rob_johnston4

<p>Or I can get a Nikon 300mm F2.8 AF ED for 1/3 the price and reviews say it's better for cropping in smaller images within the frame.<br> £1000 for a 300mm fixed, or £3000 for a 200-400 for Surfing Photography. from experience does anyone have a view on which is the better choice?<br> I'd be using a 1.4 teleconvertor or even a 1.7 or 2.0 if applicable on whichever I get.<br> <br> many thanks.</p>

<p>just searching net. wow like this Thread and the quality on the 2x teleconverter. <br> caveat: I don't have a D4, I have a D300s<br> http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/41573436</p> <p>Then there is this post saying that a 2x is not good for sports. 1.4x sounds ok.</p> <p> http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/41573629</p> <p>Thing is that if I'm shooting a specific section of the set, I should be able to take the time to get the focus right, even take it off auto-focus and then sit there for 10 minutes shooting that specific spot "in focus"</p> <p>right?</p> <p>This article is good too.. but none even mention action shots...<br> http://www.richardpeters.co.uk/blog/2008/12/22/nikon-200-400-vr-14x-tc-review/</p>

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<p>So I've found a mint used 200-400 for 30% off that I think I've going to go for to shoot Longer Distance Surf Shots.<br> Which teleconverter will I most likely be the happiest with regards to "sharpness" when cropping in those super long 200-300 yard shots?</p> <p>the TC-20 AF-S Telecon III<br> or a 1.4x or a 1.7x<br> any experience feedback would be much appreciated.</p> <p>or if you think I'm making a mistake with this lens for closing in on up to 200+ yard shot, would be great to hear also.<br> many thanks,</p> <h1 id="ctl00_pnlMainContent_h1ProductTitle" > </h1>

<p>OK. think I'm decided on a Nikon 200-400 VR ED. <br> kind of expensive so going to play around with my Sigma 50-500 until I find a used one come up for sale.</p> <p>the 200-400 is big, but not too big,, will be great for Sports and is the natural addition to my 70-200 that I currently have.</p> <p>figure a 1.4x multiplier will work OK with it.</p>

<p>Just kind of realised this isn't a relevant shot to this query. It's a super zoomed in crop, over saturated, no subject matter etc.<br> If I were to say my hopes/dreams.. it would be to take a photo at 1/2 this distance and be able to crop in closely on an image very, very sharp with defined edges.. perhaps we are talking the 300-800mm .<br> I will put a couple up tomorrow that highlight what I'm after here based on existing shots. tks</p>

<p>OK. Will take me a day or so, but will dig up some pictures and make a post here. So that you can see what I'm talking about on my 50-500 or even my 70-200 VRII ED lens on heavy crop. what I am looking to improve upon.<br> *I'll also create a Album on here of a small plane flight I took over the FairWeather Mountain range in March. It was a 2 hour flight from Haines Alaska. - got to see some amazing, rarely seen areas.<br> With your guys Help I'm getting really confident that I'm going to nail some amazing surf shots this this Summer. The image I posted with my original post here of the Moroccan Shot wasn't half bad, was it??<br> ..thanks for putting up with my have-a-go sounding approach.. not trying to be flippant on any of this stuff!</p> <p>Actually went into PhotoBucket and found a few I took with my 50-500<br> http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o136/boomin33/Snowboarding/Val%20Thorens%20-%202012/8e9ebedd.jpg<br> This was taken in 2007, about 7:30 a.m. can't remember settings but did play around with them for 10 minutes to see what came out best. This was about a Mile from my Apartment balcony.. perhaps more like 2 miles. I then had to zoom in/crop on Photoshop a lot even with the 500mm.<br> I'm looking for a lense that will be much sharper at this sort of distance, or even half this distance.<br> Here's one that shows the sort of distance we're talking about.<br> http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o136/boomin33/Snowboarding/Val%20Thorens%20-%202012/DSC_3496-1.jpg</p>

