Which TC should I pair with a D-800 & a new 80-400 mm to shoot snowy owls?

Just picked up the 400, my first long lens of any kind due to Nikons rebate and the fact that here on Mass and NH seacoast Snowy Owls are present in significant numbers for a limited time.


I want to have an effective means to get reasonably close to capture this magnificent creature.


Never owned or seen a tele-converter so I'm wondering is the 1.4 the right choice with the above combination. A 1.7 TC is basically about the same cost.


It would be appreciated for users to share their personal observations as to the pros, cons and anything else nice to know as to how this trio performs in the field and what to consider versus say a 1.7 TC.


Sharpness, affect on lighting, autofocus, loss of f-stops, anything relevant.


I'll make a decision in the next day or two as I'll shoot this weekend.


Thanks for contributing!

Welcome to the forum

Some useful links
http://support.nikonusa.com/app/ans.../nikon-product-manuals-available-for-download
Nikon | Imaging Products | Digitutor


Thanks

Are there different versions of this lens? If so which version do you have?

NikonGent said:

It would be appreciated for users to share their personal observations as to the pros, cons and anything else nice to know as to how this trio performs in the field and what to consider versus say a 1.7 TC.


Sharpness, affect on lighting, autofocus, loss of f-stops, anything relevant.


Thanks for contributing!

Click to expand...

Congrats on your lens purchase. I believe one of the members here (Sambr) has that lens also.

If it was me, I would shoot with it "naked" and just use DX mode with your D800. If you really need to use a TC, go with the 1.4x TC which will take you around f8 on the long end. 1.7x TC will make AF more difficult and degraded IQ wide open.

I have the newest, sorry.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Lens

At what f-stop will the D800 still focus? I believe it is f8, and only TC you would be able to use with autofocus at the full extension (400mm) would be the TC-14. Confirm that with someone else since I don't have either camera or lens and can't get the tech specs on autofocus specifically for the D800.

WM

gqtuazon said:

Congrats on your lens purchase. I believe one of the members here (Sambr) has that lens also.

If it was me, I would shoot with it "naked" and just use DX mode with your D800. If you really need to use a TC, go with the 1.4x TC which will take you around f8 on the long end. 1.7x TC will make AF more difficult and degraded IQ wide open.

Click to expand...

Hi Glenn,
Thanks for you kind welcome.
I had wondered about dx crop mode but only used it a very long time ago as an experiment.
One of my concerns was a serious loss of megapixels/resolution in that mode.
Down to 15.3 MP. Doesn't this make it a 600 mm lens equivalent?
What quality of output and degree of sharpness does one obtain at that focal length as composed to FX mode?

I had been told that the "limit" was f8.

A couple of Sundays ago a friend of mine told me to always shoot at f8 no matter what except in lowlight.

Is he right or wrong?

Curious why he said that.

NikonGent said:

I had been told that the "limit" was f8.

A couple of Sundays ago a friends of mine told me to always shoot at f8 no matter what except in lowlight.

Is he right or wrong?

Curious why he said that.

Click to expand...

With the d800, i normally shoot between f5.6 to f8. These are the settings that gives me the optimal sharpness with the lenses that I have. It is normally suggested to stop down on the lenses to make it even sharper especially when shooting with a tc.

I don't know if you intend to print movie poster size but 15 mp is plenty in most applications.


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You might want to check on this list....

http://www.nikonusa.com/en_INC/IMG/...eleconverter-Compatibility/EN_Comp_chart.html

After reading this yesterday I mounted my (new version) 80-400/TC 17 E11 on my D800.

Fully zoomed out is F/7.6 wide open and even in a dimly lit room AF is acceptable.

Same thing on a fully overcast day. And the D800 can handle higher iso's to keep the shutter speed up.

IMO the TC 1.4 just isn't enough...

Cheers, Don

Don Kondra said:

After reading this yesterday I mounted my 80-400/TC 17 E11 on my D800

IMO the TC 1.4 just isn't enough...

Cheers, Don

Click to expand...

Is that with the newer version lens?

If your subjects are smaller birds, then nothing is long enough. That's when the cropping power of the D800 or D7100 can offer.

If you pixel peep on the feather details on the 1.7x tc compared to the 1.4x tc, you'll notice a degradation on the details compare to the latter.


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I have the D800 and this lens. The combination is superb.

There is a good review here showing the impact of the teleconverters on sharpness.
Nikon 80-400mm VR Review - Page 4 of 8

The 1.4TC works OK but you loose considerable sharpness if you go to 1.7TC and 2.0 is really poor.

gqtuazon said:

Is that with the newer version lens?

If your subjects are smaller birds, then nothing is long enough. That's when the cropping power of the D800 or D7100 can offer.

If you pixel peep on the feather details on the 1.7x tc compared to the 1.4x tc, you'll notice a degradation on the details compare to the latter.

Click to expand...

Yes, the newer version (edited my post)

You can measurebate all you want, I shoot small birds

This shows the bare 80-400mm on the D7100 vs D800, same branch, same distance.



D7100 + TC 17 full frame, no crop.



D800 + TC 17 full frame, about the worst lighting conditions possible. Overcast and back light. No heroic efforts in edit



Cheers, Don

Much better light today, more what you can expect with this combo...

7360 wide cropped to ~ 4400 wide (4/3 ratio) and resized to 1000 wide.



Cheers, Don

If you measurebate too much you'll go blind.