Teleconverters for use with D80

[rauber]

As the subject infers, I have a D80. I'm looking into Teleconverters to use with 70-300mm ED AF-S Nikkor, 105mm

AF Micro Nikkor, 55-200mm AF-S Nikkor Nikon DX. One for all three or for each lens. I've read some excerpts that

2x is not good for the long lens. Pricey as they are, I will pay for improvements. Any thoughts? Pam

[Peter_in_PA]

A teleconverter will work poorly with all those lenses, if at all. They are too slow, and some TCs will damage those lenses.

The 105mm might work well with a TC, but I think that it would be silly to put a TC on that lens and degrade it's outstanding

image quality.

[eric_arnold]

teleconverters are designed to work with 2.8 or at worst f/4 lenses, not variable aperture lenses such as the 55-200 and 70-300 VR. as peter mentioned, adding a teleconverter will cause you to lose aperture stops (which can make AF difficult) and degrades image quality. IMO you'd be better off getting a 150mm or 180mm macro lens rather than putting a 1.4x or 1.7x TC on a 105.

[Two23]

You are wasting your money trying to put a TC on any of those lenses. And, none of Nikon's current TC models will even work on those lenses.

 

 

Kent in SD

[wpahnelas]

in addition to money, you would also be wasting your time trying a TC on these lenses. in theory a TC sound great. in practice, they are best suited to long, fast, fixed-focal length lenses. you can take some solace in knowing the 70-300 on the D80 sensor gives you the equivalent of 450mm with the 1.5 crop factor. forget gadgets and gimmicks on any of the lenses you mentioned.

[dangin]

most teleconverters will only work with focal lengths greater than 70mm. if you're doing macro work, be aware that your MFD (min focusing distance) will also increase. also, TC will cause you to loose anywhere from 1-2 stops depending on the TC. i have to agree with eric arnold and get another micro lens with greater range.

[Michael R Freeman]

><i>"most teleconverters will only work with focal lengths greater than 70mm. if you're doing macro work, be aware that your<b> MFD (min focusing distance) will also increase.</b>"</i><P>

No, the minimum focus distance does NOT decrease when you add a teleconverter to a lens. It remains the same. The reproduction ratio increases. This can actually be advantageous for macro work because, with a 2X teleconverter for example:<br>

a) at the minimum focus distance, a macro lens that before would give a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:1 will now give a maximum reproduction ratio of 2:1...

<br>or<br>

b) the lens can be used with the TC at an increased working distance to get the same reproduction ratio. So a 105mm macro lens that reaches 1:1 at 1.0ft (image plane to subject) on its own, can now reach 1:1 at 2.0ft if used with a 2X teleconverter. In other words, the lens is focused to a 1:2 ratio, and the 2X teleconverter doubles the image size to 1:1.<P>

Of course, this is really only of any value if you are using a high quality teleconverter that is well matched to the master lens. The AF-S Nikon teleconverters will not mate to the AF-Micro 105/2.8D, so you need to explore third party options such as the Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 DG.<P>

I'm in agreement with the other posters with regards to using a TC on the 55~200mm and 70~300mm. These lenses are not well suited to use with TC's, which is one reason why Nikon did not make them so that they would be compatible with their own TC's (the other being mechanical interference).