photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Bozsik Loc: Orangevale, California

Nobody that I know of. I don't believe I have ever read or heard they don't work. The use of one will always degrade the overal quality of the lens by itself though. The purchase price for the lens you are using it with is over 10k. I would hope the degredation on the matched combo, the $500.00 more, would perform adaquately. The difficulty with the 600mm has more to due with technique by the photographer than the equipment itself.
Thank you for sharing your image.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Great shot Dave.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

By "not work" I mean they do more damage then good. Using them at higher f-stop minimizes the degradation.

Here is another I took just a few minutes ago using the same 840mm combo, f/8, 1/500. Cranking up the ISO and f-stop helps.

Edit#########
I just looked on eBay it looks like you can buy them all day long for 6K$. Maybe 10$ was what they were going for when they were new?

BTW I got lucky with that lens and did not pay near that much for it. Since then it's been "Discovered" by others and the price is going up. I tell people that A-Mount is dead; don't buy any of those junk Minolta lenses. LOL

You are right it being all about the skill of the photographer using them. They knock the difficulty of taking a photo to whole new level. There was much to learn.

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Bozsik Loc: Orangevale, California

You are getting results that you enjoy and that it what counts. Have fun with your setup. I'll just sit back and enjoy your posts. Thanks for sharing.

billbarcus Loc: IPNW

Very nice. I'm experimenting with a new 500 lens and a TC 1.4 Lots of eagles and water fowl in my neck of the woods but not a lot of winter sun. Will see what happens. Hate cropping my stuff but may have no choice.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

You did not specify which 500mm lens you have. To me, just the "500mm" tends to indicates a low cost / high f-stop lens. The 1.4X TC of course going to add another f-stop. Good luck but you may have problems focusing such a combination. If you start with a well focused high mega pixel image you can get away with considerable cropping.

billbarcus Loc: IPNW

Thank you for the free photography 101 lesson.

Having shot pro & semi-pro for a number of years I didn't have a clue as to such elementary photo basics. And, as for your insinuation of my (or anybody else on UHH) shooting a 'cheap' 500 with a high f stop rating ... well, you know ... not everyone in the photo world can afford a $12,000 600mm f/4 lens coupled to a $500 TC for their arsenal ... while shooting Blue-jays @ 840mm @ a whopping f5.6 (more likely in DX Mode @1260mm f/5.6).

FYI. There are a lot of humble/polite folks here in UHH land with photo skills ranging from want-a-be's, to amateur, to serious hobbyists, to pros - all eager to share and learn. But, then again, there are some 'stuff-shirts' out there that can spend bucks like it grows on trees, and who also like to 'beat on their chests' while belittling others.

And, there are certain folks here who earn the honor of being added to my permanent, 'Ignore List.' You are the first to have received that rank.

Conrats.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Haven't had your coffee yet?

You are new and we (Dave) know almost nothing about you so starting with basics is a good choice. (As a teacher I learned to include everything needed to understand a lesson. Many kids needed it all and others could just skim over the parts they already knew.)

As to the cheap 500 lens thing, well we get a fair number of people who buy those cheap No Name mirror lenses etc and want to know how to make them perform like a high end pro lens. The people with the high end lenses also tend to make sure we know what lens it is. The others have no idea what those model numbers mean.
And as to putting Dave on your ignore list, your loss, among other things he has a technique that produces superb hummingbird and other small bird shots.

So, have a cup of coffee or tea if you drink those, sit quietly and get over it.
When I am feeling put upon and it seems like the world isn't treating me right I listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-8l8v3h1Bg

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

LOL. So I have been put on somebody's ignore list. When I put somebody on my ignore list I don't bother to inform them. I think he is trying to make a point, I'm not sure what it is? He must think I was talking down to him. He is correct. From his remarks I assumed he was a real beginner. I was trying to help him avoid the frustration of using a cheap 500mm mirror lens. He seems to be angry that I'm wealthy and can afford lenses that he can't. Too bad. I'm reminded my of an old girl friend I had when I was attended college in NYC. She was 19 years old and drop dead gorgeous. She worked as a bunny at the Play Boy Club in Manhattan. She dumped me for another man, a small time gangster 45 years older than her. I never really got totally over her, and always wondered how she was doing. Thanks to Facebook I found out. She is now a fat, sick old lady living in a run down house trailer. She has a drinking problem, smokes and lost every tooth in her head. Her good looks faded years ago. No one is interested her. We became Facebook friends for a short while. I sent her a photograph of my big beautiful home on a mountain top. She grew angry and un-friended me. Her and Bill, that makes two. LOL

BTW, I have a room in my home full of great lenses. Get over it! Being humble is not one of my virtues. (No need for it.) It looks like Bill has got that down pat.

Robert, I'm honored that you remember the work I was doing with humming birds a few years ago. I'll resume that in the Spring.

I'm attaching a photo of my home that I sent to my old girl friend that got her so mad. Eat you heart out Bill. Oh, he will not see this because he is ignoring me. For those of you who can tolerate me, I took the photos of the birds in my yard out that window on the second story in the corner of the house. I bought this house because my hobby is photography. There are hundreds of acres of forested land behind the house where deer and other animals live. They often peer in my windows. I took the attached deer photo with my 300mm f/2.8 lens hand held as it looked into my house.

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robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Seeing your pictures is what got me to try hummingbirds. But I do them by natural light or flash on high speed sync for the wings. I looked at all the hummers you posted and copied your tips on how you took the pictures so they are pretty well burned into my memory.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Thank you letting me know that. I recently found a man on the Internet who is taking photos of humming birds with the technique you are using. His work is brilliant! He lives in California and has hummers year round. All his photography work is great! His name is "Michael Colin Campbell" I'm sure if you do a Google search you will find him. He has inspired me to rethink some of the ways I do things. From looking at his photos and reading about what he does, I learned a lot. We can all learn from each other.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I'll look him up.
I am in Corona CA SE of Los Angeles and have hummers all year. The numbers vary from time to time and some people a few miles from me have a lot more than I do.
The month after my daughter graduated from UCLA (70 miles, my wife made grocery restock runs on a regular basis) I found that the largest population of resident hummers in So Cal was a garden maintained on campus by a UCLA professor - minimum of 200 resident hummers and usually around 250. The enclosed garden department of our local Lowe's Hardware has resident hummers who live inside the open courtyard. When I was asking about a plant one day a hummer came down, circled the lady's head, landed on her shoulder for about 5 seconds and took off. She said that was what they did if she was late using the mister to water the plants - they liked their daily shower.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Cute. I wish we had them year round.