fchretdet

Recently I posted about finally getting the Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens, the Tamron 70-200mm G2 lens, and the Tamron Tap-in console. I've been reading reviews about this (see Topic above) converter. I've found positive and negative reviews and recommendations. Any additional comments would be appreciated. So far I've had some fun getting used to these new lenses and the tap-in console.
Thanks in advance,
Frank

Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

Some people will not accept any tele converter because of any image degradation. Some people find the minimal degradation acceptable. Only you can decide if it is acceptable to you.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

You didn't mention your camera, but both my D850 and D500 AF through f/8, not beyond, and then only in the center of the frame. My Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 G2 gets to f/5.6 around 250mm, give or take, or becomes a 375mm f/8 lens at that point. Any zoom factor beyond that is manual focus only, so I do not recommend using any teleconverter with the 150-600mm G2. I do use a 1.4x with my Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 G2 and it works well for me. You really have to look hard at 1:1 to see any impact on image quality.

fchretdet

My camera is a Nikon D7200.

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

Just don't tell anyone that you used a TC, and they will remain ignorant of the fact, and more likely to 'accept' the result you have obtained. Too much 'image snobbery' around these days.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I disagree!

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Be afraid, be very afraid! I haven't been impressed with Tamron long lenses, having owned and gotten rid of two of them. And with the degradation of the converter it will only get worse! Having said that, I haven't had the Tamron 70~200 so I can't speak directly to the use of that lens. And, to be honest, I do have a couple shorter Tamron lenses that I am happy with.
Just as an aside, if you are looking for longer reach with your Nikon 7XXX series I have a Nikon 200~500 f5.6 (two of them, actually) and they are very good! I started out with one on my D7100 and was very pleased with it. I now use it with a D500 and D850 and am still very happy with it/them!! And you can find them now for less than $1000. A GREAT DEAL IMHO!!

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

If you look at award winning photos the best photos are not necessarily the sharpest photos or the most detailed photos. It's the story, mood, composition and emotions evoked that take the prize. Take a look at award winning cell phone pictures at 12mp with tiny sensors and lenses.

https://petapixel.com/2021/07/22/these-are-the-winners-of-the-2021-iphone-photography-awards/

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Apart from the direct optical degradation there are AF and ISO ramifications that may come into play to further lower IQ. Today, with higher MP cameras and better softwares, cropping with pixel enlargement may be a better solution for gaining "reach" .
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walkurie Loc: East Stroudsburg, PA

Frank
Here is the email I received from Tamron concerning the TC. Hope it is of help
Regards
walkurie
Thank you for contacting Tamron. With your D500 calibrated to your trio of lenses, you should experience seamless use between the camera and lenses with or without the teleconverter mounted. The new 1.4x teleconverter is compatible with F/8 type cameras so it should autofocus reliably up to F/8 at which point you may have to switch over to manual focus. If you use live view mode, you should be able to autofocus throughout the entire focal length however.

Nikon system cameras autofocus with the lens wide open.  This both improves focus accuracy because it increases how much the contrast varies with small differences in focus point, and it makes the image in the viewfinder as bright as possible when you're looking through the camera.

When you press the shutter, the mirror flips up, the iris closes to the aperture you've selected, and the shutter opens.

Different camera bodies require different minimum amounts of light to autofocus.  The better ones can do so with less light.  An "f/8 compatible body" is one that is able to autofocus even when "wide open" on the lens is f/8 as opposed to a more typical f/1.4-f/5.6.

When you mount a lens with a tele converter, you're reducing the minimum effective aperture of the lens, and so less light reaches the AF sensor.  That's why it specifies that you need a camera model that is able to focus at f/8 to use that particular lens/tele converter combination with AF.

When you are zoomed out all the way to 600 unfortunately with the light loss with the tele converter and the variable aperture of the lens you are no longer at f/8 and once you are past f/8 you cannot auto focus any longer. This may be your issue if your images when shooting over f/8 are out of focus.

fchretdet

Thanks for the reply. I will continue to research this; and in the meantime work on learning to better use the equipment that I have.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Totally agree! The resizing software has gotten so good today, that I do believe that resizing is superior to using a TC. (I use Topaz's Gigapixel AI) And by the way, I do have the 1.4x Tamron and also the 1.4x Kenko. In the limited testing I have done, I think the Kenko did better. But the downside of using these TC's is such that I really don't like using them. They reduce the amount of light and degrade the image. On the other hand, resizing the image doesn't have a light reducing penalty and does not introduce extra glass to degrade the image. Note: There are some lenses that are designed with a specific teleconverter, these are not to be compared in the same conversation with the generic teleconverters. I do not own one of these.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

First image: Here is an example using the Tamron 150-600mm lens at 600mm on an APS-C camera, meaning the FOV is like having a 900mm lens. This house is about 1 mile away and is over water the entire way. But it was in October, so the amount of water vapor in the air was minimal.

The 2nd image used Gigapixel AI to crop and resize the image by 2x. The original image was in Lightroom, and Gigapixel AI was called from Lightroom.

I should also note that I tried using Gigapixel AI a second way and directly loaded the RAW file into Gigapixel AI. The results were not as good as I got calling Gigapixel AI from Lightroom. In this alternate method, the roof shingles were smeared to the point that I couldn't see the pattern of the shingles. This is the 3rd image. I would have to say that Adobe must have done a better job demosaicing the file than did Topaz.

The 4th image is an attemp I made from Lightroom to use Enhanced and Super Resolution. I don't think it is as good as the 2nd image where Gigapixel AI was called from Lightroom.

Original image

(Download)

Cropped and Resized 2x in Gigapixel AI -- Gigapixel AI was called from Lightroom

(Download)

Here is the result when I let Gigapixel AI use the RAW file - there is less detail

(Download)

Adobe's Enhanced Option and Super Resolution called from Lightroom.

(Download)

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

One more example of showing how good a job resizing can do.

First image was taken with a Minolta 500mm f8 reflex lens (mirror lens - the kind that leaves out of focus donuts) on an APS-C camera. FOV equiv to 900mm. This image has been sharpened in Topaz's Sharpen AI.

Second image uses that sharpened image and increases it by 3x in Gigapixel AI.

original size, but has been sharpened in Topaz's Sharpen AI

(Download)

Gigapixel AI to resize the first image by 3x

(Download)