Nikon T16-A Autofocus Teleconverter for Ai-S Nikkor Lenses

Nikon TC-16A Autofocus Teleconverter for Ai-S Nikkor Lenses

One of these babies should be arriving hopefully tomorrow or Thursday....below are photos but not mine because I don't have it yet. This is an autofocus teleconverter custom modified to work with the latest Nikon DSLRs with internal motors to autofocus Ai-S lenses. It cannot focus the entire range of a lens, but one can choose a general focus manually (usually starting at infinity) and the autofocus converter will focus around that. Can't wait to try it out.

They look like tele-converters to me. I don't think this will work as advertised. There is just no way to make a manual focus lens focus by itself unless there is a motor to turn the focusing ring. I don't think it can be done internally. And any device that comes between the original lens mount and the camera will render infinity focusing impossible unless there is glass inside the adaptor, and, glass in the adapter equals loss of quality.

From KR:

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Well, fascinating. However, I do not believe this will work on my 400mm Ai-S. Why?

Well, how is it going to turn the focusing ring on a lens that wasn't designed to operate any other way but manual?

This TC must have a working, moving element inside. I am skeptical it will work, although I do not doubt that it does work on some cameras and lenses as Nikon intended.

Anyway, I am very curious to see what you find and how it turned out for you!! Please keep us updated.

Yes as shown in the photos it has it's own Nikon coated moving elements to autofocus so it doesn't have to move the manual focus ring, nor could it. In that way one chooses the general focus point and this converter willfocus around that with a pretty reasonable range. Here's another more informative writeup on the original teleconverter:

Nikon TC-16A AF-Teleconverter

And this particular one was custom modified in Japan to work on the latest DSLRs.

Also, it is not intended for G lenses or AF-D lenses, only Ai-S.

For you do-it-yourselfers out there:

foolography » Modify TC-16A

But I do not know for sure if this was the exact method of how mine was modified because this link is for use of it with the D200 (although it also says it worked with the D300 and D700). But I do know it was made to work with any of the recent cameras with the internal focus motor.

Well, after doing some reading and researching, this 16A TC seems to have some legs. Really curious to hear some hands on experience on it. Meanwhile, I have purchased a manual, Nikon 301 2x Teleconverter for my 400mm f3.5 lens. It is all rain and snow here for the next 3-4 days so I had to resort to some kitchen photography.

Here are a couple of test images:

This is simple shot of some film on a glass table:

Tripod
D800
Nikon 400mm f3.5
Nikon 301 2x Teleconverter (new purchase)

Ilford B&W film packages on a glass table top lit by tungsten lighting from above

f8
1"s exposure
ISO 200

Camera timer engaged to release shutter


Different setup than above

Nikon D800
NIkon 400mm f3.5
Nikon 301 2x Teleconverter

Nikon SB-910
Set up on table below the plant aimed up at the flower
- triggered remotely

2x Aputure Trigmaster Plus remote triggers (one on camera in hot shoe, one on flash)

Tripod

Camera timer engaged to release shutter

1/250s
f8
ISO 200

8% crop (full frame, no image cropping)

Some detail at 50% crop!!

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So I got it today and wow. On my 300 f/2.8 (which I also got today) I was focusing on far away landscape and the converter would just BOOM jump into focus as fast as anything I've seen from a D or G or DX lens. Even cooler was that the autofocus indicators in the viewfinder of my D800 were finding subject points with the black LCD squares popping up just as if it was an AF-S lens. Of course I had to manually focus to a certain point but then around that point is where one really needs the autofocus for fine focusing and it worked great. Of course, the teleconverter relies solely on the D800 for focusing so it will be as good as the D800 autofocus system. I'll need to do more testing because it was reading a minimum aperture of f4 while the aperture ring on the lens itself is set to f22. But the few handheld test photos I took turned out great. I'll assess the relative loss in quality of the converter as well at some point.

Photowyzard said:

Well, after doing some reading and researching, this 16A TC seems to have some legs. Really curious to hear some hands on experience on it. Meanwhile, I have purchased a manual, Nikon 301 2x Teleconverter for my 400mm f3.5 lens. It is all rain and snow here for the next 3-4 days so I had to resort to some kitchen photography.
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This is incredible. You are shooting 800 mm in your kitchen? Doesn't the 2x increase the minimum focusing distance? Your kitchen must be 50 ft long.

Seriously though, the sharpness on those flowers is amazing with that combination. What's funny was I was also going to test my 300 with 1.6 converter in my kitchen.

crycocyon said:

So I got it today and wow. On my 300 f/2.8 (which I also got today) I was focusing on far away landscape and the converter would just BOOM jump into focus as fast as anything I've seen from a D or G or DX lens. Even cooler was that the autofocus indicators in the viewfinder of my D800 were finding subject points with the black LCD squares popping up just as if it was an AF-S lens. Of course I had to manually focus to a certain point but then around that point is where one really needs the autofocus for fine focusing and it worked great. Of course, the teleconverter relies solely on the D800 for focusing so it will be as good as the D800 autofocus system. I'll need to do more testing because it was reading a minimum aperture of f4 while the aperture ring on the lens itself is set to f22. But the few handheld test photos I took turned out great. I'll assess the relative loss in quality of the converter as well at some point.

