D800 1.2 Crop Mode + 1.4 TC

[jefflipsman]

<p>This is a math question. What do you get when you use a 1.4 teleconverter with the D800's 1.2 crop mode? An f/2.8 lens becomes an f/4 lens due to the TC, but what is the combined "magnification" or crop of the two modes? Do you simply multiply them to get a 1.68x factor?</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>Yes, the combined magnification factor is 1.68.</p>

[jefflipsman]

Thanks Dieter.

[frank_skomial]

<p>The 1.4 tele converter will pprovide the 1.4x magnification as compared to lens without the converter.</p>

<p>However, the 1.2x crop factor on D800 does not provide you with any magnification when compared to D800 in normal FX mode.</p>

<p>Multiplying magnification factor 1.4 from teleconverter with crop factor 1.2X from D800 sensor size masking does not make much sense. You will not get the 1.68 magnification, as you are multiplying apples by oranges...:)</p>

<p>FX cameras versus DX cameras, can possibly provide you with magnification caused by denser pixels in DX cameras, but comparing FX and 1.2x on the same D800 camera does not give you any magnification at all.</p>

<p>So correct answer to your question on D800 is magnification 1.4, provided by the tele-converter, regardless if in FX or 1,.2X or in 1.4X DX mode, on the same D800 camera.</p>

<p>The difference in magnifications and crop could come to play when comparing different cameras, different pixel counts, different sensor sizes, and different pixel densities, but never on the same camera.</p>

 

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>For once I agree with Frank. A crop is exactly what it says - a crop. It's not a magnification, since you're cutting down on the number of pixels. You might as well just shoot at full-frame and crop the image to suit afterwards.</p>

<p>When compared to what you'd get from a given lens alone, without converter and shot full-frame, a cropped and converted image will <em>appear</em> to be "magnified" by 1.68 times if blown up to the same physical size as the FF image. However the resulting IQ probably won't be as good as just using a 1.7x converter in the first place.</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>From: http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d800/features03.htm<br>

The D800/D800E offer four image area options: FX format (35.9 x 24.0 mm), 5:4 (30.0 x 24.0 mm), 1.2x (30.0 x 19.9 mm), and DX format (23.4 x 15.6 mm) with all cropped image areas visually masked in the viewfinder. DX format offers approx. 1.5x, and <strong>1.2x crop offers approx.1.2x telephoto effect</strong>.<br>

Thus an image taken with a 1.2x crop mode and a 1.4x TC will have (almost) the same FOV as an image taken with the 1.7x TC - but it will be a 25MP image instead of a 36MP one. The FOV reduction when using the 1.2x crop mode is real and results in an image that appears to be taken with a 1.2x longer focal lengths. The fact that you are throwing pixels away is irrelevant in the context of the OP's question.</p>

[alastair_anderson]

<p>Everyone's correct. Someone put it pretty well in another thread I thought. The greater pixel density of the D800 (compared to the D700) means that it's like getting an additional free tele lens. However given the cost of the D800 "free" is overstating it a bit!</p>

[jefflipsman]

<p>Thanks to everyone who answered my query. It was a purely mathematical question. The idea of crop or magnification was irrelevant, which is one reason I put the word "magnification" in quotes. I have been shooting water sports with a D700 at 5 FPS and a 1.4 TC to stretch my 200-400mm lens. To get 5 FPS on the D800 I need to use the 1.2x crop. That has an effect on the resulting photo. Whether you call it magnification or crop the effect is real and I needed to understand the math to decide if I wanted to use the 1.4 TC on top of the 1.2x crop. Regardless of nomenclature you need to account for the combined effects to make an informed decision. So the answer is 1.68x and I'll probably leave the 1.4 TC in the camera bag. This is good news. With the 1.2x crop I'll still have 25MP to work with in Photoshop. That's more than twice the pixels I had in post with the D700. Thank you Nikon! And thanks again to everyone who contributed an answer.</p>

[j michael sullivan]

<p>and don't forget you will be using the sweeter part of the lens too.</p>