more than that. I've used the 1.4 on a D500 and D850.
And I with a D500 & the G2. Sometimes there is no substitute for reach. And the faster lenses reside in lofty price tiers.
doclrb
I have the Tamron 150-600 and was looking for TC. After much reading I agree with group do not go for the 2X. I have the 1.4 with my canon 77D and most times the auto focus works but other times it searches. I use a tripod and gamble head. Never tried same shot with and without it and then crop in post together same size image. Camera has 24 MG pixels.
The converter,Tamron, was not cheap either
doclrb wrote:
And I with a D500 & the G2. Sometimes there is no substitute for reach. And the faster lenses reside in lofty price tiers.
doclrb
The G2 with matching extender is acceptable, not great, for stills with manual focus, but generally I feel that I wasted my money.
SENG wrote:
I have a Tamron 150-600 could I have some feedback on pros and cons of a 2x converter. Mostly birds or and wild life would be my efforts
The cons - there will be optical degradation, ISO degradation, AF/MF degradation, atmospheric degradation, and VF challenges. The pros - cheaper than a bigger lens.
Get closer or crop and use pixel enlargement.
.
If you want to reply, then
register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.