Barry Clemmons Photography Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 <p>Received the new TC-14E III late last week and got a chance to play with it today for about 10 minutes. I paired it with the new 80-400mm G lens with VR on. I put the combination on my D7100 and got a few quick shots. I am posting one that was taken handheld at f/8 (of course), 1/200 sec and ISO 400. The posted shot has been cropped slightly (about 30%), so keep that in mind. I will leave it up to each reader to determine whether the quality is what they would expect, but for such a quick shot taken handheld I was pleased. Post processing was just my standard sharpening using Capture NX2.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 <p>Thanks Barry.</p> <p>Have you had a chance to compare the TC-14e III against the older TC-14e or TC-14e II? The two earlier versions are optically identical.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Clemmons Photography Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 <p>Shun, I will try to do that tomorrow if I can get a few minutes during the day. I have the TC-14E II and will compare the two on a common target. In the next week or so I also want to try it with my 600mm on the D7100.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two23 Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 <p>Use a tripod with VR turned off. Otherwise, you are just testing how well you can handhold. The D7100 will focus in light levels as low as f8, one of the few cameras that can do that.</p> <p>Kent in SD</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 <p>The 80-400mm/f4.5-5.6 AF-S VR has excellent VR. I have sample images captured @ 400mm down to 1/20 sec hand held, and I still got reasonable results. However, typically for wildlife photography, you use 1/1000 sec or faster to freeze action so that camera shake is not really a concern.</p> <p>The problem is that with the 1.4x TC, you are dealing with a very slow 560mm, f8 lens. You'll be using somewhat high ISO in order to have 1/1000 sec and f8 when the angle of sun (sun light) is low.</p> <p>The older TC-14E/TC-14E II has been very good. I wonder how much version III can improve things.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Clemmons Photography Posted September 11, 2014 Author Share Posted September 11, 2014 <p>I will try to get some test shots with both the TC II and TC III later today. It is very overcast here today, so I may try to do some shots inside on a tripod. I will also use the tripod outside as Kent suggested weather permitting.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 <p>Thanks in advance, Barry. The more interesting test will be with a 300mm/f2.8, 600mm/f4, etc.</p> <p>AF is going to be iffy at maximum f8 even under bright sunlight and the latest DSLRs such as the D4S, D810, and D7100. So AF accuracy is likely going to dominate the quality when used with the 80-400mm f5.6 on the 400mm end.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Clemmons Photography Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share Posted September 12, 2014 <p>I was able tonight to get some comparison shots of the TC-14E II vs the TC-14E III. I used both on a D7100 with the new 80-400mm VR lens. I mounted them on a tripod and turned VR off, manually focused and used MUP. Attached is the results using the TC-14E II. I will follow with the results using the new TC-14E III.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Clemmons Photography Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share Posted September 12, 2014 <p>This is the results using the TC-14E III and same method. Each shot is shown at 100% crop. I noticed that using the new III version delivers a cleaner background in my opinion, and also slightly brighter. I earlier shot a printed article taped to the wall and noticed the same results with that as well. Now whether it is enough to warrant the expense of the new version will be a personal decision. I will try this weekend to do some test shots using the new 300mm 2.8 VR lens, and time permitting the 600mm 4.0 as well.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 <p>Thanks Barry. Not sure I see any major difference, but typically zooms don't work well with TCs anyway. Hopefully we'll see a bigger difference on the 600mm AF-S.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Doo Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 <p>I have somewhat tested and tried to compare. I don't see any difference that can be considered credible - meaning, if there is any, it's probably due to other variables.<br /> <br /> So if my opinion means anything (note I am not a pixel peeper), I don't think there is a need to "upgrade" unless you really want that "<a href="http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid3323825687001?bckey=AQ~~,AAABwDLQrEk~,WnRkM0-jR4AUc-AAWyq0rtMUzl4enFG2&bctid=3571628109001">flourine coating</a>". I bought it only because I misplaced my TC-14EII - and now I am glad I found it and it's not bad to have both.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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