Telephoto lens and a doubler

Jerry1145

New member
Hello again my Nikonites. I need your sage guidance on what should be a simple issue. When I purchased my 7200, it was bundled in a kit with all sorts of good stuff. Two of the items were a doubler and a wide angle adapter. My telephoto is a Nikon AF 70-300 lens. My stoke of brilliance was to put the doubler on the telephoto and have a 140-600 lens. I did that and my first challenge came up. The lens would not focus on AF. I tried several combinations of focal lengths an it made no difference. So, I switched to manual focus. I still would not focus. My second issue came when I put my wide angle adapter on my Nikon 18-55 lens. It would focus and the pictures were good except for one little detail. Each picture I took with the wide angle adapter had a circular vignette around the edges. If I crop them out, I will loose some of what I was trying to do with a wide angle. So my friends, any ideas on what am I doing wrong and how can I fix it. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jerry
 

ryan20fun

Senior Member
If your "double" is a 2x Teleconverter:
The 70-300 then has a max aperture of over f8 with is the smallest max aperture that the D7200 will try to focus with.
How does the manual focus not work?, Are you using the focus ring(the one at the back)?

HTH
 

nickt

Senior Member
You won't really find people here using a screw on wide angle adapter. I believe they are more of a novelty item. I've never used one, so maybe not fair for me to say that. I do suspect they would provide some benefit on something like a 50mm prime if that's all you had. With your lens at 55, it might work, probably not as good as simply zooming out to 18mm. But using it at 18mm, I would expect vignetting because the lens is already scooping in light from a wide angle so the device itself is in the field of view. Even stacking two regular filters will cause vignetting on some lenses. It doesn't take much beyond the filter threads to get in the way.
Does the doubler screw onto the front of the lens as well or does it go behind the lens? Real 2x converters can give autofocus problems as mentioned above. It should focus manually. If it screws on the front, it might just be a magnifier, like a macro filter. That would prevent you from focusing to infinity but let you focus much closer on small subjects.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
So, you just got your first 'real' camera with a spiffy kit lens........ and you find you really like to get out and use it. Naturally, the first thing many newbies think of is getting a few more lenses in order to extend their imaging horizons.

And one set of lenses always seems to come up of every shoppers radar is those screw-on 'wide-angle and telephoto adapters' that clog up ebay and Amazon. My, my... what you can do with those! Amazing wide-angle vistas of sweeping landscapes, stunning interior architectural shots. And you can count the hairs on the leg of a bug at half a mile with that telephoto lens!

Ad%201.jpg


Ad%202.jpg


And all for less than $40! Why bother buying more high-priced lenses when you can get an über-wide and super-telephoto for less than the cost of dinner and a movie?


I'll be the first to admit it... whenever I think of someone dropping their hard-earned money on these I cringe. I make no bones about it.... I think they're garbage. But a while back, I thought, "Ya know, my experience is based on my buying into them back in the 70s. Maybe they're better today than I expect."

So, it's time to put my money where my mouth is. Yes, I ponied up and bought a pair. And here's what I got:

What%20I%20got.jpg


Each adapter came in a 3" cube box, with a little fake leather pouch, front (push-on) and rear (screw-on) caps, as well as the obligatory instruction manual. Hey! Now I'm all set. Sweeping vistas.... stunning wildlife shots.... fantastic interiors...... killer sports images.


Whoa.... let's not get ahead of ourselves. Like any lens, I wanna do a bit of testing before I commit any real shooting. So this morning I stopped by the state capital and took a few test shots. But first, let's start with a 'benchmark' image... one taken with the same lens I'm going to be tossing this adapters onto; my Nikkor AF-D 50mm/1.8. It's one of the three sharpest lenses in my stable. And like any nifty fifty, you can't beat the image quality.


