is it possible to add a 2x teleconverter to a telephoto lens

hey guys bit new to this so hope im posting in the right area i have a nikon 3200 and a tamron 70-300 mm lens and was looking for something to enhance my long range shots
i saw that you can buy telephoto lenses and just wondered if this would actually work on a telephoto lens or not
if not is there any advince on lenses to buy that wont break the bank

many thanks

You can add teleconverters to your Tamron but not the Nikon versions so you will have to check if Tamron has a version that fits to your lens.

You have to keep in mind however that the increase in focal length comes at a price. With a 2x you will lose the ability to autofocus, require a lot of light and have to trade in a substantial amount of quality.

Welcome to the forum,i wouldnt advice adding a TC of any sort to that lens,you could look at things like the Sigma 50-500,150-500,150-600 or the tamron 150-600

Like [MENTION=31330]J-see[/MENTION] said, while jumping up to a 2x teleconverter sounds great ... that 70-300 is now a 140-600, the light that the lens lets in is also decreased to the point that autofocus no longer works. Image quality also suffer as a result of lower light and being an independent design (it's not designed considering all the specific design elements of your given lens). Consequently, in many cases you'll see a compromise with the 1.4 or 1.7x TC instead of the 2x.

I tried the Nikon TC2.0 on the Nikon 70-300mm when I started with my D3300. I seemed like a good idea to invest 500 bucks and end up with a 600mm.

I had a 600mm indeed but it surely wasn't as great an experience as I imagined it to be. The problem with the D3300 (and your D3200) is that they don't perform that well in low light. By adding a TC2x, I had to shoot at a minimum of f/11 but since I also required at least a shutter of 1/900s (focal length x TC increase x crop factor), it became painful quite fast. Manual focus only and too demanding to the system which forced me to start increasing the ISO to such a degree the results were disappointing.

On a good day with a tripod and some luck I could get reasonable shots but all in all, I wasted 500$ I had better invested into something else.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Thanks for the insight guys. I was worried that it wasn't going to work as well as I'd imagine. I suppose it's the hold back with the cheaper models . My d5000 never failed me until one day it's motherboard fried and i ended up buying whichever model I could afford at the time instead. I'll have a look into a new lens instead and hopefully find a bargain that way . Thanks for all the info [/FONT]

jonty1989 said:

Thanks for the insight guys. I was worried that it wasn't going to work as well as I'd imagine. I suppose it's the hold back with the cheaper models . My d5000 never failed me until one day it's motherboard fried and i ended up buying whichever model I could afford at the time instead. I'll have a look into a new lens instead and hopefully find a bargain that way . Thanks for all the info

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Its not your really camera thats restricting TC use,TCs only work well on a few lenses,believe me i would be over the moon if i could add a 2x TC to my nikon 70-300.

I did think it might be a bit of a cheat so no surprise really. Oh well back to the drawing board

jonty1989 said:

I did think it might be a bit of a cheat so no surprise really. Oh well back to the drawing board

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If you want long and cheap get a Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 ED-IF and stick on a TC200 or tc300 (if you've got bigger lens) on it. Some jerkoff (me) recently bought up every one of these (ED and non ED) on ebay for a low price to give out as christmas gifts and the next round made available started out very high. Wait a few weeks and you'll be able to pick one for about 100-150 and the teleconverter too. Type in nikon 300mm f/4.5 into google and you'll find nothing but high praise. Many have suggested it is one of the sharpest 300mm ever made and recommend using teleconverter as well. Ken Rockwell and The Angry Photographer (not suitable for work) give it their highest thumbs-up. 200 bucks gets you into the combo with the only drawback being MF. Just make sure the tripod mount has not been removed. The Angry Photographer claims the lens (no teleconverter) can take a pic of a license plate at 800 yards and you can crop down (and read) the registration sticker - this is likely an exaggeration. I'm still playing with it but have some other summer things going on keeping me busy at the moment. I took some photos of an osprey on a nest at 600 yards and they looked ok but not as good as the 400mm with a pair of 2x TCs so I deleted them. I have problems effectively focusing at that range (I think my aperture should be reduced and raise the iso) so anyone with advice on that should share with everyone.

I'm not going to scoop up another batch of these for another month or two.

salukfan111 said:

The Angry Photographer claims the lens (no teleconverter) can take a pic of a license plate at 800 yards and you can crop down (and read) the registration sticker - this is likely an exaggeration.

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Agreed, but this conveys that The Angry Photographer doesn't give accurate and balanced assessments, hence his opinions should be taken with heaps of salt, just like that other bloke mentioned (cough, cough K.R)

jay_dean said:

Agreed, but this conveys that The Angry Photographer doesn't give accurate and balanced assessments, hence his opinions should be taken with heaps of salt, just like that other bloke mentioned (cough, cough K.R)

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You mean we cant take comments from Ren Kockwell as gospel remember he has a family to support

jay_dean said:

Agreed, but this conveys that The Angry Photographer doesn't give accurate and balanced assessments, hence his opinions should be taken with heaps of salt, just like that other bloke mentioned (cough, cough K.R)

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There isn't anyone that gives a bad review on it. Maybe some experienced camera folks here (who have certainly owned it and used for years) could comment. It seems like everyone is wanting range and there is a 200 to 300 dollar solution available that doesn't involve buying a new plastic 10k lens made in China (or a new lens at all). Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't every one of these camera gurus recommend photographers put effort into shooting manual on occasion to improve skills vs. point and shoot in P mode? I know this is going to sound like crazy talk, but shouldn't all new shooters start out with something like this (that they can quickly resell to get their money back) before spending 5 to 10k on a point and shoot?

I dont see why any new comer shouldn't take advantage of all the modern aids to getting the picture,when i started i couldn't afford to do birds in flight it wasted too much film which cost too much,so i would disagree with you there,as for the 300mm lens your talking about it was a great lens in its time,its still a good lens and so long as some one beginning understands it limitations i would agree its a good buy.

mikew said:

I dont see why any new comer shouldn't take advantage of all the modern aids to getting the picture,when i started i couldn't afford to do birds in flight it wasted too much film which cost too much,so i would disagree with you there,as for the 300mm lens your talking about it was a great lens in its time,its still a good lens and so long as some one beginning understands it limitations i would agree its a good buy.

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I would agree 100% and those removable flash cards and digital pictures made photography affordable for everyone and all of the technology advances are great as well. I really enjoy the 70-300 VR alot and it was really affordable. A used 70-300 VR and an inexpensive 300mm f/4.5 (with a teleconverter in your pocket) seems hard to beat for someone trying to save money.