Gilly

Considering trying to extend the reach of my 2 zoom lenses, 55-210mm and 18-135mm both Sony. I will be using them to take photos of my daughter surfing primarily. Interested to hear any recommendations and tips. Looking at the Olympus TCON-17X Tele Converter which is available through Amazon from Japan. Thoughts greatly appreciated.

Cheers

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

You Tube has some videos of this combo. Not stellar results.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

Gilly,

I don’t pretend to be anywhere near the most experienced or knowledgeable photographer out there, but I own and use Minolta Maxxum legacy lenses (that are Sony A-mount compatible,) A-mt lenses made by Sony, Sigma, & Rokinon, and several Sony E-mt lenses including the two you own. I also own A-mt Teleconverters made by Minolta, Sigma, and Kenko as well as two Sony a6000 cameras (one converted to Full Spectrum,) and an a7 II model.

Honestly, in my humble opinion only, unless you have a photographic weight limitation on what you can take with you while flying, walking, or hiking, OR you are a stalwart user of manual focus, I wouldn’t bother going on the cheap with teleconverters for your E-mount lenses.

Why? Well, first off, despite the ability to dial up ISO settings in the tens of thousands, the autofocus mechanism still depends on good, old-fashioned LIGHT. And you’ll be losing it with dem 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters at the cost of 1 & 2 stops, respectively! That’s on top of the rather limited maximum apertures those two lenses have, especially when you push them to to their tele- limits. Then there’s the potential for CA (Chromatic Aberration) and other matters other Hogs could collectively "write a book on."

The Sony 18-135 mm is my "go to" lens for my a6000s, but if I want to get "serious," then in my case, I pull out my Minolta APO 200 mm f/2.8, my Sony LA-EA4 adapter, and if necessary, my Minolta APO matched 1.4x teleconverter. But I’m not so interested, at this time, in ornithology or wildlife photography (unless it’s easy to image.)

In other words, I believe one, in general, is better off purchasing a separate telephoto zoom lens, such as a 150-400 mm or 200-500 mm or whatever is now out there that fits.

Good luck.
lev29

Gilly

Thanks so much, just watched a few, didn’t find anything really negative. Appreciate your suggestion.

Gilly

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Really don’t want to invest in another lens. I have no issues shooting manual although I wouldn’t do that with a moving object in all likelihood. Really appreciate your suggestions.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

You're welcome, Gilly. The next thought I have, which may have already considered but tossed aside, is the direct opposite in philosophy of my first response.

We all know that in terms of spatial resolution, optical beats digital, hence my initial suggestion to purchase a dedicated (extreme) zoom telephoto lens. But here’s a question for you: What are you looking to do with an image acquired of something relatively far away, e.g. a sparrow feeding at the birdhouse in the backyard of your neighbor 2-3 doors down?

Are you planning to print it? If so, just how large? No, I don’t have a formula handy as to how many pixels per millimeter corresponds to the maximum size you can obtain a print that doesn’t look "pixelated". But my point is, would you be satisfied with cropping an image obtained with your current zoom lens at its maximum focal length?

Just a thought.

P.S. There’s an active topic discussing the benefits of extra resolution of 42 mp sensor vs "our' 24 mp sensor models.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-612406-1.html

Gilly

Thanks so much for continuing to ponder this question of mine. I really am very happy with my Sony A6000 and don't want to go down that rabbit hole of thinking that the latest offering is going to make me a better photographer. I just want to get a bit closer to the action and get some great shots of my daughter surfing. I've been lucky enough to do that with the help of piers and huge sea walls coupled with a high tide but have also found it frustrating to be standing on the shoreline unable to zoom into where I want. I already have 4 lenses for this camera so I'm pretty invested in sticking with it. Really appreciate your thoughts, if money were no object .....

Carlosu

Have you used your a6000 Clear Image Zoom capabilities? You can double your lens range via this tool. It may be better than a teleconverter

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Seriously, you will not get good results using a extender on those lenses. Your better off getting a longer lens. Seriously.

eadler

Sony makes a 1.4X and a 2x teleconverter. Neither is compatible with your lenses. They are intended for their FE long zooms such as the 100-400

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

Gilly,

Although I cannot rigorously confirm that billnikon is correct in his assertion, my gut says he is.

Rephrasing and exaggerating Bill's statement a bit, á la what LBJ once said about "the great" Richard Milhous Nixon: You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken $ħi₸.

TomV Loc: Annapolis, Maryland

Save your money for a better lens instead of wasting it on a TC. Zooms are not good candidates for TCs.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Use your built in Clear Image Zoom for up to 2X equivalent focal length FOV and NOT loose any pixels. But, make sure you maximize your native IQ of your lenses - like lower ISO, no motion blur, proper exposure, stop the lens aperture down a bit - well, you get the idea ! ? - works BETTER than extenders !
.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

Excellent point!

MDI Mainer

And you can go to 8x with the digital zoom function if you can tolerate some image degradation. So it depends what you are going to do with the images.

All, at least in my view, better options than adding a TC to anything other than a fast prime (which let's not forget is their intended use).