jabe750

I own a Nikon 7100. It was bought in a kit bundle from a store. The price was right at the time. In that kit, the lenses were an 18-55mm zoom lens and an 55-300mm zoom lens. I shoot a lot of wildlife pictures and at the longest zoom, it's not long enough for my liking. I'm wondering if a lens extender would bring it out to 400/500mm focal lenght or should I save money to buy the equivalent focal lenght? Both of my lenses are VR lenses. I know that with an extender it won't be as sharp as a fixed lens. Any comments are welcome.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

I am not a fan of extenders. With that said, I would suggest a Sigma 150-600 either the C model or the S model if your budget allows it. I have the 150-600 Sport model and love it.

MarkD Loc: NYC

With a 1.4x converter you lose 1 f-stop, and with a 2x you lose 2 stops. That means that the lens is now an f/8 or f/11 at 300mm. Not only is that very slow, but your camera will not autofocus at all or if it does autofocus it will do so very slowly. You're better off cropping or getting a longer lens.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

The D7100 is capable of producing extremely nice work if coupled with the right lens. The lenses you have are good entry level, but will not perform like a $3000-7000 lens. Yes a coupler will give you added reach, but you will lose image quality and light. The real question is how much do you want to spend and how much loss in quality are you going to accept. Leon

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

The Nikon telextender probably won't work with that lens, but Kenko or other brands might. A 1.4X will of course get you a 420mm lens. Except that 420mm isn't really much improvement over 300mm for your needs, and worse it probably won't auto focus either. A 2X TC wouldn't do well either.

The best bet is to bite the bullet and buy a longer lens. Sigma and Tamron both make a 150-600mm lens that will do quite well, and are available for just under $1000. Sigma also has a 50-500mm and a 150-500mm lens, either of which cost significantly less but are not nearly the quality of the newer 150-600mm zooms.

If you can afford the hit, either a Sigma or Tamron 150-600mm would be the best option, and perhaps a recent model Sigma 50-500mm being the best of the lower quality economy models.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

In all honesty, after trying a similar route - my opinion is save your money for better glass - I know everyone hears that, but really, there is no substitute for better glass... an extender will cut your aperture by 1 or 2 f stops reducing the light that you can gather, so then you are limited to shooting very high ISO or slower shutter speeds...and your images will suffer.

On the D7100 you could set the mode to shoot in 1.3 crop factor - which will change the field of view to to what the sensor sees, effectively making a 300 mm lens equal in view to a 585 mm lens - 300x1.5=450*1.3=585

BUT in effect, sticking with the normal 1.5 DX crop mode you can achieve the same effect by simply cropping in closer with software in post processing - 24 MP lets you get in close without losing too much image quality.

FWIW - I have the same lenses, the 18-55 I replaced with a Sigma 17-50 f/2.8 and I still use the 55-300, but also picked up a Sigma 170-500.

CO

Take a look at the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 and 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lenses. I have the Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 AF-S lens. It's sharp and has very fast autofocus. With my D7000 is 3D tracking mode, it easily tracks birds in flight.

Someone in my camera club has the Tamron 150-600mm and has a lot of trouble fine tuning autofocus. He can only do AF fine tuning for a portion of the zoom range. If he does AF fine tuning so that it's sharp from 400-600mm then the 150-400mm range won't be so great and vice versa.

Jim Bob

With those lenses, an extender would result in a significant loss in image quality. Get closer, see less.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

If by extender you mean Teleconverter, be sure the teleconverter is compatible with your lens and camera. Here is a chart from NikonUSA for Nikon TCs. It appears that while your camera is compatible, your lenses are not. Double check to be sure. I don't know about off brand TCs, you'll have to check about them.

http://www.nikonusa.com/en_INC/IMG/Assets/Common-Assets/Images/Teleconverter-Compatibility/EN_Comp_chart.html

jim quist Loc: Missouri

I have 1.4 and 2x extenders and the downside is a loss in sharpness, the 2x is definitely soft. You do lose an f-stop or two, but maybe that doesn't matter.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

Save your money. The tele-extenders will have a couple of issues that you need to constantly remember.. 1. All lenses are not compatible with tele-extenders. (Nikon has a compatibility chart but simplified, the front element of the Nikon TC's protrudes too far and the rear element of your zoom will possibly collide with that front element of the TC making garbage of your lens and TC. 2. Tele-extenders will cost you varying degrees of f/stops depending on the magnification of the TC. Save your money for the lens you want. You will be happier in the long run. (note there are some TC's not by Nikon that work around the extension problem but I'm not sure I would bother.)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've used the Kenko 1.4X TC with good results. From comparisons I posted here, sharpness seemed better with the extended. You're getting 40% more reach for about $125, and it will probably work on any lens you have.

brent46 Loc: Grand Island, NY

If you are on a budget look at a used Nikon 300mm f4.5 ai lens. It is manual focus and will work on your 7100 in A or M. The cameras focus indicator will work with it. It will give you a 450mm equivalent or 585mm in the crop mode. These lenses can be found on Ebay in good condition for $125 to $150.

CLF Loc: Raleigh, NC

Jabe, I bought the similar kit last year except it is a Canon and I understand your frustration. I took my time, fought off GAS and ended up getting a 50-500mm Sigma lens for $350 (used of course). I find my photos to be sharp and since this lens has no image stabilization I always use a tripod. In another section of UHH (Close up) you can find a lot of photos I have taken with the lens and the associated comments. I love the lens for it's sharpness and I have learned how to get the most out of it.

What I am suggesting is take your time and keep searching for what you want and you will find it in the used market. I wanted a good (top of the line) Macro lens and considered 3 of the best quality you can want. They were a Canon, Sigma and Tamaron lenses. Finally found one at KEH for $487 and I swear it is a new lens. The box etc all appear as never really used. Local shops had them for the $900 (est) list price minus the $350 mfg rebate. That was around $175 more than what I paid. All of these numbers are from memory, the actuals are also in close up forum under (New Sigma 105mm). I currently own only I new lens, all the rest were bought used locally except the one from KEH.

Take your time, search Amazon for local used and the internet Camera Stores for used (KEH, B&H, Adorama).

Greg

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

The big lesson here is not to buy kits. Although the pricing is very attractive, many people tire of switching the lenses off and on or not having the single lens short or long enough. I am a big fan of 18-200, 18-250 and 18-300 walk around lenses. These are excellent choices for people getting serious about photography. You can then add lenses shorter or longer based upon your actual shooting needs. Another advantage is that you can go to Sigma and Tamron for cheaper versions of comparable quality. We the money saved, you can get better or other accessories than those bundled in the kit.