How can I improve my range of glass

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Rorie

Senior Member
I have a D90 which I take everywhere and hence, want lenses that do everything. So I have the lenses below

Tokina 11-16 f2.8 (for my panoramics)
Nikon 18-105 f3.5 (general use)
nikon 50mm f1.4 (for low light)
nikon 70-300 f4.5 (wildlife etc)

but my 70-300 always seems too short in focal length! I can never get zoomed in enough on wildlife.

although I sell my work in a few galleries, I would class my photography as a hobby, so spending thousands on lenses is a no go.

I was looking for a lens with a longer focal length, but they don't seem so regularly available.... 300 seems to be it, with 200mm being the norm. So what am I missing? And any suggestions for how I can zoom in more without spending thousands?
 
B

Bill16

Senior Member
fotojack said:
Get extension tubes for your 70-300. Cheaper than buying a 500mm lens for what you want to do.
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Sounds like a great alternative. But is there any issues about light bleeding through the lock tab on the extension tubes? I read that there was this issue, but I'm too much of a beginner to know if what I read was true or not. It was the vivitar brand that was being singled out the most.
​I am really interested in the extension tube option too. :)
 
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jwstl

Senior Member
Why extension tubes? Extension tubes allow for closer focusing for macro work. I believe the OP is looking for longer reach so I would think teleconverters would be a better choice. Although I'm not sure which converters if any work on the 70-300.
 
R

Rorie

Senior Member
Thanks for the replies, but yeh, it's to extend my 300mm, all extension tubes I can find are for macro....
i did wonder about teleconverters, but I heard they are pretty poor quality?
I know the DX sensor has an effect... But I can't remember what!
 
W

WhiteLight

Senior Member
There are different types of tele-converters & as far as i know the 70-300 is not compatible with TCs

Generally speaking, depending on whether you get a 1.4, 1.7 or 2.0 TC, there will be a variable drop in IQ, with the 1.4 having the least & the 2.0 having maximum loss of quality
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
Yup, my bad. I was thinking of extended range. TC's is the way to go, but yes, IQ suffers. Sorry about that. I screw up once in a while. :)
 
F

fotojack

Senior Member
RockyNH said:
Not often thank goodness!! :) BTW, like the new Avatar...

Pat in NH
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hehehe..yeah, not often! :) Thanks, Pat. :)

That's actually my trademarked avatar. I used to use it on here when I first came into Nikonites many moons ago. I thought I'd put it back on instead of my ugly mug! ;)
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
donaldjledet said:
Jack, been wanting to ask, how is everything going in Calgary since the flooding?
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Almost back to normal now. The Stampede started today, the grounds are open, people are partying, still lots of homes in cleanup stage. I haven't personally been affected, as I'm on high ground.
 
Mycenius

Mycenius

Senior Member
Rorie said:
I have a D90 which I take everywhere and hence, want lenses that do everything. So I have the lenses below

....
nikon 70-300 f4.5 (wildlife etc)

but my 70-300 always seems too short in focal length! I can never get zoomed in enough on wildlife.
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OK - so unless I have missed the boat the 70-300 is not a DX lens, so when mounted on your D90 (which is DX format) it is actually equivalent to a 105-450mm - so if 450mm is proving insufficient it sounds like you need to go to a true Telepoto lens of some sort...? At least that's how I would see it - I wouldn't bother mucking around with TCs...?

e.g. AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF or similar which is also 450mm on the D90 but has slightly better magnification than the 70-300 does at that distance (and should be much sharper).

You can also look at doing a 'digital zoom' in post-processing by cropping your images down a bit... The 12MP on the D90 gives you enough to do this unless you want to print it very large...

Otherwise you need to use Shanks' (Pony) Zoom and get physically closer to your subjects! :D ;)
 
R

Rorie

Senior Member
Thanks for the info folks. The last comment about the DX sensor is a good point. The lens says 'ED' rather than DX or FX, so not sure what that means...
'Getting closer' is the cheaper and lighter weight way of getting a better zoom, but not always practical :/

Would a teleconverter not work with a DX sensor? I.e would it not push me to 2x450mm=900mm?! Or is that too good to be true haha.

I do crop a lot when I use my 70-300mm, but it's not good enough- image is just too small a lot of the time.
 
