Teleconverter with tamron lens?

davedarave1

New member
Hey guys new to the forum, I have a Nikon d5000 with a tamron 70-300mm AF zoom lens with macro option.. it's nice for certain applications but when it comes to getting close ups of geese and ducks it's hard to get as close as I'd like. Can I use a tamron 2x teleconverter to get closer or will I sacrifice too much? Any input would be appreciated thanks! -Dave


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RocketCowboy

Senior Member
Howdy and welcome to Nikonites!

What's the max aperture or that 70-300 when zoomed out to 300mm? F/6.3? I don't think you'll be happy with 2x TC and manually focusing at that distance.

You might be better off looking for a used 150-600 mm zoom in the $600-800 range, to get the reach and still have the image quality you're after.

If I were to try a TC on the 70-300, I would probably only go wit the 1.4X TC which would still lose a full stop of light and put the AF in questionable territory if lighting wasn't bright.


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davedarave1

New member
Thanks for your fast response! Looks like I get an f of 5.6 when zoomed all the way out. I'm usually shooting in good lighting but I am very new to Dslr photography so I'm sure that'll change haha


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cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Welcome to the forum. I can't answer your question, but I think you should be able to look up compatibility specs online and see what the minimum aperture will be with the TC. The reason I ask about the compatibility is I have a Nikon 1.4 TC that is not compatible with my Nikon 70-300, but is compatible with my 200-500 Nikon lens. The TC does limit you to max aperture opening.
 

pforsell

Senior Member
As others have said, it is not doable for at least 3 reasons:

First of all, the Tamron teleconverters are only compatible with the Tamron 150-600 lens, not yours. And the Nikon teleconverters are not compatible either, you cannot even physically mount them to your lens.

Secondly, a teleconverter wastes light as it only enlarges the center portion of the image and discards the rest, thus it reduces the aperture of your lens. Using a 2x TC with your 70-300 that is f/5.6 in the long end will become a 140-600mm lens and having a f/11 aperture at 600 mm. No autofocus in any DSLR on this planet works with f/11, so it will be manual focus only. Seeing through your f/11 lens with your eyes will be hard too, the small aperture makes the viewfinder very dim. So, not even reliable manual focusing, but mainly guesswork.

Thirdly, to add insult to injury, teleconverters magnify lens aberrations, like softness and CA, and thus it is recommended to stop the lens down a stop or two when using a TC. Stopping your now f/11 lens to f/16 to fight the aberrations and to regain some sharpness will require you to boost ISO quite a bit. Calculating quickly with the sunny-16 rule you'd need to go all the way to ISO 3200 in bright daylight to be able to hold at least 1/1600 sec shutter speed. And if you're trying to shoot something moving, then even higher shutter speeds (and ISO values) are needed.

Long reach with good image quality and reliable autofocus requires a different lens altogether.
 

davedarave1

New member
Couldn't get any more clear! Thank you.. looks like I'm gonna have to start saving for another new lens in the future


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STM

Senior Member
pforsell your maligning of teleconverters is to a great extent misplaced. True, they will magnify lens flaws but when properly used with a high quality prime, they can still produce some outstanding images. I use all older AI/AIS Nikkors, several 30 years old and the TC-14B and TC-300. Both of these TC's are very high quality. Look at the last 20 -30 or so images in my gallery. Most were taken with my 600mm f/4 ED-IF or 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF Nikkors and an older D300 (when the D700 FX does not provide quite the "horsepower" of the DX crop). I will stack the quality of these images up against any images on this site.

