Experience with Teleconverters: I have never used these but am thinking of it with a Sigma 100-400 on my D7200. What issues will I encounter? Autofocus? How many stops of light will I...

dsiner Loc: Kent, WA

I have never used these but am thinking of it with a Sigma 100-400 on my D7200. What issues will I encounter? Autofocus? How many stops of light will I lose? And, does it degrade the image( I have read articles that say yes and no). Looking for real world experience. Thanks.

14kphotog Loc: Marietta, Ohio

Buy one that is matched to your lens.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

dsiner wrote:

I have never used these but am thinking of it with a Sigma 100-400 on my D7200. What issues will I encounter? Autofocus? How many stops of light will I lose? And, does it degrade the image( I have read articles that say yes and no). Looking for real world experience. Thanks.

Real world experience:

Yes degrades image
Yes You will have light loss
In my situation on a D800 I did not lose autofocus.

The bottom line to me was a trade off of image quality for reach. I do not want that trade off so I am not a fan of Teleconverters.

whitewolfowner

I would try a 1.4X teleconverter first. You will lose one stop of light; make sure you will not lose auto focus if it's important to you. Each lens is different as to how it reacts to a teleconverter. Generally, a 1.4X teleconverter works fine with very little to no loss of quality or sharpness. The 1.7X teleconverters, you lose 1.5 stops of light and they show softness and the 2X teleconverters, you lose 2 stops of light and most consider them unacceptable.

But before you buy one at all (or rent one first), make sure that the lens takes teleconverters well; some lenses just don't handle them at all.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

whitewolfowner wrote:

I would try a 1.4X teleconverter first. You will ... (show quote)

dsiner Loc: Kent, WA

I was leaning towards the Sigma 100-400 with the Sigma 1.4x that from what I can tell they built for this lens. I would prefer to go to the new Tamron 150-600 but I rented that and it is heavy to lug around.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Real world experience:

Back when I was a Canon user, I purchased a used 2X Kenko TC, despite warnings here that my camera wouldn't autofocus and the results would be "soft".

Yes degrades image
Yes You will have light loss
In my situation on a Canon Rebel I did not lose autofocus.

The bottom line to me was a trade off of image quality for reach. For my birding photographs, getting "closer" was good, better than cropping 50% in each dimension, so I used that TC until I switched to Pentax.

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

this same issue was addressed a few weeks ago. everything was covered. go to the search engine and type in "teleconverters".

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

dsiner wrote:

I have never used these but am thinking of it with a Sigma 100-400 on my D7200. What issues will I encounter? Autofocus? How many stops of light will I lose? And, does it degrade the image( I have read articles that say yes and no). Looking for real world experience. Thanks.

You move forward and step backward at the same time. You are able to gain more distance with the loss of IQ. That lens has been questionable at 400, with a teleconverter you compound that problem. Unfortunately.

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

14kphotog wrote:

Buy one that is matched to your lens.

The only one I've tried that I actually liked came as a package with the lens it matched.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

dsiner wrote:

I have never used these but am thinking of it with a Sigma 100-400 on my D7200. What issues will I encounter? Autofocus? How many stops of light will I lose? And, does it degrade the image( I have read articles that say yes and no). Looking for real world experience. Thanks.

I have a Kenko 1.4, and no complaints. I posted a couple of pictures here, and it was a toss-up which had the TC and which didn't. That was with the Nikon 28-300mm lens.

steinr98

There is "No Free Lunch" ! You will lose both light( and you are already starting out at f/5.0) and you will also lose contrast in your photos with a teleconverter! If you have to have the 600mm for reach you will need the heavier Tamron lens. I have had the 150-600 and sold it as I could not hand carry it due to the weight. I did purchase the Sigma 100-400mm and use it with joy, again due to its weight! I do crop a bit more but on a Canon 7D MK II it is a 640mm lens due to the crop factor. One other thing to consider is if you have a crop factor camera, the the 600mm Tamron is about a 900mm + lens and you need a tripod or monopod to shoot with- I do not know how steady you are- but not many folks can hand hold a 900mm lens and get a super clear shot!!

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

steinr98 wrote:

There is "No Free Lunch" ! You will lose... (show quote)

with long lenses hand held shooting is rare. last satuurday I shot 900mm both hand held and on a monopod, I upped the iso and set shutter speed to 1/1250 sec. contrast was fine. it was using an auto focus reflex lens with a 1.4x tc.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

dsiner wrote:

I have never used these but am thinking of it with a Sigma 100-400 on my D7200. What issues will I encounter? Autofocus? How many stops of light will I lose? And, does it degrade the image( I have read articles that say yes and no). Looking for real world experience. Thanks.

TCs are best if used with long fast lenses. Matched TCs work better for a specific lens than general a purpose one, although there may be exceptions.

My past experience is with Nikon's TC14E II and TC20E III. The 14E was barely noticeable on Nikon's 300MM f2.8 VR II. I liked the results very much. The 20E was extremely noticeable on the same lens, so much so I returned it for a second sample. It was no better and also went back. Some people are satisfied with the 20E, I'm not one of them.

I also tried the 14E on Nikon's 80-400 G. It focused and looked good at f11 but IQ was unacceptable (to me) at all other stops.

Eventually sold the 300 2.8 and the TC14E.

Presently I have no TCs and probably will not own one in the future. The quality output depends on the magnification and lens it is mounted on. They are expensive, inconvenient and light robbing requiring better technique compared to a lens sans TC.

Ray and JoJo Loc: Florida--Tenneessee

Nikon D300, 2x, and 70x200 2.8 works grate and sharp only difference it's slower and at 75 years old have to use the tripod. As a matter of fact I take pictures to please myself, not everyone has reached that point yet!!