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Well, I'm glad I was wrong and that it does work as advertised. I just didn't think this was possible. So I won't die today since I learned something new.
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A bit more information about this AF converter. It can work with the D1, D2, D3, D4, D7000, D200, D300, D300S, D700, D800 and D600. It can be used in P, A, S and M modes with any of the three metering modes (weighted, centered and spot). EXIF shows a focal length of 145mm, aperture shows f4-32 (assuming a maximum aperture is f2.8). Flash can be used in TTL mode. EV may be adjusted ±0.3-0.7. In focus indicator with light up and beep when the subject is in focus.

Here is a UTube vid of it in action:

Nikon TC-16A modification (Ultimate Hack) - YouTube

Marcel said:

Well, I'm glad I was wrong and that it does work as advertised. I just didn't think this was possible. So I won't die today since I learned something new.
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That's the best part about photography....always new things to learn.

Wow, I didn't know this was possible. I loved my Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR Nikkor Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras, but I wished I could focus closer and go wider. I loved my Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens, but often wished it had more reach. After selling both to have an affair with the Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM SLD Ultra Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital DSLR Camera, which while fun was doomed to be a short term thing. Anyway, I always wished there could be such a lens, and now it's here. Remarkably the length of time from first seemingly reputable rumor to announcement to being in my hands.

I grabbed this to take the place of having to carry both my Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S ED VR II Nikkor Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon DX-Format Digital SLR Cameras and Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR and needing to switch lenses in order to capture certain shots, as well as opening up the possibility of contaminants infiltrating my gear during the change-out. What a dream! No it is not classed (nor priced) as a pro lens and will not outperform a prime lens but it certainly is great glass.

I have a TC-16A from my F4 days but never really used it. I played around with it this evening for a little while on the D7000. I did not test it on the D3000, but if it works on the D7000, that is just fine for me. Personally, I don't care if it does not autofocus with my lenses, as long as I can focus my lenses manually and get proper exposure. I plan on playing with it this weekend and doing some real, documented testing.

In my informal testing (photos later, during the weekend). It will focus properly with any of my af lenses with a focal length of 85mm or later. It's a killer with the AF 105 f/2.8 micro-Nikkor. It even works with my old Tamron 70-210mm f/3.8-4 with the AIS mount. So far, it seems to meter okay, but I want to test it in daylight, outside. My house is not that big. From my very casual test this evening, it seems to meter properly with the 85, 105, and 70-210mm lenses. The metering works the same way as it does with any of the AIS lenses. Metering even seems to work well with the on-camera flash, as well as with the SB-600 flash unit.

I have not had the teleconverter modified, nor do I intend to. I just don't think it's worth it. I can handle manual focus. I also do not plan on using it all that much. It sure makes for a very heavy camera to lug around, especially with that old Tamron tank lens.

More later.

Okay, here is a brief test using the Nikon TC-16A teleconverter on my D7000. The lens I used is a well-aged Tamron 70-210 f/3.8-4 zoom lens. I used to the on-camera flash. The original images were shot in RAW and the only post processing done was exporting to JPG. I don't remember the aperture setting on the lens but I think it was f/6.3. It was late last night when I did this. Focus was set at manual, ISO 400, and although the exposure meter was set to matrix metering on the camera, the camera defaulted to center-weighted. All images were taken hand-held, no tripod. Note the shallow depth of field but the focus was accurate. The focus point was what I focused on. I was very pleased with the results. The focal length on the lens was about 170.

crycocyon said:

So I got it today and wow. On my 300 f/2.8 (which I also got today) I was focusing on far away landscape and the converter would just BOOM jump into focus as fast as anything I've seen from a D or G or DX lens. Even cooler was that the autofocus indicators in the viewfinder of my D800 were finding subject points with the black LCD squares popping up just as if it was an AF-S lens. Of course I had to manually focus to a certain point but then around that point is where one really needs the autofocus for fine focusing and it worked great. Of course, the teleconverter relies solely on the D800 for focusing so it will be as good as the D800 autofocus system. I'll need to do more testing because it was reading a minimum aperture of f4 while the aperture ring on the lens itself is set to f22. But the few handheld test photos I took turned out great. I'll assess the relative loss in quality of the converter as well at some point.

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I just ordered one today for use on my 300mm f/4.5 edif, 300mm f/2.8, and 400mm f/3.5. I may just hold off on the purchase of that 200-500 vr lens now.

Hooray! Glad you're enjoying the tc 16a. I have an unmodified tc16a and love it.Love it on my AI, s lenses. Turns the 180 f/2.8 into 288 with 1 1/3 stop loss. It works on my D7100,F5, F4, N90 neat. I've actually got some neat Moon shots with this franken lens set up--300mm f/4.5 +tc-301 + tc16 for a reach of 960 mm and that's without the crop factor on the 7100.. Anyway enjoy your convertor.

coolbus18 said:

Hooray! Glad you're enjoying the tc 16a. I have an unmodified tc16a and love it.Love it on my AI, s lenses. Turns the 180 f/2.8 into 288 with 1 1/3 stop loss. It works on my D7100,F5, F4, N90 neat. I've actually got some neat Moon shots with this franken lens set up--300mm f/4.5 +tc-301 + tc16 for a reach of 960 mm and that's without the crop factor on the 7100.. Anyway enjoy your convertor.

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You're not supposed to use a TC300 on a f/4.5 (too many elements). The TC200 works much better even though the lens is more than 200mm. Will that lens auto focus with a 1.4 stacked with 1.6?

I'm hoping my tc 1.6 comes in the mail today. I'm ready to shoot.