Case in point.......D300 600mm f/4 and TC-300
 

Sarum Stroller

New member
To my surprise, my SP 'Superior Quality' Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 VC works surprisingly well with my Sigma Apo 1.4 converter! This gave me an equivalent of 560mm on DX D7000 and the Tamron's renowned and excellent VC really reigned in camera shake. BUT, I still wouldn't use AF, would stop down to f11 and only use in bright conditions with high contrast situations. I cannot answer regarding a 2 times converter (even more doubtful quality, slower too and the Sigma Apo 1.4 is a known quality item) and I think that you probably have the much cheaper Tamron 70-300mm too, with which it's difficult to get really sharp shots on its own above 200mm (I used to own one). So, as others have said, quality and compatibility doubtful - now, with my D7100, I prefer to use the 1.3x crop function on the camera in such conditions as it's always available.
 

pforsell

Senior Member
pforsell your maligning of teleconverters is to a great extent misplaced.

I had to go back to my post several times. I cannot find where I allegedly malign teleconverters. I actually have all three of them, TC14E III, TC-17E II and TC-20E III and I sometimes even use them stacked getting "TC-28E" and "TC-34E."

I only use them with three lenses though, AFS 200/2 VR2, AFS 300/2.8VR and AFS 400/2.8VR and never with a zoom of any kind, and never with a variable aperture lens with f/5.6 maximum aperture.

I answered specifically to the OP's question and using teleconverters with his lens. I maligned nothing and all I wrote is true and accurate.

What spurred your attack on me?
 
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STM

Senior Member
I had to go back to my post several times. I cannot find where I allegedly malign teleconverters. I actually have all three of them, TC14E III, TC-17E II and TC-20E III and I sometimes even use them stacked getting "TC-28E" and "TC-34E."

I only use them with three lenses though, AFS 200/2 VR2, AFS 300/2.8VR and AFS 400/2.8VR and never with a zoom of any kind, and never with a variable aperture lens with f/5.6 maximum aperture.

I answered specifically to the OP's question and using teleconverters with his lens. I maligned nothing and all I wrote is true and accurate.

What spurred your attack on me?

Disagreeing with your statements is an attack? I'm sorry, I did not realize you were so thin skinned.
 

pforsell

Senior Member
Disagreeing with your statements is an attack? I'm sorry, I did not realize you were so thin skinned.


Disagreeing is okay! Please do. :)

But you didn't do that, you claimed that I said something that I didn't say, and that is dishonest. I didn't malign teleconverters, ever. On the contrary, I recommend them. Strongly! But not with the OP's lens as he specifically asked.

Please do not set up a straw man.



straw man
noun
noun: strawman



  1. an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument.
  2. a person regarded as having no substance or integrity.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Welcome to the forum. I can't answer your question, but I think you should be able to look up compatibility specs online and see what the minimum aperture will be with the TC. The reason I ask about the compatibility is I have a Nikon 1.4 TC that is not compatible with my Nikon 70-300, but is compatible with my 200-500 Nikon lens. The TC does limit you to max aperture opening.

↑↑ This is excellent info! ;)

Not all lenses are compatible with teleconverters even when they are made by the same manufacturer. The rear element (glass) on lenses can sometimes stick out further than usual. It's possible to scratch a rear element if it hits the glass on a teleconverter. When the rear element is scratched, it can be far more problematic than when the front glass is scratched. You don't want to find out the hard way.

That said, I have a cheap Tamron teleconverter that I bought new back in the 1990's. I haven't been able to find anything out about it and neither could my local store offer any info on it. I can't even trade it in on anything.

If you live in the continental US, you can have it if you will pay for the shipping. I can take a few photos of it if you are interested. There aren't any guarantees it will work with your lens though. I never bothered to call Tamron and ask since I don't own any Tamron lenses. Or if you want, I can look up the info on the lens and you can call Tamron to find out. You'd think they would know more about it than anyone.
 

STM

Senior Member
Disagreeing is okay! Please do. :)

But you didn't do that, you claimed that I said something that I didn't say, and that is dishonest. I didn't malign teleconverters, ever. On the contrary, I recommend them. Strongly! But not with the OP's lens as he specifically asked.

Please do not set up a straw man.



straw man
noun
noun: strawman



  1. an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument.
  2. a person regarded as having no substance or integrity.

If you want to continue this conversation I suggest you do it through PM because I am not going to get into a pissing contest with you on a public forum.
 
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