01%20Benchmark%2050%20afd.jpg


OK, now for a bit of math. What I got was both a 0.43x and 2.2x converters. Now, when I was in school 50x0.43 ciphers out to 21.5. And 50x2.2, according to my pencil, is 110. Well, I don't have a 21.5mm nor a 110mm lens to compare these to, but I do have a Nikkor 20mm wide and 105mm Micro. Close enough, wouldn't you say?



So let's compare the 50mm AF Nikkor with the 0.43x converter mounted on it to the 20mm Nikkor.

02%2050%20with%2043x%20wide%20angle%20adapter.jpg


04%2020mm%20Nikkor%20Post.jpg



What?!?!?!? Wait just one dog-gone minute! Those images aren't even anywhere close to being the same field of view! Did I screw up somewhere? Is my math off? Did I get ripped off? Where's my 'sweeping vista'?!?!?


OK, check my math. 50x0.43. Yep. Still 21.5. My phone's calculator says so. So does my old-fashioned long-hand math with paper and pen. I should be seeing two images that are relatively close in terms of field of view.


Sigh. But no. I'm not. Well, let's not dwell on this any more. Let's move on to the 2.2x converter. Now, it's pretty hard to screw up a telephoto lens because by design, they're very simple optics. So I should be getting something close to my 105mm Nikkor Micro lens.

03%2050%20with%2022x%20telephoto%20adapter.jpg


05%20105%20Nikkor%20Post.jpg


Well, geez Louise! This is just about as far apart! 50x2.2 is still 110 in this universe, isn't it? Yea, I know they're teaching 'new math' to kids these days, but is this 'new math' that far off!?!?

OK, what gives?

Well, truth be told, what gives is these lenses don't even come close to their advertised magnification figures. So what 'focal lengths' do I really have? Well, good thing I brought along my own, custom-made side-by-side lens/camera comparitor.

sidebyside%20compariter.jpg


With this little $15 home-made rig, I can set two cameras side-by-side and compare two cameras and/or lenses with just one tripod. Pretty handle little gadget, huh?

If you wanna make your own, just saunter down to the local hardware store and buy a mending strap and a couple of ¼x20 knobs. Trust me, it's worth the time.

Anyhoo, with two identical cameras mounted side-by-side, aimed at the same scene, I can easily click the LiveView on and adjust one camera with my 24-120 Nikkor to match the field of view shown on the other camera with the 50mm and adapter.

And what 'focal lengths' do I end up with?

06%2024%20120%20at%2038%20post.jpg


07%2024%20120%20at%2066%20post.jpg


An anemic 38mm and 66mm. If you don't want to do the math, that works out to the wide-angle adapter being more like 0.76x and the telephoto adpater as 1.32x.

OK, so let's say we're willing to accept such measly changes in our field of view. Now for the real test..... how sharp are they? With my comparitor device, that's easy to do.

First, the 50mm Nikkor with the 0.43.....er..... 0.76x adapter v. the Nikkor 24-120 at 38mm. As with all lenses, the corners will be the tell. If the corners are sharp, you've got a good lens.

09%2024%20120%20at%2038%20corner%20post.jpg


08%20Corner%2050%20with%2043%20wide%20100%20crop.jpg


Would YOU accept this?


Now let's take off the wide-angle adapter and put on the 2.2x..... er..... 1.32x telephoto adapter and race it against the Nikkor 24-120 set to 66mm.

11%2024%20120%20at%2066%20100%20crop.jpg


10%20Corner%2050%20with%2022%20tele%20100%20crop.jpg


If you had just this last image to view, you'd have absolutely no idea what you're even looking at. I don't know about you, but this image would go straight to the trash bin.


So what's the take-away today? Save your dinner-and-movie money and apply it towards REAL lenses. Yes, those lenses will cost more, and be larger and heavier than the adapters. But the whole idea is to get decent images, isn't it? And as far I this little test demonstrates, those screw-on adapters are quite useless.
 