<p>OK. Will take me a day or so, but will dig up some pictures and make a post here. <br> I'll also create a Album on here of a small plane flight I took over the FairWeather Mountain range in March. It was a 2 hour flight from Haines Alaska. - got to see some amazing, rarely seen areas.<br> With your guys Help I'm getting really confident that I'm going to nail some amazing surf shots this this Summer. The image I posted with my original post here of the Moroccan Shot wasn't half bad, was it??<br> ..thanks for putting up with my have-a-go sounding approach.. not trying to be flippant on any of this stuff!</p>

<p>Hey Guys.. many thanks on the comments. greatly appreciated. I will take all on board.<br> agree fully with comments. going to spend more time getting things dialed this summer. </p> <p>forgot to mention I also have a 50-500 Sigma.. but haven't been overly impressed with the results on cropped long distance. (? 1000 metre shots of Skiers/Snowboarders doing 1st descents cross canyon from me)</p>

<p>One question I have what sort of results you guy think I might get with a 5.6 200-400. <br> gut feel is that I wont be happy with the sharpness on any cropping of shots I do. I can see most of my shots being between the 200 - 400 metres distance range.</p>

<p>here's a used one I could get into at a discount.<br> ebay 400mm 2.8 II ED currently at £1200 figure it won't go a whole lot higher..<br> <br /> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NIKON-AF-S-NIKKOR-400mm-f-2-8D-II-ED-LENS-TRUNK-CASE-GOOD-CONDITION-RN7175-/390851799467?pt=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item5b009529ab</p>

<p>About to Move to Biarritz France for a 2nd season of surfing and want to get a lens that will be good for shooting 300 metre+ offshore breaks from the Shore. These will be big waves and want to treat some of my friends to photos of themselves.</p> <p>So far based on research think I'm going to go for a 400mm 2.8 with a 1.4 converter. Was going to get one of the older and somewhat cheaper ones on ebay or to be honest, If I needed to could just fork out the tremendous amount of cash and buy a brand new VR 2.8 one.</p> <p>I want Fast glass as I will be cropping, photshoping, etc.. so need the biggest cleanest image to start with. My eyesight is going a bit, so AutoFocus would be a good idea!</p> <p><strong>thought I'd come on here for suggestions based on proven experience..</strong><br> <strong> </strong><br> Worryingly; I Went for a Month of Heli-Boarding in March in Alaska and in route one of my professional photographer friends in Salt Lake told me to ditch the Nikon and get a Canon as the processor is better.<br> PUH!? I did get quite a few amazing shots in Alaska.. but spent hours on Photoshop correcting my bad decisions on settings.</p> <p>I've just dropped a fair amount of cash on this current Set up a couple years back. sure I got deals on each as bought used on ebay. but the process of changing over to Canon wasn't an appealing one.<br> <strong>Current Set-up</strong><br> <strong>Nikon D300s</strong><br> <strong>AF Fisheye 10.5mm 2.8 ED</strong><br> <strong>AF-s 24.70 2.8 ED</strong><br> <strong>AF-S VR 70-200 2.8G</strong><br> Frustratingly I took much more consitent, better photos with my D70 that I bought in 2002 than I do with this D300s.<br> After a couple years of ownership still Dialling in the best settings and regularly have to spend time on photoshop to correct images ( pretty embarrassing to admit )</p> <p>background<br> Although I've been shooting pictures since the mid 90's and even managed to get in a few magazines on the Snowboarding front... I'm a pretty hapless photographer. In the 90's I used a N90s and spent $1000s developing film that came out useless ( never invested in a Light Meter! )<br> Fast forward to 2011 when I decided to get back into a camera. bought a D300s, and the best glass I thought I could find. <br> Now I want a super Long Lens to capture some Surfing shots this Season. I am buying a professional tripod, fluid head etc. to deal with the weight.</p> <p>Constructive Thoughts? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.</p> <p>I uploaded a couple images into my gallery so you can see a little of my style. results as of late.</p><div></div>