Mycenius

Mycenius

Senior Member
Rorie said:
Thanks for the info folks. The last comment about the DX sensor is a good point. The lens says 'ED' rather than DX or FX, so not sure what that means...
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ED doesn't relate to the format Rorie (it means Extra-Low Dispersion glass). All lens are FX (Full Format/35mm Equivalent) unless tagged as DX (Digital Format). When a FX lens (i.e. a non-DX lens) is used on a DX body (like the D90) you get a x1.5 effect (with Nikons, on Canon's I think it's x1.6 IIRC).

There is a full glossary here: https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9919/~/glossary-of-nikkor-lens-terms

Rorie said:
'Getting closer' is the cheaper and lighter weight way of getting a better zoom, but not always practical :/
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Oh yes, certainly - just put it out there 'tongue-in-cheek' just in case you were standing back... :)

Rorie said:
Would a teleconverter not work with a DX sensor? I.e would it not push me to 2x450mm=900mm?! Or is that too good to be true haha.
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No I'm not saying that :) I'm just saying if you have a 70-300 on a DX body and are shooting constantly out at 300mm (i.e. 450mm equivalent) I would have thought you'd be better served (ignoring financial considerations) to try and get a lens that has more zoom/magnification, than using TC's...? Yes you could get the equivalent of 900mm if the 70-300 is compatible - but there are side effects to using TC's from what I've read - and are you sure the extra 'reach' will solve the issue? :)

Rorie said:
I do crop a lot when I use my 70-300mm, but it's not good enough- image is just too small a lot of the time.
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Right. You must be shooting a long distance for some of your subjects?

​:)
 
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R

Rorie

Senior Member
Thanks for the info.

Don't worry, I know it's tounge and cheek! I am surprised the comment of 'walk closer' took so long.

I am aware Nikon havemade the connection for the teleconverter so it can fit on only a couple lenses... I don't know why.

I am photographing the likes of birds of pray, stags and deer up the mountains, parrots in brazil etc

So I guess the question is:

A) is there a teleconverter that will fit my lens, and why do Nikon not want us to do it

B) should I just buy a new lens? Of so, what one? Clearly I want a large magnification, small size and low price.... Possible?! Haha
 
Mycenius

Mycenius

Senior Member
Rorie said:
Thanks for the info.
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No worries - Ken Rockwell also has a good glossary on the subject: Nikkor Lens Technology

Rorie said:
Don't worry, I know it's tounge and cheek! I am surprised the comment of 'walk closer' took so long.
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;)

Rorie said:
I am aware Nikon havemade the connection for the teleconverter so it can fit on only a couple lenses... I don't know why.

I am photographing the likes of birds of pray, stags and deer up the mountains, parrots in brazil etc

So I guess the question is:

A) is there a teleconverter that will fit my lens, and why do Nikon not want us to do it

B) should I just buy a new lens? Of so, what one? Clearly I want a large magnification, small size and low price.... Possible?! Haha
Click to expand...

Yep - your 70-300 can't be mounted on the Nikon TC-17E (x1.7), or TC-20E (x2.0) TCs. Don't think it'll go on TC-14E (x1.4) either. I looked at all these myself a few weeks ago when I first started looking at whether to buy a 70-300 or 70-200 zoom, etc. Check out Ken Rockwell (again) for info on this: Nikon Nikkor Lenses

I don't think you will find any Nikon TCs that will work with the 70-300, nor any of the DX lenses... Only the big Telephotos - don't know much about 3rd party stuff but again KR above has some brief (an very old) comments on them: Teleconverters © 2004 KenRockwell.com
 
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grandpaw

Senior Member
I have the Nikon 70-300VR and my Nikon 2E III 2x teleconverter will NOT go on it. I also have the Nikon 70-200VR F2.8 which it works on just fine. I think the reason that they make the TC work on the F2.8 70-200 and not the 70-300 is because the lens is to slow. When you get to the middle and long end of the 70-300 the 2x TC would make it loose two stops of light and that is past what will work on a Nikon camera. With the 70-200vr F2.8 it makes it jump from a F2.8 up to a F5.6 lens which will still work on a Nikon camera.

You may consider looking at the Sigma 150-500 lens. With the 1.5 crop factor 1.5 x 500mm that would give the equivalant of a 750mm lens at F5 to 6.3 and will work fine with your camera for under $1000
 
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