Last edited:

Bill16

Senior Member
I bought one and before trying it, I learned I wasted my money! So it sits in my no use bag, that I hope to never fill up! Lol :)
Be picky with lenses, by looking into how good others have found them to be at the very least! Good Nikkor af-d lenses are reasonably priced and works very well on your Nikon, and a good wide angle lens can be had for $400 for the Tokina 11-16! :)

My best advice is to learn what is good first before buying, and learn what will be best to cover your photography goals!
 

Geoffc

Senior Member
So, you just got your first 'real' camera with a spiffy kit lens........ and you find you really like to get out and use it. Naturally, the first thing many newbies think of is getting a few more lenses in order to extend their imaging horizons.

And one set of lenses always seems to come up of every shoppers radar is those screw-on 'wide-angle and telephoto adapters' that clog up ebay and Amazon. My, my... what you can do with those! Amazing wide-angle vistas of sweeping landscapes, stunning interior architectural shots. And you can count the hairs on the leg of a bug at half a mile with that telephoto lens!

Ad%201.jpg


Ad%202.jpg


And all for less than $40! Why bother buying more high-priced lenses when you can get an über-wide and super-telephoto for less than the cost of dinner and a movie?


I'll be the first to admit it... whenever I think of someone dropping their hard-earned money on these I cringe. I make no bones about it.... I think they're garbage. But a while back, I thought, "Ya know, my experience is based on my buying into them back in the 70s. Maybe they're better today than I expect."

So, it's time to put my money where my mouth is. Yes, I ponied up and bought a pair. And here's what I got:

What%20I%20got.jpg


Each adapter came in a 3" cube box, with a little fake leather pouch, front (push-on) and rear (screw-on) caps, as well as the obligatory instruction manual. Hey! Now I'm all set. Sweeping vistas.... stunning wildlife shots.... fantastic interiors...... killer sports images.


Whoa.... let's not get ahead of ourselves. Like any lens, I wanna do a bit of testing before I commit any real shooting. So this morning I stopped by the state capital and took a few test shots. But first, let's start with a 'benchmark' image... one taken with the same lens I'm going to be tossing this adapters onto; my Nikkor AF-D 50mm/1.8. It's one of the three sharpest lenses in my stable. And like any nifty fifty, you can't beat the image quality.


01%20Benchmark%2050%20afd.jpg


OK, now for a bit of math. What I got was both a 0.43x and 2.2x converters. Now, when I was in school 50x0.43 ciphers out to 21.5. And 50x2.2, according to my pencil, is 110. Well, I don't have a 21.5mm nor a 110mm lens to compare these to, but I do have a Nikkor 20mm wide and 105mm Micro. Close enough, wouldn't you say?



So let's compare the 50mm AF Nikkor with the 0.43x converter mounted on it to the 20mm Nikkor.

02%2050%20with%2043x%20wide%20angle%20adapter.jpg


04%2020mm%20Nikkor%20Post.jpg



What?!?!?!? Wait just one dog-gone minute! Those images aren't even anywhere close to being the same field of view! Did I screw up somewhere? Is my math off? Did I get ripped off? Where's my 'sweeping vista'?!?!?


OK, check my math. 50x0.43. Yep. Still 21.5. My phone's calculator says so. So does my old-fashioned long-hand math with paper and pen. I should be seeing two images that are relatively close in terms of field of view.


Sigh. But no. I'm not. Well, let's not dwell on this any more. Let's move on to the 2.2x converter. Now, it's pretty hard to screw up a telephoto lens because by design, they're very simple optics. So I should be getting something close to my 105mm Nikkor Micro lens.

03%2050%20with%2022x%20telephoto%20adapter.jpg


05%20105%20Nikkor%20Post.jpg


Well, geez Louise! This is just about as far apart! 50x2.2 is still 110 in this universe, isn't it? Yea, I know they're teaching 'new math' to kids these days, but is this 'new math' that far off!?!?

OK, what gives?

Well, truth be told, what gives is these lenses don't even come close to their advertised magnification figures. So what 'focal lengths' do I really have? Well, good thing I brought along my own, custom-made side-by-side lens/camera comparitor.

sidebyside%20compariter.jpg


With this little $15 home-made rig, I can set two cameras side-by-side and compare two cameras and/or lenses with just one tripod. Pretty handle little gadget, huh?

If you wanna make your own, just saunter down to the local hardware store and buy a mending strap and a couple of ¼x20 knobs. Trust me, it's worth the time.

Anyhoo, with two identical cameras mounted side-by-side, aimed at the same scene, I can easily click the LiveView on and adjust one camera with my 24-120 Nikkor to match the field of view shown on the other camera with the 50mm and adapter.

And what 'focal lengths' do I end up with?

06%2024%20120%20at%2038%20post.jpg


07%2024%20120%20at%2066%20post.jpg


An anemic 38mm and 66mm. If you don't want to do the math, that works out to the wide-angle adapter being more like 0.76x and the telephoto adpater as 1.32x.

OK, so let's say we're willing to accept such measly changes in our field of view. Now for the real test..... how sharp are they? With my comparitor device, that's easy to do.

First, the 50mm Nikkor with the 0.43.....er..... 0.76x adapter v. the Nikkor 24-120 at 38mm. As with all lenses, the corners will be the tell. If the corners are sharp, you've got a good lens.

09%2024%20120%20at%2038%20corner%20post.jpg


08%20Corner%2050%20with%2043%20wide%20100%20crop.jpg


Would YOU accept this?


Now let's take off the wide-angle adapter and put on the 2.2x..... er..... 1.32x telephoto adapter and race it against the Nikkor 24-120 set to 66mm.

11%2024%20120%20at%2066%20100%20crop.jpg


10%20Corner%2050%20with%2022%20tele%20100%20crop.jpg


If you had just this last image to view, you'd have absolutely no idea what you're even looking at. I don't know about you, but this image would go straight to the trash bin.


So what's the take-away today? Save your dinner-and-movie money and apply it towards REAL lenses. Yes, those lenses will cost more, and be larger and heavier than the adapters. But the whole idea is to get decent images, isn't it? And as far I this little test demonstrates, those screw-on adapters are quite useless.

Great write up Sparky.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Jerry1145

New member
Thank you so much for the tutorial. Every thing you said hits home. As I said, these two "goodies" came with the kit so I didn't specifically buy them. That being said, you are correct in buying a decent lens rather than try to rig something up with bailing wire and duct tape. Jerry.
 

Jerry1145

New member
These "jewels" screw on the front. I have to now agree that they are more novelty items than serious pieces of equipment. When I purchased the kit, I (foolishly) assumed these "goodies" were somewhat matched with my camera. Not so. Thanks for the info. Jerry
 

Vincent

Senior Member
... But using it at 18mm, I would expect vignetting because the lens is already scooping in light from a wide angle so the device itself is in the field of view. Even stacking two regular filters will cause vignetting on some lenses. It doesn't take much beyond the filter threads to get in the way....

My experience exactly, I bought a good Cooking Z-Pro system to have no vignetting on ultra wide angle, well expect vignetting when adding something on ultra wide, it is difficult to avoid.
 

Whiskeyman

Senior Member
...Well, truth be told, what gives is these lenses don't even come close to their advertised magnification figures. So what 'focal lengths' do I really have? Well, good thing I brought along my own, custom-made side-by-side lens/camera comparitor.

...So what's the take-away today? Save your dinner-and-movie money and apply it towards REAL lenses. Yes, those lenses will cost more, and be larger and heavier than the adapters. But the whole idea is to get decent images, isn't it? And as far I this little test demonstrates, those screw-on adapters are quite useless.

Caveat emptor!! Great test, review and advice, Sparky!

WM
 
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